paper signs | Sign-Frame

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Staff

Make Signs Using Paper Inserts and Transparencies

It’s a snap to make signs using paper inserts and transparencies and we’ll show you how you can do it while saving time and money in the process. This particular article describes how to combine paper signs, transparencies and acrylic covers into elegant office signs similar in size to the WFP1U. It also provides alternatives in creating paper insert signs depending on your needs and where you stand currently with your sign program. If you’re looking for detailed instructions on how to make these component parts check out the article Create Photo and Logo Paper Signs in our How To section.

The photo below illustrates two types of paper insert signs. The one on the left is composed of a paper insert, a printed transparency and an acrylic cover (217) with Braille and tactile letters. The one on the right consists of a paper insert and an acrylic cover (271) with Braille and tactile letters.

Here’s what the paper signs and transparencies look like when assembled and placed in sign frames.

As you can see, the paper inserts drive the look of the sign. As you can also see, it isn’t mandatory that you make signs that include transparencies since when you put the components together it isn’t discernible which is which. So why would one do it? Here are some tips on that front and some other considerations regarding paper inserts should you decide to make signs on your own.

Outsource Your Paper Inserts to a Local Printer

The answer to the above question regarding the use of transparencies may lie with the quality of paper inserts you desire, the amount of time you have to dedicate to printing paper signs and the number of employees you have. If you want high-quality paper insert signs and have a relatively large number of employees it is more cost effective to outsource the printing of your paper insert signs (with a few extra of course). That means that when an employee’s title or name changes or when new hires come on board all you do is print the transparency and insert it into the sign frame. In fact, depending on the pricing from your local print shop and the number of signs you need to print it may be to your advantage to outsource the initial printing of the transparencies too. In any case, maintaining your signs going forward will only entail printing the transparencies.

Forget the Paper Signs and Just Print on Transparencies

A number of clients, especially in the financial services and legal professions, preferred the natural beauty of the brushed silver and gold frame faces to accent their office interiors. They decided to forego the paper insert signs and chose to make signs using only the transparencies – and they looked great. Here’s an example so you can visualize the concept even though this particular layout was designed for use with a paper insert.

I simply removed the paper insert from the above example and just used the transparency with the clear cover. You can now see the elegant anodized, brushed silver face through the two overlays. The same holds true for the gold frames yet both finishes look exceptional adding a classic feel to any office or campus interior design.

Whether using paper, transparencies or some combination thereof, hopefully you can see that you can make signs just like the professionals in minutes. It’s fast, fun, cost effective and you can do it all yourself. Please send us your designs at sales@sign-frame.net so our readers can benefit from your creativity.

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Staff

Create Photo and Logo Paper Signs

Designing paper signs for your office or campus sign frames is fast, fun, economical and can even boost morale. We’ve done a series of instructional posts on paper insert signs with textured backgrounds, specialty paper along with simple text and spot color backgrounds. This one is primarily focused on adding photos and logos to your paper frame inserts.

If you’ve read the other posts in our how to section, you’ll notice the process of creating paper signs is basically the same until you get to the point of detailing the frame inserts to complement your interior design. The fact is you can add textured backgrounds, colors, gradients, photos and logos to your paper insert signs in total or just add some simple text and perhaps a color background should that best fit your specifications. That said, we’ve consciously broken them out at the risk of being redundant to illustrate the various options available in creating paper insert signs. The process holds true for office signs, office directory signs, flag signs, table signs and more. Whether it’s a WFP1U office sign or a D5U office directory sign, any sign system that accepts frame inserts can embrace the following process.

Since Microsoft Word is common to most businesses we will provide the step-by-step process, complete with illustrations, as to how you can make signs yourself without leaving the office. We’ll also show you a few options you can use in creating your paper signs understanding that there are numerous variations in addition to what is shown here. Please not that the instructions listed below may vary depending on the version of MS-Word you have installed.

Create Photo and Logo Paper Signs

Step 1: To make signs, open MS-Word and create a new document by clicking New (Ctrl + N), select the “Office” button in the upper left-hand corner of the screen and click the “New” icon or click the “New” shortcut icon to create a new document. Any of these three options will work.

Step 2: Click the Insert Tab. Then click the Text Box icon in the Toolbar. At the bottom of the window click Draw Text Box.

Move your cursor to the document (you will see a “+” sign appear) and drag it diagonally across the drawing surface while holding down the left-click button on the mouse.

Release the left-click button and your text box will appear.

Step 3: To size the text box enter the height and width of the insert you wish to create. Our sample sign happens to be a 3 x 4 5/8 office sign so we entered a 3 inch height and 4.625 inch width.

Step 4: To make the sign a bit more interesting we’re going to select a background texture. Click “Shape Fill” in the toolbar and then “Texture” to select a background texture for your frame inserts. Rolling your cursor over the texture palette will change the texture color on your sign insert until you find the one that best fits your needs. I happened to select the “white marble” background texture for this example.

Step 5: Now you can add your text and logo. To add your text, add one or more text boxes to your paper insert signs by clicking the Insert tab and selecting “Draw Text Box” like you did in Step 2. Position the text boxes on the background and choose the font, font color and font size that you desire. In order to eliminate the text box outline click the Format tab -> Shape Outline -> No Outline and now you have just the text. To blend in your text box with the background you’ve chosen, highlight the text box -> right click the text box -> select Format Text Box from the drop down menu -> under Colors and Lines set Transparency to 100%. You can also use the Color dropdown and select the color, texture or pattern to match the background you’ve already selected.

To add your logo, Click Insert -> Picture -> and go to the folder where your logo image is stored. Double-click the image and it will be added to your insert. You can adjust the placement of your logo on your frame inserts by clicking on the Line Spacing icon under the Paragraph dialog box. Here’s the final result.

And here’s the finished product complete with a Braille/tactile ADA lens cover.

As mentioned in Step 4, you can add pictures, gradients and photos to your paper signs. I took a previously created template (Template A) and modified the design by going from color to black and white, adding the employee’s picture and using a photo for the background image (Template B). Again, the purpose it to illustrate the numerous options you have in creating exceptional looking paper insert signs.

Template A

Template B

Here’s the final product, both old and new, in their respective sign frames. Template A has a Braille/tactile 217 cover while Template B has a simple, clear lens cover.

So get busy and start the process of designing your own inserts. Send along your designs to sales@sign-frame.com. We’ll periodically post blog updates so others can benefit from your creativity.

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Staff

Make Signs Yourself Using Specialty Paper

In order to make signs like the pros all you need is a desktop printer and a word processor such as Microsoft Word. This particular post is specifically dedicated to making paper signs, or frame inserts if you will, using specialty paper. You may also achieve the same effect with your paper signs by using the textured background effects within Word. If, however, you need more than what the textured options in Word provides for your office signs specialty paper will give you significantly more options.

You can truly create professional-looking paper signs in a matter of minutes. You don’t need to have a graphics design background to make signs that are elegant and aesthetically pleasing. Designing frame inserts is fun, fast and economical too.

So what do you need to know in order to make signs with specialty paper? Specialty paper can be purchased at all office superstores such as Staples and Office Depot, FedEx Kinko’s and local boutique shops. Here are two samples of specialty paper sandwiched around a sheet of white bond paper to show the contrast. I randomly picked these two but there are numerous styles and colors available at the above mentioned stores to complement any interior color scheme.

The following represents a step-by-step process in Microsoft Word showing you how to design frame inserts in just a few minutes for the cost of ink and paper. Once you understand the core concepts in creating your frame inserts you can get as creative as you’d like in designing paper signs to complement any campus or business interior. Photoshop, Illustrator and a variety of other software design packages and word processors can be used as well. Please note that the instruction set listed below may vary depending on the version of MS-Word you have installed. Although we used a one-part frame for this example the process would hold true for two-part signs such as the WFP4U.

Make Signs Yourself Using Specialty Paper

Step 1: Open MS-Word and create a new document by clicking New (Ctrl + N), select the “Office” button in the upper left-hand corner of the screen and click the “New” icon or click the “New” shortcut icon to create a new document. Any of these three options will work.

Step 2: Click the Insert Tab. Then click the Text Box icon in the Toolbar. At the bottom of the window click Draw Text Box.
Move your cursor to the document (you will see a “+” sign appear) and drag it diagonally across the drawing surface while holding down the left-click button on the mouse.

Release the left-click button and your text box will appear.

Step 3: To size the text box enter the height and width of the insert you wish to create. Our sample sign happens to be a 3 x 4 5/8 office sign so we entered a 3 inch height and 4.625 inch width.

Step 4: Now you can add your text. Add one or more text boxes to your frame insert by clicking the Insert tab and selecting “Draw Text Box” like you did in Step 2. Position the text boxes on the background and choose the font, font color and font size that you desire. In order to eliminate the text box outline click the Format tab -> Shape Outline -> No Outline and now you have just the text. Here is the insert we’ve created as displayed in Microsoft Word.

Step 5: Now that you have the sign created, simply load a sheet of specialty paper into your office printer and print it. Here is what the completed sign frame looks like installed.

Printing paper signs will save you tons of time and money. As you can see, you can make signs like the pros in just minutes. Should you need assistance we’re here to help if you have any questions.

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Staff

Creating Paper Signs Using Microsoft Word

Creating professional-looking paper signs is both fun and easy. Choosing a sign system that allows you to independently create your own paper inserts will also save you time and money. All you need to do it yourself is an inkjet or laser printer and a word processor such as Microsoft Word and you’ll have office signs in no time!

Sign maintenance can be expensive especially if you have a large number of employees where titles change and people come and go. Not only is it cost effective but it’s immediate. You don’t have to wait days or weeks for the local sign company or printer to create your paper insert signs. Creating paper signs yourself also ensures signage consistency which may be problematic if either the sign company experiences turnover or cannot find your templates or proofs from the previous paper insert signs they created.

Since Microsoft Word is common to most businesses we will provide the step-by-step process, complete with illustrations, as to how you can do paper inserts yourself without leaving the office. We’ll also show you variations you can use in creating your paper inserts understanding that there are numerous variations in addition to what is shown here. Once you understand the core concepts you can become as creative as you desire in creating paper insert signs tailored specifically to your organization or business. Photoshop, Illustrator and numerous other software design packages and word processors can be used in creating paper signs in addition to Microsoft Word. For purposes of illustrating the flow and we’ve selected MS-Word since it is readily available and easy to use and a sample sign frame similar to the WFP10U. The instructions listed below may vary depending on the version of MS-Word you have installed.

Creating Paper Inserts with MS-Word

Step 2: Click the Insert Tab. Then click the Text Box icon in the Toolbar. At the bottom of the window click Draw Text Box.Move your cursor to the document (you will see a “+” sign appear) and drag it diagonally across the drawing surface while holding down the left-click button on the mouse.

Release the left-click button and your text box will appear.

Step 3: To size the text box enter the height and width of the insert you wish to create. Our sample sign happens to be a 3 x 4 5/8 office sign so we entered a 3 inch height and 4.625 inch width.

Step 4: Once the size is set you can now choose your background color. Click “Shape Fill” in the toolbar and choose a background color. Rolling your cursor over the color palette will change the color on the background insert until you find the one that best complements your interior design color scheme.

Step 5: Now you can add your text. Add one or more text boxes to your paper signs by clicking the Insert tab and selecting “Draw Text Box” like you did in Step 2. Position the text boxes on the background and choose the font, font color and font size that you desire. In order to eliminate the text box outline click the Format tab -> Shape Outline -> No Outline and now you have just the text. To blend in your text box with the background you’ve chosen, highlight the text box -> right click the text box -> select Format Text Box from the drop down menu -> under Colors and Lines set Transparency to 100%. You can also use the Color dropdown and select the color, texture or pattern to match the background you’ve already selected.Here is the insert that we’ve created. Simply print it on your office printer, cut it out and insert it into your office sign. Printing paper signs will save you time and money and improve the overall look of your office environment.