Creating Eye-Catching Displays for Your Business
A sign is the one piece of marketing that works every hour your business exists, and the one most people get wrong by choosing the material before the place. The right sign for a fascia is not the right sign for a reception wall, a glass door or a roadside board. This guide plans signage from the place outwards: what should stand on the building, what belongs inside, what the glass can carry, and how each is made, mounted and lit.
Start with where the sign stands, then choose the build. On the building: fabricated 3D letters and lightboxes for the fascia, Chromadek or Dibond panels for walls, site boards and freestanding frames. Inside: Perspex plaques and printed panels for receptions and boardrooms, fabric tension frames and lightboxes for walls. On the glass: window decals, Contravision and frosted vinyl. Then have it installed properly. We print, fabricate, route and mount all of it from our Cape Town factory.
Plan the sign for the place
| Where the sign stands | The build | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fascia and shopfront | Fabricated 3D letters, flat cut-out letters, Perspex lightboxes | Depth, presence and light where the street reads your name |
| Building walls and gates | Chromadek or Dibond panels, cut vinyl on Chromadek | Permanent metal that takes weather |
| Site and roadside | Framed Chromadek signs, Dibond boards, Correx for campaigns | Rigid, freestanding and readable from a road |
| Reception and boardroom | Perspex plaques on standoffs, printed Perspex and Dibond panels | An executive, glass-like finish up close |
| Showroom and retail walls | Fabric tension frames, fabric lightboxes, printed foam board | Glare-free, easy to change, lit when needed |
| Glass doors and windows | Window decals, Contravision, frosted vinyl | Branding, one-way vision and privacy without losing light |
On the building: fascia signs and panels
- Fabricated 3D letters: three-dimensional letters built to your approved sign design, for fascias, feature walls and receptions
- Flat cut-out letters: letters and logos cut from sheet on the CNC router, mounted flush or on standoffs
- Perspex lightboxes: a custom aluminium box with an opal Perspex face and translucent graphics, 80 or 150 mm deep, single or double-sided, with optional LED lighting and powder coating
- Made to design: letters and boxes are quoted from your artwork and the dimensions of the fascia
- Chromadek: pre-coated steel, UV printed, as a flat sheet from 200 × 200 up to 1,200 × 2,400 mm or on a welded, painted steel frame
- Dibond: aluminium composite that stays flat, UV printed, CNC-routed and drilled for standoffs; A7 to A0, 600 × 400, 800 × 400 mm and custom shapes
- ABS and Correx: impact-tough safety and industrial signs; economical campaign boards
- Choosing: our materials guide compares all five boards by durability, use and cost
A fascia carries the name; the walls, gates and site carry the panels. Chromadek is the South African standard for a permanent metal sign, flat or framed, and takes five to seven days to produce. Dibond gives the flatter, sleeker face for plaques and shopfront panels. Chromadek signs, Dibond signs and ABS signs each have their own page.
Inside: reception and showroom signage
- Sheets: 3 or 5 mm Perspex in clear or opal, CNC-routed to size with clean polished edges
- Print: UV flatbed with white ink layered behind the artwork, so colour pops on clear sheet
- Sizes: 105 × 74 up to 841 × 1,189 mm, on standoff wall mounts
- Where: corporate plaques, boardroom walls, retail counter branding and the faces of lightboxes
Perspex gives an upmarket, glass-like depth at a fraction of the weight of glass, and it is shatter-resistant. Around it, a reception or showroom takes fabric tension frames for large glare-free wall graphics that swap in minutes, fabric lightboxes where the wall should glow, printed foam boards for panels and menu boards, and seamless wallpaper for a feature wall. Our dye-sublimation guide covers the fabric options.
On the glass: window graphics
- Window decals: printed or cut vinyl for logos, trading hours and campaigns, applied outside or reverse-printed for inside
- Contravision: perforated one-way vision film, a solid graphic outside and a view out from inside, by day
- Frosted vinyl: the etched-glass look for privacy without darkness, cut into logos, bands and patterns
- Per pane: measured to each pane, installed by us or supplied ready to apply
Contravision turns a shopfront into advertising without losing the view or the daylight; frosted vinyl screens a boardroom and makes big clear doors visible; window decals carry the campaign and change with the season.
Lighting your sign
A lit sign works the hours an unlit one cannot. The Perspex lightbox is the classic: an aluminium box with an opal Perspex face and translucent graphics, 80 mm deep for indoors or 150 mm, single or double-sided, with optional LED lighting and a powder-coated finish. Indoors, a fabric lightbox gives the same glow with a tension-fabric graphic that swaps without tools. Fabricated letters can be built to your sign design for the fascia. Tell us where the sign will hang and the dimensions, and we quote the box, the face and the lighting together.
Installation and approvals
See our installations page for the service, and mention installation on the quote form.
How we make signage in Cape Town
Rigid signs are printed on UV flatbed presses, direct to the substrate, with white ink where clear Perspex needs it. Letters, panels and lightbox faces are cut on our CNC router, which processes sheets up to 3 m × 2 m in acrylic, aluminium composite, PVC foam and more, with clean, repeatable edges. Vinyl for glass is printed, laminated and plotter-cut, and everything is produced under one roof at our factory in Atlas Gardens, Cape Farms, backed by 24-hour operations. Agencies and print brokers can produce the range through our Reseller Partner Programme.
Frequently asked questions
What sign should go on my shopfront fascia?
Fabricated 3D letters or flat cut-out letters for a name with presence, or a Perspex lightbox when the sign must read at night. Both are built to your artwork and the fascia's dimensions.
Chromadek or Dibond for a wall sign?
Chromadek for the familiar coated-steel sign, a welded frame or a large site board; Dibond for a flatter, sleeker panel with routed edges and standoffs. Our materials guide compares them in detail.
How is a Perspex lightbox made?
An aluminium box with an opal Perspex face and translucent graphics, 80 or 150 mm deep, single or double-sided, with optional LED lighting and powder coating, quoted from your dimensions.
Can I have a lit sign indoors?
Yes. An 80 mm Perspex lightbox suits indoors, and a fabric lightbox gives a tension-fabric graphic in an illuminated frame that swaps without tools.
Do I need approval for a sign?
Roadside, building and illuminated signs may need municipal approval, and tenants usually need the landlord's. Check before you order; we can size and design around the rules you are given.
How long does signage take?
A Chromadek sign typically takes five to seven days to produce. Fabricated letters, lightboxes and routed panels are quoted with their own timeline once the design is approved.
Can you install it?
Yes. Our in-house team and our dedicated Cape Town installation partner mount storefronts, corporate interiors and displays; window graphics and decals can also be supplied ready to apply.
Ready to be noticed?
Send us photos and measurements of the fascia, wall or window, tell us whether the sign must be lit, and send your logo. We will recommend the build, make it in our Cape Town factory and mount it for you.
Request a quote