Community Facility Signage Planning Checklist

Write down every message the group wants the site to carry, one line each, before anybody discusses boards, materials or positions.

A list of messages is much easier to prune than a list of signs, and most sites carry several nobody would choose again.

Note who each message is meant for, such as a hirer, a passer-by, a delivery driver, a pupil or a resident, and where that person would be standing.

A message written for the wrong reader ends up in the wrong place, which is why so many community signs are never read.

Mark the messages that really depend on somebody being present rather than on a notice, and carry those forward as separate questions.

A sign supervises nobody, and separating those expectations early stops signage being relied on to do something it cannot.

Walk the site and photograph every sign already there, including faded ones, laminated notices and anything screwed to a fence long ago.

Most groups are surprised by what is already displayed in their name, and some of it contradicts what they are about to put up.

Note where two existing signs say different things, such as different opening times or different contacts, and decide which of them is right.

Contradictory signs undermine everything else on the site, and they are found only by walking round and reading them all.

Mark the messages that would state what is permitted, required or prohibited, and carry them forward as questions rather than drafting them.

Wording stating what is permitted or prohibited must be confirmed with the local authority and a suitably qualified adviser.

Draft the intended wording in plain language and read it aloud to somebody who does not use the site, noting anything they misread or query.

Wording that is clear to a committee is regularly ambiguous to everybody else, and reading it aloud finds that quickly.

Mark any wording claiming that something is safe, permitted, prohibited, supervised or approved, and set it aside as a question for others.

Statements about what is safe, permitted or approved belong with the relevant authority and a suitably qualified adviser.

Decide and record whose agreement is needed on final wording, whether that is the committee, the governing body of the school, the landowner or all of them.

Agreement on wording is easy to arrange in advance and awkward to obtain once a sign has already been made.

Check that proposed wording matches what the hire agreement and booking terms already say, and note any point at which the two differ.

A sign that contradicts the hire agreement weakens both, and the two are usually written by different people at different times.

Note whether the group intends to say anything about dogs, ball games, cycling or conduct, and confirm locally what may be stated at this site.

What may be restricted or stated at a site is confirmed with the local authority and the landowner, not decided by a committee.

Consider how a wall of prohibitions would make the facility feel, and decide how much of the message could be put positively instead.

Community facilities are judged on how welcome they feel, and signage is usually the first thing any visitor reads.

Decide whether contacts appear as a role rather than a named individual, and record the reason for whichever the group chooses.

Named individuals move on, and a sign carrying a former secretary name is the most familiar fault on community sites.

Write down how somebody actually books the facility now, and check that the description on any sign matches what happens in practice.

Booking routes change quietly, and signage describing an old arrangement generates enquiries that nobody receives.

Keep a written register of every sign, its wording, where it is fixed and when it was last read through and checked.

A register is what makes an update possible; without one, nobody can say how many signs still carry the old information.

Decide who is responsible for updating signs when a contact, arrangement or opening time changes, and record that as a named responsibility.

Updating falls between committee roles, which is why community sites carry contradictory information for so long.

Ask the relevant authority what location information somebody would need to give if help were ever required at this site, and record what they say.

What emergency or location information should be displayed is confirmed with the relevant authority and never composed by a committee.

Agree a point at which all signage is read through against the register, and note who is responsible for carrying out that review.

A review belonging to a named role happens, while one belonging to everybody on the committee does not.

Ask people who have visited recently where they went wrong, and write down the specific gate, turning or entrance that confused them.

Visitors describe the problem precisely, and it is almost never the place the committee would have guessed.

Note which entrance visitors should use, whether that differs for deliveries and maintenance, and what each entrance looks like from outside.

Sites with several entrances need each one labelled for its purpose, including the ones visitors should not use.

Check what the site is called on the lease, in the booking arrangements, in correspondence and on any existing sign, and settle on one name.

Community sites often carry several names, which is enough on its own to send a visiting group to the wrong place.

Walk the route from the parking area or nearest stop to the facility and note every point at which a stranger would hesitate.

Hesitation points are where signs earn their place, and walking the route as a stranger is the only way to find them.

Note any position where a sign would face a road or stand near a junction, and carry that forward as a question for the local authority.

Any sign visible from or placed near a road must be confirmed with the local authority before it is put up.

Note what temporary signage is put out for occasions, who puts it out, who takes it in and where it is kept between times.

Temporary signs left up after an occasion become the permanent signage of a site, and they are usually the worst of it.

Decide and record who holds authority to name or rename the facility, and whether the landowner or the school must also agree.

Naming disputes are governance questions, and they are far easier to settle before a board is made than afterwards.

Check what any funding agreement requires by way of acknowledgement, including what must be displayed and where it must appear.

Display and acknowledgement conditions in a funding agreement are settled with the awarding body before any board is ordered.

Decide how local supporters and contributors are recognised, and whether that recognition is intended to be permanent or to be reviewed.

Recognition offered informally becomes an expectation, and the group needs a position it can apply consistently to everybody.

Note whether any commercial acknowledgement is contemplated, and confirm locally what may be displayed at a site of this kind.

What commercial signage may be displayed at a site is confirmed with the local authority and the landowner.

Note whether any part of the facility carries a memorial name, and record what was agreed with the family and when it was agreed.

Memorial arrangements outlast committees, and the agreement is remembered only if somebody wrote it down at the time.

Decide what happens to an acknowledgement if a supporter withdraws or an arrangement comes to an end, before the board is made.

Boards outlive arrangements, and removing a name without an agreed position is a conversation nobody wants to improvise.

Note who owns each fence, wall, post or building a sign might be fixed to, and whether the group may fix anything to it at all.

Permission to fix anything to a boundary, building or structure must be obtained from its owner before work is planned.

Note whether fixing to a fence or enclosure would affect it, and raise that with whoever installed or now maintains it.

Fixings into an enclosure can affect how it performs and who is responsible for it, which is worth asking about first.

Note whether anybody has suggested fixing a sign to a tree, and carry it forward as a question rather than a convenient answer.

Anything fixed to or affecting a tree must be raised with a qualified arboricultural professional and the local authority.

Note where a freestanding sign would have to stand, what is buried there and what it would mean for mowing and access around it.

A post in the middle of a mown area becomes a strimming job for good, and the person doing it is rarely consulted first.

Note whether any position would stand where it blocks the view along a path, through a gate or across a vehicle route.

Whether a sign obstructs sightlines for drivers or site users is a question for the local authority and a qualified professional.

Note any suggestion that signage should be illuminated or reflective, and treat consent, supply and neighbours as separate questions.

Illumination turns a signage question into a lighting question, with an entirely different set of people who have to be asked.

Decide who reads and checks the signs on site, and how a faded, damaged or missing sign would be reported to somebody able to act.

Signs are read by visitors and never by the group that put them up, which is how faded boards survive for so long.

Decide the group position on temporary laminated notices, since they multiply, and note who is permitted to put one up.

Laminated notices are the fastest way a well-signed site becomes a cluttered one, and nobody remembers who added which.

Note what has happened to previous signs at this site, including graffiti, removal and weathering, and exactly where it happened.

Where boards have been attacked or weathered before describes this site far better than any general expectation about signage.

Decide whether replacements should match what already exists, and record that so a future committee does not have to guess.

Signage becomes mismatched one replacement at a time, and a written intention is the only thing that prevents it.

Agree that obsolete signs come down when a new one goes up, and record who is responsible for taking them away.

Old signs left alongside new ones are the reason visitors read the wrong information at community sites.

Keep the message list, register, photographs and recorded agreements together so that the same information goes to everybody consulted.

Holding those papers together is what lets a later committee understand why each sign says what it says.