Ordering street signage is mostly a specification exercise, and the specification is not arbitrary. Every number in it — blade height, sheeting grade, sign size — traces back to how far away a driver has to be able to read it.

This guide walks the decisions in the order they matter and explains what each one is actually solving.

Blade height is legibility distance

Letter height determines reading distance, and blade height determines letter height. The usual rule of thumb is about forty feet of legibility per inch of letter, which is why a 6 inch blade is fine on a private drive and marginal on a through road.

6 inch for private lanes and low-speed drives, 8 inch for standard residential streets, 9 inch where the posted speed is higher or the sign is set well back from the carriageway. When you are between two, take the taller one.

Sheeting grade is the whole night-time story

Reflective sheeting returns light to its source, which is why a properly specified sign appears to light up in a headlight beam. Engineer grade is the general-purpose material and covers private drives, parking areas and slow roads.

High-intensity prismatic is roughly three times brighter and belongs on public streets, higher-speed approaches, and anywhere the sign sits off to the side where light hits it at an angle. Judge either one at night with a torch, never in daylight.

Flat or extruded

Flat .080 aluminum is the standard blade and is perfectly rigid at residential lengths. Past about 36 inches, and especially in wind, it starts to flex on the bracket.

Extruded blades have a rolled rib top and bottom that stiffens the whole length. They cost more, they look slightly more substantial on the post, and on long street names they are the difference between a blade that stays flat and one that hums in a crosswind.

Double-sided is not optional

A street blade is approached from two directions. Single-sided blades exist, they are cheaper, and they are a false economy that becomes obvious the first time somebody drives the other way down the street.

Everything we make is double-sided as standard. If a sign genuinely faces a wall, tell us and we will drop the second face.

Colors and typefaces

Municipal green is the default; black is common in HOAs and newer developments; heritage brown belongs to historic districts and parks; blue is common on campuses. Any of them can be matched to a PMS reference.

Use the standard highway typefaces unless you have a strong reason not to. They are designed for exactly this: wide apertures, open counters, legible at an angle in poor light. A brand typeface that works beautifully on a letterhead often falls apart at forty miles an hour.

Do not decorate a regulatory sign

Stop signs, yield signs and one-way signs work because a driver recognises the shape and color before reading anything. Adding a logo, a community crest or a different color to the face weakens that recognition, and no supplier who cares should agree to it.

Put the name on a companion plaque mounted below. It is standard practice, it looks deliberate, and the sign above it still does its job.

What to send us

The street or bay list, the sizes and sheeting grade if you know them, a photograph of what is on your posts today, and whether you need hardware. If every sign is different, send a spreadsheet — variable data carries no setup charge here.