​Should You Use Black and White Designs for Retail Signs?

Black and white may often be a good option to stand out from the crowd and make an impression. Since majority of signs use color, it only makes sense that black and white might be an effective and useful alternative.

The thing is that while the black and white designs have some place in signage and marketing, it is less effective compared to using a full range of colors for retail sign designs. Whether you are considering black and white designs in your ads or for retail signs, there are the reasons why colored ads tend to be more effective compared to designing using black and white color.

Black and White Designs Are Less Memorable Than Color
How well you remember the ads you see on regular basis? Majority of you see lots of ads daily, yet only some remember to choose a few after they have seen them for a few times. Colors play a major role in helping everyone remember content. People are more likely to remember the signs and ads that use powerful, strong colors than black and white ads or retail signs. The key in effective branding is to ensure that people will remember your message. While the black and white ads might seem to be a strong stylistic option, it typically puts your business at disadvantage in terms of brand recognition.

Color Signs Attract More Attention Always
Beyond being much easier to remember, the color signs always attract more attention compared to black and white designs. This happens for some reasons, from the eyes that gravitate naturally towards colorful content to simply standing out better. While the black and white designs appear to be at the opposite ends of spectrum, there are fewer options between these for some designers. There are various shades of gray, yet such rarely shine out in designs as colors like yellow and blue.

If you design your ads with the use of black and white color, it becomes necessary to use the gray color for any extra elements. It reduces contrast as well as makes it difficult for people to spot signs from a distance. If you design in color, you may use complementary colors that do not minimize contrast, yet increase it. This provides you signage and ads a noticeable look that makes this far effective in attracting the attention of people.

It is Harder to Show Details With the Use of Black and White
Black and white designs could be artistic compared to full color, yet this puts you at serious disadvantage in terms of showing details. Since black and white colors enable the use of gray as intermediary color, this captures fewer details than full color can. From mid-tones to shadows, every color between black and white become gray in designs. It makes it hard to highlight your product in any detail level or capture a scene in your ads and signage.

Color ha several benefits for the marketers. While the black and white designs provide stylish and artistic look, it is rarely a good choice for ads and signage.

Posted by Randy Blakeslee

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