A lot of artists use big vinyl or canvas banners stretched across the front of their canopy. These signs, while large, aren’t as effective as they could be. They block the flow of air into the roof vents, sit above the awning, and most importantly, are parallel to the flow of traffic on the street. A more elegant solution is to hang a smaller sign from the awning support or one of the front canopy legs.

I’ve seen a lot of nice signs handled this way. One advantage to hanging your sign perpendicular to the flow of traffic is that it can be seen by people walking down the street. You do need to keep it as high as possible, so that folks don’t bang into it while walking and so that it is as visible as possible.

I use a sign that’s about 30″ x 10″, printed both sides on DiBond, a metal substrate that is coated, and hang it with a couple of cable ties. It’s durable, it withstands rain and doesn’t bend. A simple logo extends my branding. Sorry about the quality of this shot — I usually take all the signage out when photographing the booth for jury slides, so this is just a reference shot taken with a camera phone at the Birmingham Fine Art Fair in May.

Booth Sign used where no awnings are allowed

This shot shows the sign hanging from the center roof support — no front awnings allowed due to fire code. Again, you have to have enough headroom to make this happen. It works for me since I have a 9 foot high booth, but it probably won’t work with an EZ-UP.