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Since its initial publication in 2003, the United States Sign Council Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Signs has clearly established the benchmark for the determination of optimum exterior sign visibility, legibility, and placement. It is, in fact, the only comprehensive set of sign industry visibility guideline standards accepted for publication and distribution by the American Planning Association in its signature sign code offering, "Street Graphics and the Law," originally published by APA in August of 2004.

In that influential planning publication, it is the USSC Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Signs, that are used to set the parameters for proper sign size, height, and placement, and which now set the criteria for planners engaged in sign code development throughout the country.

If you are involved in obtaining sign permits, zoning variances, or in helping with the development of a new sign code or sign code interpretation for your municipality, it is the USSC Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Signs, and their acceptance for publication by the American Planning Association that can make a huge difference in how your submissions and presentations are evaluated.

That's because the USSC Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Signs, are based on over a decade of scientific research into optimum sign legibility and its direct effect on motorist situational awareness and traffic safety! This body of research has now been accepted and recognized not only by the American Planning Association, but by a number of other prestigious professional societies also dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traffic safety made possible through the effective use of on-premise signs.

This safety concept is now even more significant because, based on additional USSC funded research, the USSC Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Signs have been updated to include not only size and placement criteria for freestanding, or perpendicular oriented, signs, but for all types of wall or parallel oriented signs as well. Did you know, for example, that in order to achieve the same relative legibility as a freestanding sign directly within a viewer's line of sight, the copy on an average wall sign parallel to the viewer's line of sight, should be at least three times as large!

If you're looking for the proper ammunition to face off against the variance board, then this is one of the most practical studies for signage best practices.

The new edition of the USSC Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Signs, now available from USSC in either print or PDF download, includes this latest information and the simple formulas and/or look-up tables for use in presenting designs for properly sized signs to both town planners as well as customers.

For sign companies who understand the immense value of having science on their side when they need to make the case for adequately sized and positioned on-premise signs, the USSC Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Signs are indispensable.

You can obtain a copy or copies of the print edition 46 page 2008 revised USSC Best Practices Standards for On-Premise Signs by accessing the publications page at www.ussc.org, it's (11) or by simply calling the USSC office at 215-785-1922. Cost of either print or PDF download is $10 for USSC members, or $25 for non-members.

Full information on USSC membership is available at www.ussc.org. It pays to belong!