Being a graphic designer can be painful during garage sale season now in full force, because I have to endure poorly made garage sale signs that are illegible at high speeds. I recently had a very successful garage sale as a result of my 14 year design experience and my yard sale sign observations. I came up with 7 keys to successful sign making on a budget.
1) Get yourself a monster Marker (pen)
Spare no expense and get your self a Permanent Marker with a chisel tip. If you are going to spend any money get your self a massive beast of a pen because your average sharpie will not have enough width to grab the attention at high speeds. These people don’t have time to mess around trying to read your sign and have a dozen other sales to get to. You basically have to create a vortex that will suck them into coming to your sale.
2) Use Cardboard Boxes
It’s free and it comes in really big sizes. Even the bright florescent paper is wasted with a wimpy sharpie that’s way to small. Forget store bought signs.
3) Bigger is Better (font)
Use big block letters, and filled in if you want to. You have to scream and be heard above the other signs.
4) Drop the inventory list
Your potential client does not have the time to read the list and you are better off just sticking to the basics: Garage sale, arrow, date, and time. I used HUGE SALE, because there were only eight letters to write.
5) Jockey for Position (get yours up first)
Get up early and get your spot before the other garage sale wannabes get theirs up. Bring an electric drill, screws, duct tape, tie wraps and a box cutter. The drill makes it easy to put up the signs quickly. And don’t forget a cup of coffee, you will need it because you were the night before getting ready.
6) Do a drive by
As you drive look for places were your eyes naturally go to, then put your sign there. Then do a drive by to make sure the sign actually does the job.
7) Double check your signs on the second day
It was 11:30am on Sunday and no one had showed up yet so I decided to check my signs. Some had fallen down and some had been vandalized and taken down on purpose. So it never hurts to double check and make sure if you build it they will come.
All the best to you and may you make a ton of money this season.