What to put on a work van, and what to leave off
Your van is parked outside a job for hours at a time. Here is how to make those hours work, in four lines of text.
The short version
Name, trade, one phone number, one area. Big enough to read from the far pavement, in two colours, and nothing else. Everything a van owner is tempted to add makes the four things that matter harder to read.
A blank white van is the only advertising you already own and are not using. It sits outside a customer's house for a morning. It waits at lights. It is parked on a street where the neighbours are the exact people who might need you next.
The mistake almost everyone makes is treating that space like a website. A website is read by someone who chose to look at it, at arm's length, for as long as they like. A van is read by someone who did not choose to look at it, from across a road, in about two seconds, often while moving.
Two seconds is the whole brief. Everything below follows from it.
The four things that have to be on it
In this order of size, largest first:
- What you do. Not your business name - your trade. “Plumbing” or “Gardening” or “Appliance repair”. Someone who needs a plumber is scanning for the word plumber, not for a name they have never heard.
- Your business name. This is what they will try to remember, or search for later.
- One phone number. One. Big. The number is the whole point of the van.
- Where you work. A town or a couple of areas. It answers “do they come out to me?” before anyone has to ring and ask.
That is it. Four lines. If you are arguing with yourself about a fifth, it belongs on the website.
The trade goes above the name, because nobody is looking for you. They are looking for what you do.
What to leave off
Everything here is on somebody's van right now, and every one of it makes the four things above smaller.
- A list of services. Twelve bullet points at the size they have to be to fit is twelve things nobody reads. Your trade already implies most of them.
- Your email address. Nobody has ever typed an email address off a moving van.
- Your full postal address. Customers come to you or you go to them - either way, the address belongs on the website and the Google listing.
- Social media handles. Same problem as the email, plus the icons eat space.
- A website address, if the name gives it away. If you are Marsh Plumbing at marshplumbing.co.uk, the name is the web address. Print it once, small.
- Stock clip art. A generic spanner or leaf says nothing your trade name has not already said, and it dates fast.
Making it readable from across the road
This is the part signwriters wish more customers understood, and it is mostly three decisions.
Size
Stand at the far kerb, about the width of a road away, and look at your van. Anything you cannot read from there is decoration. In practice this means the phone number wants to be the height of a hand span, not the height of a finger.
Contrast
Dark text on a white van, or light text on a dark van. That is the whole rule. Mid-grey on white, or red on dark blue, looks fine on a screen at arm's length and disappears at twenty metres. If you are unsure, squint at the design - if it goes mushy, so will the van.
One typeface, no slants
One family, two weights at most. Italics, scripts, outlines, drop shadows and gradients all cost legibility and buy nothing at speed.
Four lines, largest to smallest
Twelve service bullets at one size
Ink on white, or white on ink
Mid-grey on white, or colour on colour
One bold sans-serif
Script, italic or outlined type
One phone number
Phone, mobile, email and two handles
Plain flat colour
Gradients and drop shadows
Where it goes on the van
Both sides and the back door, and they do different jobs.
- The sides are seen by people on the pavement and by drivers you pass. They carry all four things.
- The back is seen by the driver behind you, stuck at a light, for far longer than anyone sees the sides. It only needs the trade and the number, very large.
- The bonnet and roof are seen by almost nobody. Skip them.
Try this now
Before you approve anything, ask the signwriter to show the design on a photograph of your actual van, not a generic template. Sliding doors, window lines and body creases move text in ways a flat drawing hides.
Before you send it to the signwriter
A signwriter needs a file, not a description. Handing over a print-ready file is the difference between getting your design and getting their interpretation of it.
0 of 8 checked
That last one matters more than it sounds. A customer who saw the van on Tuesday and finds your website on Thursday should not have to work out whether it is the same firm. It is the whole argument for settling the identity once.
A few common questions.
How much does van lettering cost?
The design and the application are two separate costs. A signwriter or wrap shop charges for cutting and applying the vinyl, which depends on the size of the van and how much of it you are covering - simple lettering on both sides and the back is the cheap end, a full wrap is the expensive end. The design file is a separate job, and once it exists it can be applied to a second van, a sign or a flyer without being redrawn.
Can I letter a leased van?
Usually, but check the lease first. Most lease agreements allow vinyl lettering as long as it is removed cleanly at the end of the term, and some specifically forbid full wraps or anything that needs adhesive on trim. Cut vinyl lettering on flat panels is the safest option, and a good fitter will remove it without marking the paint.
Is a full wrap worth it over plain lettering?
For most local trades, no. A wrap costs several times what lettering does, and the four things that actually bring in calls - trade, name, number, area - are the same either way. A wrap makes sense when the van itself is the shopfront, such as a mobile coffee or grooming business, where the vehicle is what the customer walks up to.
What if my business name does not say what I do?
Then the trade goes first and larger, and the name goes underneath. Somebody looking for a plumber will not stop to work out whether Hartley & Sons might be one.
Do I need my registration or licence numbers on it?
That depends on your trade and where you work. Some regulated trades and vehicle classes have display requirements, and some trade bodies ask members to show a membership mark. Check with your own trade body rather than guessing, and if a mark is required, put it small and low where it does not compete with the four main lines.
