Who speaks for the sign industry? Do you? Does the guy down the street? Is our reputation the result of our best work on public display—or the victim of a perception that there are just too many old and ugly signs in our neighborhoods?
Happy 2008. My resolution for readers is to make sure you get your questions about sign law and policy issues identified upfront. If we don’t correctly identify the questions, how in the world will we ever figure out the right answers? As to the answers, stay tuned for my future columns!
I’ll start with my questions. Please add yours, or comment on mine, by letting me hear from you. My e-mail address is at the start of the column.

WHAT IS YOUR SIGN LIFETIME?
When you have an order to manufacture an on-premise sign for a customer, what are your responsibilities? That seems easy to answer: make the sign according to specifications and approved design, get the necessary permits (you do wait to get all the necessary permits, right?) and install the sign at the site in a safe and workmanlike manner. Then you get paid (eventually) and move on to the next customer.
There your sign lives, so to speak, the rest of its life. Early on, the colors are vibrant, all the electrical components working, interior or exterior illumination functioning to help sell the business. Over time, maybe the colors dull, the transformer has a field failure or the lighting deteriorates. But now the sign you made and installed belongs to the business and, by extension, to the larger community that regulates on-premise signs.
If the on-premise signs we produce as an industry fail over time, is that a failure of your company? Or, of your customer? Or, of the sign industry itself?

BUT WHO IS THE SIGN INDUSTRY?
Is the sign industry you as the sign manufacturer? Or, you as the sign designer? Or, you as the company that installs and maintains on-premise signs? Or, by extension, is the sign industry in part at least the collective total of all the signs purchased by the end-user?
Is your customer the final arbiter of the price of the sign? By controlling the price of sale, then don’t all sign customers dictate what the effective lifetime of a sign is? Think about it, you have driven nearly all variable costs out of your manufacturing, but the customer still wants cheap, cheap, cheap. Maybe let’s scrimp on design; you swallow permit costs and headaches. Or, the customer just bolts to that guy down the street, you know the one, “Most Wanted” by the Sign Police for putting ugly and unsafe signs out in the world for low cost.
At this point, hasn’t the sign user imposed the consequences of its fixation on low costs on the larger community? And who gets to answer for that? Does the sign industry have such little market power that it, based on experience of what works, cannot impose reasonable quality, size and safety standards that meet the needs of both customers and of communities?

EFFECTIVE SIGN STANDARDS
Is it your job as the sign company? All the time, or just when a problem arises? Or, is it the responsibility of your customer? After all, isn’t the safe, aesthetic sign of a proper size one of the most direct ways to increase sales for an on-premise business?
Or, is the fight for standards the job of a sign association? But which one? The sign industry in the United States ostensibly has two national associations. The first, Association A, started nationally with a focus on electric on-premise signs and has grown into an international association and the organizer of the largest tradeshow in the industry. The second, Association B, started regionally with a focus on custom sign companies and now has nationwide membership.
But we have a small problem. Association A believes it speaks for the sign industry. But Association B has invested in sponsorship of some of the most comprehensive sign effectiveness research ever available in the United States. Association B’s research is recognized by the planning community as the standard for sign sizes and addresses related safety and legibility issues. Back at Association A, the size standards that are discussed are appreciably smaller.
So then, where do we turn for answers on sign standards, including effective sizes for safety? And what are the consequences of not knowing for sure?

WHAT ARE SIGNS?
Now to the hard questions. Is a sign what you know to be a sign? Of course. Or is a sign what your customer puts up on his building? Maybe. What if that building sign is a temporary banner rather than a permanent on-premise sign?
Is a sign a billboard? If all billboards are, by some definition, signs, then what impact does the behavior of the billboard industry have on the on-premise sign industry? If the public hates “too many” signs, but actually means that its city has too many billboards, what impact does that have on your business as a manufacturer of on-premise signs?

WHAT DO THE REGULATORS THINK?
Lastly, we have thousands upon thousands of jurisdictions in the United States under the effective control of either professional planners or citizens appointed or elected to oversee planning and development. These entities are the battlefront where effective, aesthetic, safe signs can come about as the right standard. But not if those professionals and citizens are inherently “anti-sign”.
That anti-sign prejudice stems in part from the—brace yourself—sign clutter that defines far too many of our metropolitan streets and neighborhoods. If our regulators see a continuing problem but the sign industry—whoever that is—cannot say the words “clutter,” is that not a fundamental failure to communicate that is costing each and every member of our industry?
Whose responsibility is it to turn those anti-sign perceptions around? And, what would we say if we had the chance? “See you in court”? “Just this one variance this one time”? “Amortization? Never!” If these responses are not getting the job done, what responses might work?

The right answers are out there. We have to believe that and make our way forward to find them.

The Fine Print: This column is meant to explore issues of importance to your business. I am not offering legal advice. You will always need to consult with your attorney and other business advisor before considering any of the ideas discussed in this column.