Why It’s Important to Keep Building Signs Clean, Updated, and Compliant

Imagine what it would be like to walk into your building for the first time. Would it be easy to find your way around, or would you end up lost and frustrated?

When you walk past them every day, it can be easy to overlook your building’s signs. But the signage in your lobby, halls, stairway, and elevator help your customers and other guests navigate your building, know where emergency exits are, and use the elevator to get where they need to go.

This is why it’s important to keep building signs clean, updated, and compliant with ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) requirements. Current, well-maintained, and compliant signs ensure that everyone who steps into your building feels welcome and able to find what they are looking for.

In addition, every one of your signs — even emergency, navigation, or elevator signs — are advertising tools. They are a visual representation of what your customers and visitors can expect from your business. Keeping them fresh, clean, and compliant ensures they work for you — not against you.

Here are a few more reasons why clean, updated, and compliant building signage is important.

1. Clean Signs Help Maintain a Professional Appearance

Taking care of your building signs helps maintain a positive image for your business. Clean, well-kept signs show that your business is reliable, honest, trustworthy, and serious about what you do. Neglected signs, on the other hand, tend to make you, your products, and your services appear less reliable.

2. Regular Cleaning Extends the Life of Your Signs

Keeping your signs clean helps prevent long-term damage such as corrosion, scratching of the paint or lettering, or the growth of rust or mildew. In addition, keeping nails, screws, or other hardware clean and in good condition helps ensure your signs stay in place (leaning, wonky signs are a bad look for any building). Remove dirt and grime regularly to keep your signs looking their best and extend the life of this investment.

3. Clean Signs Make It Easier for Customers and Visitors To Navigate Your Building

A dirty sign can often become illegible, making it more difficult for customers to find their way around your building. If your visitors can’t find where they need to go, they can become frustrated, leading to a bad experience with your company. Clean signage also keeps visitors up to date on important information, such as emergency instructions, building rules and regulations, or out-of-order equipment.

4. Updated Signs Ensure You’re Displaying Correct Information

Well-maintained indoor signs can last indefinitely…as long as they communicate the correct information. When things change in your building (such as rules, navigational routes, contact information, emergency procedures, and so on), it’s important to update your signs as quickly as possible.

Manually updating information on a sign (such as with a handwritten or typed note) makes that sign inaccessible to your patrons who are blind or have reduced vision. Doing so should only be a temporary solution until you can get your signs — and their braille — permanently updated.

5. New Signs Offer the Chance To Match Updated Building Aesthetics

The signage posted throughout your building is a reflection of your company. Signs with outdated designs make your company itself appear outdated…which can be a turnoff for potential clients.

Ideally, all of your signage — including directional, emergency, and elevator signage — should reflect a consistent aesthetic and match your overall building design. When you put in the money, time, and effort to make updates to your building’s interior design, don’t forget to update your signage as well.

6. Replacing Damaged Signs Keeps Them Looking Fresh

Your signage — especially signs in high-traffic areas — are bound to sustain damage at some point. Wear and tear can cause text to become unreadable, and damage to hardware can cause signage to fall or hang at an angle. Not only does this cause an inconvenience for guests in your building, broken or damaged signage reflects badly on your company’s quality standards. Repair or replace damaged signs promptly to maintain clear communication with building visitors and keep your building looking professional. 

7. Ensuring Your Signs Comply With ADA Rules Makes Your Building More Accessible and Welcoming to Everyone

If your building signage isn’t in compliance with ADA requirements, not only are you at risk of legal action, your building isn’t as accessible and welcoming as it should be. Posting signage that serves everyone who comes into your space will help ensure all of your guests feel welcome.

The ADA requires building and elevator signs to comply with rules that help make them easier to read for everyone. For instance, signs must:

• Have a non-glare finish. People who have impaired vision have difficulty reading signs that have a glare or reflection. 
• Have a high level of contrast between the text and background colors. When the text blends into the background, it is difficult for anyone to read…much less those with impaired vision.
• Use ADA-compliant fonts, such as sans serif fonts, which improve the readability of your signs. In addition, signs should avoid the use of italics, script, or highly decorative fonts. The ADA also specifies requirements for case, size, spacing, and stroke thickness of sign lettering.
• Have corresponding braille text. This allows visitors who are blind or have reduced vision to more easily navigate your building. The ADA specifies the size, shape, and other requirements of sign braille.

These are only a few of the requirements the ADA lays out for signage. For more information on ADA signage requirements, view the ADA Standards for Accessible Design here.

Keep Building Signs Clean, Updated, and Compliant With Help From SCS Elevator Products

At SCS Elevator, we offer a wide range of safety signage and the largest variety of elevator signage and braille in the industry. And rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to signage, we give you options. We offer resin, cast and stamped lines of cab and jamb braille in many sizes, shapes, and finishes to match your building’s aesthetic. 

When it’s time to update your safety or elevator signage, SCS has you covered. Browse our online shop or contact us here for help finding the right signage for your needs.