What should a 'closed today' sign say?

The date, the reason if you want to give one, and — most importantly — when you reopen. "Back soon" tells a customer nothing and they will not return to find out; "Open again Thursday 7am" gives them something to act on.

Why does my printed sign have a white edge?

Because it was trimmed slightly inside the artwork. Send a print-ready PDF with 3mm of bleed — the background extended past the trim line — and crop marks, and the trim can fall anywhere in that margin without showing white.

Do I need specific wording on liquor or allergen signage?

Often yes, and it varies by state and licence. Check with your state liquor authority and your local council's health department rather than adapting wording you found online — that is one of the few areas where getting the words approximately right is not good enough.

How big should the text on a door sign be?

Big enough that the key words — a date, a time, a single word like Closed — read from the footpath without stopping. Everything else can be much smaller; the mistake is making all of it the same middling size.

Daily runs5 min read

Staff notices and signs that people actually read

The sign on the door is the first thing a customer reads about you, and quite often it is a piece of A4 in twelve different fonts. Here is what to put on the common ones, and what makes the difference between a sign that gets read and one that gets ignored.

Last updated 24 August 2026

Why the handwritten one costs you

A sign taped to the door in marker says something you did not intend to say. Customers read the state of a notice as the state of the business, and they do it in about a second, before they have read a word of it.

This matters most for exactly the signs written in a hurry — closed today, back at 2, eftpos down. The moments where you least want a customer thinking less of you are the moments the sign gets scrawled.

The five you will need

Almost every venue ends up making the same handful. Worth having them ready.

Closed / opening hours changed — with the date and the time you reopen, not just "back soon".
Staff only — for a door that a customer will otherwise try, repeatedly.
Allergen and dietary notice — what you can tell them, and who to ask.
Cash only / card only / eftpos down — read at the counter, so it has to work small.
Roster or notice for the back of house, which is the one place plain and legible beats designed every time.

What makes a sign readable

Signs fail for boring reasons, and the fixes are mechanical rather than artistic.

One message. A sign that says three things communicates none of them.
The most important words biggest — usually a date, a time or a single word. Somebody should get the point from across the footpath.
Dark text on a light background, at a real size. Light grey small text on white is the commonest way to make a sign invisible.
A date on anything temporary, so an out-of-date sign is obviously out of date rather than quietly wrong.
Say what happens next: when you reopen, who to ask, where to go instead. A sign that only says no leaves the person stuck.

Printing it so it lasts

For a sign that will be up for a day, straight out of the office printer is completely fine and nobody will think about it.

For anything that will live on the door for months, a print shop wants a PDF at the real paper size with bleed and crop marks — that is what stops a white sliver down one edge after trimming. Ask for something laminated or on a heavier stock if it is going somewhere it will be touched.

A note on legal signage

Some signs are not a design decision. Liquor licensing notices, food handling and allergen information, evacuation diagrams and workplace safety signage have specific requirements, and they differ by state and by what you are licensed to do.

We are not going to print those rules here and have you rely on them. Check with your state's liquor and health authorities, or your local council, and make the required wording exactly what they say it should be.

Or let Create & Print do it

Pick a layout, type the words — or have AI draft them when you know what you mean but not how to word it — and print it from the browser for the door. Colours and paper sizes are yours to change and nothing you change can break the layout. Or take the print-ready PDF, with real paper size, 3mm bleed and crop marks, to a print shop for something that will live there a while.

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Questions

What should a 'closed today' sign say?: The date, the reason if you want to give one, and — most importantly — when you reopen. "Back soon" tells a customer nothing and they will not return to find out; "Open again Thursday 7am" gives them something to act on.
Why does my printed sign have a white edge?: Because it was trimmed slightly inside the artwork. Send a print-ready PDF with 3mm of bleed — the background extended past the trim line — and crop marks, and the trim can fall anywhere in that margin without showing white.
Do I need specific wording on liquor or allergen signage?: Often yes, and it varies by state and licence. Check with your state liquor authority and your local council's health department rather than adapting wording you found online — that is one of the few areas where getting the words approximately right is not good enough.
How big should the text on a door sign be?: Big enough that the key words — a date, a time, a single word like Closed — read from the footpath without stopping. Everything else can be much smaller; the mistake is making all of it the same middling size.