Reception is the only place in an office where a neon sign clearly earns its place. Your logo or company name, sized 100 to 150 cm, on a brushed or printed backboard.
Everywhere else in an office, ask what it is for. A motivational phrase on a wall nobody chose is the most regretted sign we make.
Reception
A reception sign does a real job: it confirms to a visitor that they are in the right building, and it appears behind every photograph taken in that space. That is worth doing properly.
- ✓ Your logo or company name, not a slogan.
- ✓ Sized against the reception desk, roughly its width, typically 100 to 150 cm.
- ✓ Centered at standing eye level, around 150 to 165 cm to the middle.
- ✓ On a brushed or UV printed backboard, so it still reads as a fixture out of hours.
Color in a workplace
| Color | In an office |
|---|---|
| Warm White | Reads as architectural lighting. The safest professional choice |
| White | Crisper and cooler. Suits modern, minimal interiors |
| One brand color | Right when the brand color is close to one of the eighteen |
| RGB | Almost never. A brand with twelve colors has none |
The rest of the office
Meeting rooms, breakout spaces and studios can carry a sign well, particularly one that is photographed or appears on video calls. Open plan desk areas usually cannot. A sign in a working eye line is a light source somebody has to look past all day, and the person who chose it is rarely the person sitting under it.
If you do want one in a working area, mount it out of the direct sight line and leave the dimmer accessible.
Practical
Put it on a smart plug so it follows building hours rather than relying on the last person out. It is rated for 50,000 hours, draws very little and produces almost no heat, so it costs very little to run either way.
For a fitted out office, tell us where the outlet is before the sign is built. The cable exit is set during manufacture and cannot be moved, and a cable running across a reception wall undoes everything else about the installation.
One good sign in reception is worth more than five around the building. Make it your name or your logo, get the brand detail onto a printed board rather than compromising the tube, and let the rest of the office be an office. The signs people ask us to take down are almost always the aspirational phrases, never the logos.
Frequently asked questions
What size neon sign is right for an office reception?
Roughly the width of the reception desk, typically 100 to 150 cm, centered at standing eye level around 150 to 165 cm from the floor. That is large enough to read on entry and to appear behind photographs taken in the space.
Can a neon sign match my exact brand color?
The tube comes in eighteen colors, so an exact match is possible only if your brand color is close to one of them. The better approach for a brand is to put the logo in Warm White or White and reproduce the exact color on a UV printed backboard, where it can be matched precisely. That costs nothing extra.
Can my strapline or registered mark be in neon?
Not below about 5 cm tall, which is the smallest bend possible. Straplines, registered marks and small text go on the printed backboard behind the glowing logo, which keeps them legible without forcing the sign to be enormous.
Should we put a neon sign in an open plan work area?
Usually not in a direct sight line. It becomes a light source people look past all day, and the person choosing it is rarely the person sitting under it. Meeting rooms, breakout spaces and anywhere that appears on video calls work much better.
Can it switch on and off with building hours?
Yes, a standard smart plug handles it. The sign is rated for 50,000 hours and draws very little power, so daily switching causes no wear and running costs are negligible.
We have made neon since 1998, and we still make it ourselves. If something here does not answer your question, ask us.
