There isn’t a business or social event that wouldn’t gain from having imaginative sign designs as a way to attract attention, draw people in, and create a lasting impact. Office signage, corporate events, social events, weddings, and even lemonade stands can benefit with the right approach to signage.

Effective signage shouldn’t just be informative. It should have a distinctive style that goes well with your event or business. Signage represents your business or event as much as it informs.

Whether you’re working with polycarbonate, acrylic, polystyrene, or another plastic, you have many opportunities to get creative. Below are a few ways to make your signs stand out more.

Acrylic Poster Frames

Clear acrylic is highly scratch-resistant, durable, and lighter than glass. It is so transparent that it’s often used for picture framing—even in museums! Acrylic can be laser-cut into almost any shape and easily bonded into a frame capable of artfully displaying anything from a movie or event poster to participant bios or artist representations of future projects.

Other design possibilities include applying poster elements to acrylic layers with clear adhesive and displaying them in layers for an interesting 3-D effect. Some designers add small lighting elements along the inside or back of the frame to help make images stand out. This is a great way to bring attention to an office sign.

Acrylic Block Lettering

With laser-cutting technology, thick acrylic can be cut into letters of any style and mounted onto either more acrylic or an alternate surface (such as wood), making the name of your business or event literally stand out.

Acrylic comes in a wide variety of hues so that you can apply color to your design, and it can come in glossy, matte, or frosted finishes depending on your taste. Raised block lettering with acrylic can also be paired with 3-D logo designs or mounted with lights behind them to give them a glow.

And because acrylic is relatively light, your 3-D sign design won’t be too heavy to mount on a wall.

Sandwich Boards

For a long time, sandwich board signs (also known as A-frame signs) were made of wood. Consequentially, they often needed to be replaced when used outdoors as they had trouble standing up to rain, snow, and general wear.

Today, these signs are more likely to be made of corrugated polycarbonate or similar plastic material. As a result, they are much more able to stand up to the elements without significantly fading or losing color over time. They can also be adapted for many uses.

Whether you’re advertising a business or event, giving directions, presenting a list of rules or regulations, or displaying price information, a sandwich board sign is easy and convenient to position indoors or outdoors, depending on your need. In addition, they can be designed to accept inserts, so your printed material sits safely behind a layer of clear plastic, and the A-frames can come in various eye-catching colors.

A sandwich board surface can also be coated with a dry-erase coating so you can change your sign as the mood strikes with just a paper towel and a dry-erase marker.

Polystyrene Foam Board

Polystyrene is a light, inexpensive material that takes print well, is easy to install, and is simple to shape into almost any form. While it’s most commonly used as real estate signs, polystyrene foam board can make excellent temporary signage that stands up well to rain and sun and can be mounted anywhere.

Some other uses for foam board signage include wedding venue information, author signings, golf tournament sponsorships, convention kiosk signage, and hotel or conference center event signage.

You can even go big with polystyrene signage at sporting events such as race finish lines, baseball and soccer games, and rodeos.

Adhesive Film

Overlaminate film such as vinyl and polypropylene is available in various colors and can be custom cut for lettering, logos, and more. These can then adhere to numerous surfaces such as walls, windows, or floors. This makes this material perfect for both branding and offering directions. They’re made to withstand the weather and not fade, but also to be removed or repositioned with relative ease.

Adhesive polymer film makes a wonderfully flexible way to advertise a business or event.

Polycarbonate Store Signs

Polycarbonate is one of the most rigid plastics around. It can withstand rain, snow, ice, hail, and years of hot summer days without fading. It can come in almost any size and color and mount easily to storefronts where it can be illuminated by external lights or placed in a frame and lit from behind.

Polycarbonate can be custom-shaped depending on your desires, so you have free rein to design a store sign that stands out from your competition.