In summary, your design selections will be made on a combination of (1) viewer requirements (readability and attention-getting, which determines sign size and mounting, text size, layout, and font style and color) ,(2) the message you want to convey, and finally  (3) the style you want to convey (formal, elegant, playful, rustic, western, nautical, natural, casual, exciting, boisterous, comic , etc.). The style for a up-scale French restaurant will be different from that of a dude ranch, a night club, or a auto supply store. If you have a logo or crest, you may want to incorporate this into the design, After you have determined the readability, message and style you want, select shape, artwork, color scheme, and font style to support this style. Our shapes, colors, artwork, layout,  and font styles provide wide choices in sign design.