Plus, Tips to Make Safety Signage Look Great
The coronavirus pandemic changed the way businesses like restaurants and retailers operate in Kansas and Missouri. Patrons, too, had to embrace changes to how they live their daily lives in public spaces: wearing masks, staying six feet or more apart, and making transactions with sheets of plexiglass between them and the workers helping them.
Businesses that remained open while “non-essential” ones were closed found a need to create and hang special
business signage to help their guests understand their new safety policies and procedures. These stores piloted these actions, which helped prepare the businesses that were temporarily closed to reopen again.
Thanks to very specific and well-designed signage from local
print shops all over the country, most businesses were able to open their doors and convey new safety precautions to their guests. If you run a local business and have been using temporary or hand-made signs, now is the right time to upgrade to something more durable, eye-catching, and well-designed.
Why Social Distancing Signage is Important
Not every store or restaurant will operate the same way. One sandwich shop may ask patrons to line up a certain way inside their store, while another one down the street may require an outdoor line while waiting for service. Similarly, some retail stores have made it a rule that shoppers can only walk certain directions down aisles, but others have not. You can’t expect your valued guests to remember from location-to-location the new safety protocols put in place where they regularly shop or dine. That’s one reason why social distancing signage in your business is so very important.
Another reason is because it helps keep your guests safe. Regardless of your opinion on the severity of COVID-19, the fact is that it is a contagious disease. And just like you wouldn’t want someone with the seasonal flu or a bad cold breathing into your face or standing too near to you, you don’t want someone with coronavirus doing it either. The whole point is to help prevent your patrons and your employees from getting sick.
Durable vinyl signage, perforated window graphics, paper flyers, and floor decals designed for high-traffic areas can help you guide your guests through your store or restaurant and give them a positive experience while they’re there.
Types of Signage to Consider
Think about how traffic flows through your retail space or eatery. At which points should guests know what to do next? That’s exactly where you should put your
social distancing signs.
Before even entering your place of business, your patrons might want to know if you’re open. Are you operating at full capacity? If you’re a restaurant, are you offering in-restaurant dining? Or will you be doing take-out or delivery only? Your exterior signage will help you draw your customers into your physical location during this time. Consider yard signs, large window graphics, outdoor banners, outdoor flags, mesh banners, or temporary exterior signs.
At your front entry, you could hang a simple paper flyer with clear tape on your door to remind your customers that face coverings are required. However, over time, that will get worn-out, bent, or even torn, and you’ll have to task someone on your team with checking on its condition and repeatedly replacing it.
AlphaGraphics South Kansas City can help you come up with
front-door signage you won’t have to worry about, but can easily remove when social distancing is no longer required. Ask us about our perforated window graphics, vinyl graphics, and window clings.
As patrons follow the traffic flow in your business, are there things you’d like to let them know or remind them? For example, you might want to tell them that your business is following all social distancing protocols, and they should stand six feet apart from other guests. You might also need signage to direct them where and how to walk, perhaps down aisles in your store. For these purposes, you could consider indoor banners, interior floor decals, or laminated posters or flyers.
When your guests arrive at their “final” destination in your business - perhaps their dining table or at the cash wrap, is there anything they should know? If you operate a restaurant, you might want to remind your guests to wear their face masks if they need to leave their table for any reason, or let them know how to find your menu online. Or, if you’re a retailer, you might want your shoppers to know that you’re only accepting credit card or debit card payments, or to stay behind the plexiglass dividers to help prevent the spread of germs. Here, window clings or small temporary signs at each table may be your best option.
Brand Social Distancing Signage with Your Business Logo
Regardless of the type of signage you choose for your business, we recommend including branding elements to create a cohesive look. You can include your company’s logo, or perhaps simply utilize your brand’s color palette in the design of your corporate social distancing signage. Doing so will lend a professional look to your business.
Including Graphic Elements in Your Signage
Like we mentioned before, it’s cheap and easy to print a flyer on copy paper that exclaims to your guests, “SOCIAL DISTANCING IN EFFECT. STAY SIX FEET APART. WEAR A MASK.” However, that signage might convey its message in a tone your guests won’t appreciate or be receptive to, and it probably won’t look friendly or welcoming. In fact, plain paper signage with only black text looks cheap, like you didn’t put any effort at all into it.
Our professional team and on-site graphic designer can help you come up with graphics elements and text for your signage to let your guests know how much you care and how you’re working to keep them safe while letting them experience the normalcy of shopping and dining.
How to Order Social Distancing Signage
The AlphaGraphics South Kansas City team makes ordering social distancing signage easy and quick. To learn more about our process and how we can help you, call us at
913-236-8888, or
send us a message on our website.
You can also stop by our
Olathe print shop at West 117th Street and Black Bob Road, where we serve the communities of Leawood, Olathe, Overland Park, Shawnee, Lenexa, Mission, Prairie Village, Gardner, Merriam, De Soto, Roeland Park, Mission Hills, Edgerton, Fairway, Westwood, Mission Woods, Spring Hill, Lake Quivira, New Century Stilwell, and Westwood Hills in Kansas; and South Kansas City, Grandview, Martin City, and Belton, Missouri.