Fatejuggler
08-26-2011, 12:41 AM
I found a good article which discusses the importance of signage and contains some good tips on how to best use signs:
Wichita State University: Why political yard signs matter
http://www.wichita.edu/thisis/wsunews/news/?nid=423
I've seen some posts in the forums discounting the importance of yard signs and sign waves. I disagree with this because anyone who has observed the way product advertising is done can see the great lengths big corporations go through to get their brand name seen in as many places as possible as often as possible. These guys are not dummies. Psychological tests have shown that people require multiple "impressions" of a message before they become receptive of it. Also consider that a single sign visible from a busy roadway can deliver an impression to thousands of people an hour, so it is a far more effective technique than it may seem.
Here is a quote from a political scientist named Mel Kahn in the article which addresses this:
Kahn: "Basically candidates are aware, or should be aware, that people don't vote for persons whose name they do not know. And so it's (signage) a way, at the grassroots level, of establishing name recognition.
"They don't actually produce voting a certain way. What they do is enable the first element to be reached, of getting candidates known. And they particularly work if they're strategically placed, so that there are many that are together, so you get a bam, bam approach."
Some other good tips in the article:
"Moving signs in the latter days of the campaign will make them more noticeable. Tying ribbons on them that will float in the wind also call more attention. There are all kinds of gimmicks that can be used like that." (balloons work well too)
Kahn: "It's very important to have contrasting colors in order to highlight the sign. It's also important not to have colors that everybody else uses. For example, in many elections in Wichita, a lot of people like to use the Wichita State colors, but there are so many of them out there, they sort of blend together, and so they're ineffective.
Kahn: "Another factor which candidates seldom do is to have a nontraditional shape to the sign. For example, Ken Groteweil, a legislator, used to use signs that are more vertically rectangular than rectangular from side to side. And that was a different sign that would call attention."
Here's another article that shows some unique ways of using cut-out shapes to make signage more effective:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575464161144773800.html
Wichita State University: Why political yard signs matter
http://www.wichita.edu/thisis/wsunews/news/?nid=423
I've seen some posts in the forums discounting the importance of yard signs and sign waves. I disagree with this because anyone who has observed the way product advertising is done can see the great lengths big corporations go through to get their brand name seen in as many places as possible as often as possible. These guys are not dummies. Psychological tests have shown that people require multiple "impressions" of a message before they become receptive of it. Also consider that a single sign visible from a busy roadway can deliver an impression to thousands of people an hour, so it is a far more effective technique than it may seem.
Here is a quote from a political scientist named Mel Kahn in the article which addresses this:
Kahn: "Basically candidates are aware, or should be aware, that people don't vote for persons whose name they do not know. And so it's (signage) a way, at the grassroots level, of establishing name recognition.
"They don't actually produce voting a certain way. What they do is enable the first element to be reached, of getting candidates known. And they particularly work if they're strategically placed, so that there are many that are together, so you get a bam, bam approach."
Some other good tips in the article:
"Moving signs in the latter days of the campaign will make them more noticeable. Tying ribbons on them that will float in the wind also call more attention. There are all kinds of gimmicks that can be used like that." (balloons work well too)
Kahn: "It's very important to have contrasting colors in order to highlight the sign. It's also important not to have colors that everybody else uses. For example, in many elections in Wichita, a lot of people like to use the Wichita State colors, but there are so many of them out there, they sort of blend together, and so they're ineffective.
Kahn: "Another factor which candidates seldom do is to have a nontraditional shape to the sign. For example, Ken Groteweil, a legislator, used to use signs that are more vertically rectangular than rectangular from side to side. And that was a different sign that would call attention."
Here's another article that shows some unique ways of using cut-out shapes to make signage more effective:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575464161144773800.html