A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives, a curated forum for retail leaders, nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the Retail Business Review Editorial Board.

Daniel Ng

The Home Depot, Design Manager

New Technologies and Trends in Signage

The Home Depot

The Home Depot

Embracing new trends in signage can effectively showcase your business as a market leader, whether focusing on sustainable signs or utilizing emerging technologies.

In 2024, the global printed signage market is expected to reach approximately $41.4 billion, with three primary reasons driving its growth: quick installation, cost-effectiveness, and readability. Emerging signage technologies are also gaining popularity, with unique fonts, eco-friendly signs, clutter-free designs, navigational signage, biophilic design, and interactive solutions being key trends in the industry.

Automation has revolutionized the printed signage sector by minimizing the chance of misprints and enabling quick approval of projects. Automation software shortens project times by allowing companies to quickly make changes, spot errors, and suggest edits. Errors are instantly flagged, reducing the likelihood of costly misprints. Streamlined processes are achieved by booking jobs and loading files, while integrated systems allow efficient communication between various systems. Time-saving is another advantage of automation, as it maximizes time efficiency across project stages.

Businesses need to keep pace with evolving signage trends by staying informed by following pertinent blogs and subscribing to leading industry content. This approach helps close skill gaps in the workforce and enables the delivery of innovative projects. Adopting new technologies involves strategic planning, engaging employees, focusing on customer needs, selecting appropriate technology, and seeking feedback from the team.

Setting a strategy aligns with business strategy, and once goals are implemented, set quantifiable supplementary objectives to track progress. Involving employees in the technological advancement process helps ensure a smooth transition. Prioritizing customers in your signage strategy ensures that messaging hits home, and listing business needs helps select the best solution to strengthen communication with the audience.

Soliciting team feedback is crucial for enhancing your signage strategy. Employees deal with customers regularly, so open channels for staff feedback can be used.

While updating signage in light of the newest trends is important, choosing solutions that stand the test of time is also wise. Considering these five tips in your signage strategy, you ensure team cohesiveness and maximum return on investment from your signage solution. Working with a professional signage team offers another way to leverage the most up-to-date technology with minimal disruption to your current practices.

The articles from these contributors are based on their personal expertise and viewpoints, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employers or affiliated organizations.