Outdoor Directory Signage in Dubai: Read From a Car, Not a Lobby
An outdoor directory is read by somebody who has just turned into a compound and is deciding where to park. Outdoor directory signage in Dubai carries far fewer entries than an indoor board and much larger type, because the reader is moving and has seconds.
Material: Acrylic · Location: Indoor · Installation: Supply and install
An estimator replies with a firm, VAT-inclusive price and a production date.From your file to the finished job.
Six steps happen between the brief and the finished job. Here they are, in the order they happen on our floor in Dubai South.
It Lists Buildings, Not Companies
A site entrance board shows blocks, buildings and major destinations. Tenant names belong indoors. Putting a full tenant list at a gate produces a board nobody can read from a moving car.
Type Is Sized for the Approach Speed
At walking pace a visitor can read small type. At twenty kilometres an hour they cannot. We size from the actual approach, which usually means fewer lines and much larger characters than clients expect.
It Is Built for Weather and Heat
Aluminium construction, UV stable print or applied vinyl, and a sealed face. Panels are vented so condensation does not form behind the face, which is what fogs a poorly built outdoor board.
Illumination Is Usually Necessary
An unlit directory at a compound entrance is useless after dark, which in winter is from six in the evening. Either an internally lit box or a trough light above it, decided by whether there is power at the position.
It Has to Survive Being Reversed Into
Entrance boards are close to traffic. Posts are set in concrete with the sign height clear of a wing mirror, and we check the turning path before fixing the position.
Panels Are Replaceable
The face is a separate panel in a frame, so a changed building name means a new face and not a new structure. On a compound with several entrances we keep the artwork consistent across all of them, since visitors frequently arrive at a different gate from the one they were told.
Something worth raising now. Signage at a compound or community entrance often needs approval from the master developer, and the rules can cover size, colour and whether it may be lit. We prepare the drawings, but the permission has to be in hand before fabrication.
See also indoor directory signage, pylon signage, and wayfinding signage.
What you get.
- Material
- Acrylic · Aluminium composite (ACP) · Stainless steel · Printed Forex board
- Location
- Indoor · Outdoor
- Installation
- Supply and install · Supply only
- Turnaround
- Usually 5–10 working days
- Proof
- A digital proof before anything prints
- Delivery
- All seven emirates, or collect from Dubai South
What every order includes
- A free prepress check on your file
- A digital proof before anything prints
- One VAT-inclusive quote with a production date
- Delivery to all seven emirates, or collection from Dubai South
Setting up your file.
- 01Send the logo as a vectorLetters and shapes are cut from your outlines, so we need AI, EPS, SVG or PDF, not a screenshot or a JPEG.
- 02Measure the real spaceWidth, height and a straight-on photo of the wall or fascia. The tape measure often disagrees with the drawing.
- 03Send names as textFor plates and directories, send names and titles in a document, so nothing is retyped from an image.
- 04Tell us about power and the wallFor lit signs, where the nearest power point is. For every sign, what the wall is made of.
Complete the order.
Quick answers.
Fewer than you think. It is read from a car.
At an entrance, yes.
Usually the master developer or community.