Our Limitless line of customizable Print & Design products now includes custom A-frame signs that you can use to advertise your tattoo and piercing shop or even your booth at a body mod convention. These signs can be set nearly anywhere, indoors or out, although they’re most often set on sidewalks outside of shops to draw the attention of passersby. How can you get a custom A-frame sign created to advertise your business? It’s easier than you can imagine… which is hard to believe when you have limitless options to explore your own imagination and display your creations on customized advertising pieces like our A-frame signs!
What Is an A-Frame Sign?
Our A-frame signs, also called sidewalk signs, are free-standing, two-sided signs primarily intended to advertise sales and other specials outside of your shop. Each A-frame sign holds two 22″ x 28″ posters (one on each side), with a 21″ x 27″ visible area once the posters are inside the sign frames. These signs offer shop owners a unique way to display their advertising messages to the public and entice people walking by to stop in and shop or get a body mod.
You can use our A-frame signs as write-on dry-erase boards, to display two custom-printed posters, or to display a custom poster on one side and a hand-written temporary message on the other side. These options give you the utmost versatility in how you advertise your business on a day-to-day, weekly or monthly basis.
Each A-frame sign comes with 2 non-glare acrylic inserts (one for each side) and two custom posters that you can easily insert in the sign simply by snapping open the frame sides, removing the acrylic panels, inserting your posters, re-inserting the acrylic layers, and snapping the frames back over top of the posters. It’s important to note that you can only use wet erase markers on the acrylic inserts when using your A-frame sign as a dry-erase board, or your temporary message will become rather permanent. As for the included posters, you can send us one graphics file to use for both or two files to receive two different posters with your A-frame sidewalk sign. (Contact us if you’re interested in purchasing replacement posters at a later date.)
Note: Although our A-frame signs are intended primarily for outdoor use, it’s best to bring them inside your shop during inclement weather to ensure the longevity of your signage. Rain may wash away your dry-erase board messages, and severe winds or storms may blow your sign down, which could damage it.
How to Order a Custom A-Frame Sign
Hop on over to the A-frames section of our Print & Design Center to start creating your sidewalk advertising masterpiece. You’ll see our 21″ x 27″ A-Frame Sidewalk Signs with 2 Print Outs & 2 Dry Erase Boards there. Just click the product link to visit the product detail page and start building your sign!
Before you place your A-frame sign order, you’ll need to either hire us to design the two custom posters included with it using our Hourly Rate option or you’ll have to design your own poster art, which can be loads of fun if you’re handy with graphics design software like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Use our A-frame sign templates in EPS, AI or PDF format as the foundation for your poster when creating your own A-frame sign graphics. If you open any of these files in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, make sure to change the DPI (dots per inch) to 300 when prompted upon opening the file. The default is often 72 DPI, which is the standard resolution for website graphics. Printed graphics need a higher DPI to print crisply and cleanly. Although we can work with smaller graphics, we want your custom posters to look outstanding, which is why we strongly encourage you to create high-resolution graphics for your A-frame sign posters. If you need additional guidance, check out our helpful Understanding Photo Image Sizes and Printing Color: What Does 4:0, 4:1, and 4:4 Mean? articles.
Once you open your desired template, you’ll see the “Nonvisible Area” indicators that show you where your art will be cut off by the frame that holds the custom posters in place. Make sure no text or graphics that need to be seen in their entirety overlap that margin, which measures 1/2″ on each side of each poster you create. Your design can include full-color graphics, black and white, or a mix as you desire.
After finalizing your poster artwork either with us or on your own, add one of our A-frame signs to cart and go through checkout. You should also email your graphics file (or files, if you want a different-looking poster for either side of the sign) to support@painfulpleasures.com, Attention: Graphics Department. If it turns out that your file is too large to email, request instructions for using our FTP site via an email to Support. For more information on the best ways to send us files, read our How to Send Us Your Files article.
What to Expect After Ordering
Since all of our A-frame signs are custom-made to your specifications and require several steps to ensure your complete satisfaction, please allow us up to a week to make each A-frame sign you order before we ship the completed product to you. We’ll make your sign to order in our Hanover, MD, Print & Design Center, and we’ll touch base with you along the way if we have any questions or concerns about the graphics file(s) you’ve sent us.
When you receive your A-frame sign, you’ll have to decide if you want to decorate the non-glare acrylic inserts with wet erase markers or insert your promo posters right away. The acrylic inserts will already be in the signs, but you’ll need to insert your posters yourself when you’re ready to display them. 
As mentioned above, it’s as simple as snapping off the frames, removing the acrylic inserts, inserting the posters, re-inserting the acrylic inserts, and snapping the frames back onto the sign. You can then open up your sign, which will arrive collapsed, and set it out on the sidewalk in front of your shop or near your booth at a convention.
Have Questions?
We’re here to help! If you still have questions after reading this article and our related articles about photo sizes, color options and how to send us your files, just email us at support@painfulpleasures.com. If you have a graphics-related question, put “Attention: Graphics Department” in the subject line and ask your question in the message body. If you have a product or general sales question, don’t mention the Graphics Department in your subject line; just summarize what you’re emailing us about and give us the full details in the body of your email.
