Okay, we've now reached one of my biggest pet peeves when visiting ANYWHERE for the first time, not just churches. How many times have you gone to an event, the mall or maybe just the doctor and had difficulty finding your way around? That happens to me every time I go to the grocery store.
Fortunately, Wal-mart has mastered the art of the direction sign. Think about it, you walk in and from the front doors, you can spot the large letters in the back designating where the sporting goods department is located. Shoes, Outdoors, Jewelry...the signs shorten your journey. Same thing for the grocery isle. I know right where the condiments are based on the large signs above the isles.
Now, Wal-mart recently threw everyone a curve ball when they tried to make their stores a little more high class. As part of the makeover, they did away with some of their large, horizontal departmental signs and replaced them with harder-to-see, vertical signs with smaller print. If you're not familiar with the layout of a given store, you have to really do some work to find where you want to go.
The same goes with churches. Direction signs aren't among the things on most pastor's priority lists, but they should be among the first things there.
Churches need direction signs. Big ones with large print and arrows to help people know where they're going. Hang them from the ceiling so they're easy to spot above people's heads.
The worst thing a church can do is to not use direction signs to point they way to the children's areas, the restroom, the auditorium or the coffeehouse. The next-to-worst is to have signs that are small print or eye-level that can get lost in crowds.
Directional signage is one of the cheapest, but most inviting non-human things you can include in your building. Think you have a big enough sign? Make it bigger. Your visitors will thank you for it. (Side note: if you have the money to spend, consider video boards, too. TVs always draw people's attention)
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