Cut Vinyl Lettering

Small Vinyl Lettering? How small is possible?

We often make small vinyl lettering for business hours and gallery walls. A common question is, how small is possible. As there are many different fonts, with different weights and complexities there is no one-size-fits-all. A general rule for minimum size is 1cm (3/8″) letter height. Making sure that all lines are at least 2mm thick is also a good way to check if the letters will cut well.

Smaller letters are sometimes possible. But there are several reasons to consider making your lettering larger:

• Durability – tiny letters dont have much adhesive on them to keep them stuck to a window or wall
• Precision – at very small sizes, lettering can become distorted and change the look of the text
• Cost – tiny letters are time consuming to produce so we often need to add a shop-time charge to produce them

Outlining Fonts for vinyl lettering

Fonts are unique to each computer with some coming standard on a device and others being added by the user. If we do not have the your font installed in our system when opening your file, another font is substituted for the original. This will change the look and feel of the design. This can even happen with common fonts as slight changes to the font name can create problems.The solution to this is to “Outline” your fonts. Outlining the font turns the editable font into “curves” or shapes preventing text changes or font changes once you send the file. It is a good idea to also save a non-outlined version to your computer so that you can make text changes later if neccessary.

Check out this simple tutorial on outlining fonts in Adobe Illustrator.

Choosing the right font size for visibility

How to select the right font size for maximum visibility and impact? Will the viewers be walking by? Driving down a busy street? It is important to consider the distance that you want to reach. One simple rule is 1″ of letterheight for every 10′ of viewing distance. Want people to read it from across the street? 30 feet (9 meters) of distance would be 3″ (7.5cm) letterheight for good legibility. 60 feet (18 meters) would be 6″ (15cm) letterheight. See chart below. This simple rule gets you in the ballpark. You can also double it for maximum impact, while at at half of this size it will be barely readable. It is usually best to determine the required letterheight before choosing a sign size. However it is also important to consider the constraints of the area where you will be applying the lettering. For example, if you have a window that is 24″ wide this is an important factor in your text layout. Many people come to us with an idea of having a 6″ letterheight without realizing that this will make the overall words much longer or shorter than they expect.

Have a question about what is possible? Get in Touch.