Like dandelions sprouting from greening lawns, election campaign signs dot lawns and spring roadsides in Oregon and many other states.

Screen printing is the popular choice for printing campaign signs, especially during municipal elections for city councilperson, mayor or county commissioner.

There’s little scholarly research into the effectiveness of campaign yard signs. Some experts suggest seeing signs in neighbors’ encourages people to evaluate candidates more closely.  Candidates, of course, find it hard to resist seeing their names on signs around the neighborhood. Besides, everybody else does it!

During local elections, signs can raise awareness of a candidate’s brand and even serve as a reminder that an election is coming.

Given their inevitability, election campaign advisors suggest being strategic about where you plan to place the signs and how many you have printed.

Before you order signs, take the time to map out potential locations and get some idea how many of your supporters are likely to place signs in their yards. Find out what public areas allow and don’t allow political signs. And, of course, consider your spending limitations.

Consider adding signs to your online merchandise store to help cover the cost of design and printing.

Lawn sign vote yes

Copyright: alexeys

Once your strategy is in place, it’s time for design. If you’ve already settled on brand colors for your campaign material, you’ll want to stick with those colors for your signs.

The best advice is to keep your design simple. Most screen-printed signs use just one or two colors. Try not to use photographs, which are difficult to distinguish at a distance.

Use bold and large fonts for text so your message stands out. One rule of thumb for text is that it should be an inch tall for every 10-feet of visibility. So to be legible from 30 feet away, letters should be at least three inches high.

If you need inspiration, you can find campaign sign examples on Pinterest. 

Of course, if you need design help for your screen-printed campaign sign, we’ll be happy to help at Specialty Screen Printing.

Specialty Screen Printing, a family-operated business, provides custom screen printing of all types and on all shapes of objects. We can print on glass, metal, wood, plastics, pressure-sensitive films, polycarbonate, and polyester. If you have an unusual shape to print on, a design that requires durable inks, or a problematic surface, give us a call. We love to help solve printing challenges!

Message us at info@specialtyscreenprinting.com, and let’s brainstorm about your next project.