# LK Design and Build — Site Sign, Production Spec **Panel:** 400 × 600 mm portrait, 3 mm ACM (aluminium composite — Alupanel / Dibond or equivalent), white core, matt or satin face. External, residential renovation site. Generated by `generate_site_sign.py` at the repo root. Re-run it to regenerate every file after any content change. --- ## 1. What to send the printer Send the **PDF**. Everything else is a convenience copy. | Folder | Contents | Use | |---|---|---| | `print-pdf/` | `*-print-bleed.pdf` — 406 × 606 mm, vector, type outlined | **Send this to the printer** | | `print-svg/` | Same artwork as SVG | Editable source / alternative supply format | | `print-png/` | 300 dpi raster, 4795 × 7157 px | Fallback if the printer insists on raster | | `preview/` | 400 × 600 mm trim-only SVG + 900 px PNG | Client review, email, web | | `guides/` | Trim, safe-area and fixing-hole overlay | **Reference only — never send to print** | Every layout exists twice, distinguished by the filename suffix: - `-insta` — QR points at `instagram.com/lkdesignandbuild`, with the Instagram camera mark knocked out of the centre and `@lkdesignandbuild` as the caption. Error correction is stepped up to level H (30% recovery) so the centre knockout costs the code nothing. - `-web` — QR points at `lkdesignandbuild.com.au`, plain, error correction Q. Twenty-eight layouts × two variants = 56 files per format. All 56 codes were decoded from the finished 300 dpi artwork to confirm they scan. All type is converted to outlines, so nothing depends on fonts being installed at the printer's end. There is no linked or embedded raster imagery — the files are pure vector and will hold a crisp edge at any size. ## 2. Dimensions | | | |---|---| | Trim (finished panel) | 400 × 600 mm | | Artwork supplied | 406 × 606 mm (3 mm bleed all round) | | Safe area | 20 mm from trim — all type sits inside this | | Corners | Square on the original nine and on the four minimal layouts (`m1` to `m4`). **20 mm radius on the softened and boutique layouts** (`s1` to `s5`, `b1` to `b4`) — this is a router setting, not artwork, and is a large part of why they read softer | ## 2b. Type case The softened layouts (`s1` to `s4`) set the headline, services line and enquiries label in **capitals**, per Lyda. Capitals in Cormorant Garamond need letter-spacing and run wide, so the headline breaks over two lines at 40 point, landing on a 25 mm cap height. The web address, Instagram handle and licence number stay as literal strings and are not case-styled: an uppercased handle reads as a different handle. `s5b-lower` is the same panel entirely in lower case, kept as a comparison only. ## 2c. The boutique layouts `b1` to `b4` set the phone number in Cormorant Garamond rather than Inter. Two consequences for the printer and for the client: - Cap height drops to 20 to 22 mm, so the number reads comfortably at about 2.4 to 2.7 m rather than the 3.3 m of the softened set. These are gate and doorstep signs. - Cormorant sets numerals as **old-style figures**: the 4 and 7 drop below the baseline. It is why the number looks elegant, and it is fractionally slower to read at a glance. Deliberate, not a fault in the artwork. They also carry no services list on the face. On the four Spine layouts it runs vertically down the left edge at 11 point. **On reading the spine from a car:** it cannot be, and neither could the same list set horizontally. At 11 point the spine has a 6.9 mm cap height, comfortable at about 0.8 m. A 10 m read needs roughly 85 mm of cap height, which no services list fits on a 400 mm panel in any orientation. The element doing the work from the road is the mark, at 86 mm cap and readable at about 10 m. Everything else on these panels is for people who have stopped. **QR size:** 60 mm across the set, giving a 1.33 mm module and a comfortable scan at roughly 600 mm. Dropping `https://` from the encoded address would buy another 10% of module size, but some scanners then read it as plain text rather than a link, so the scheme stays. ## 2d. The minimal layouts `m1` to `m4` are square-cornered and designed to **hang**, like the reference panels. Specify **4 x 10 mm eyelets**, centres 25 mm in from each corner, rather than drilled holes; hang from the top two on a picket or mesh fence with black cable ties or wire, and use the bottom two if the panel needs to be pulled flat. `m1` and `m2` sit on white. Ask the printer whether to **flood white ink or leave the substrate bare**: ACM's own white face is usually cleaner and cheaper than a white flood, at the cost of matching the panel's white rather than `#FAFAFA` exactly. On a matt panel the difference is invisible at arm's length. Each minimal layout exists with and without a QR (`m1-hanging` and `m1-hanging-qr`, and so on; `m4-simple-qr` is the QR version of that layout). The code is 60 mm on every version, matching the rest of the set. They carry one or two contact routes and no services line. That is the point of them, and it is worth confirming with the client that it is understood rather than an oversight. ## 3. Colour Supply as-is; these are the brand values from the LK style guide. | Name | Hex | Role | |---|---|---| | Champagne | `#F2E6D0` | Mark on dark grounds | | Charcoal | `#2C2C2C` | Mark on light grounds | | Gold | `#C9A96E` | Accent, rules, tagline | | Near black | `#0A0A0A` | Dark background | | Cream | `#F5F0EB` | Warm-neutral background | | Flood ink | `#1A1A1A` | Large dark flood areas | | Warm charcoal | `#241F1D` | Dark ground on the four softened layouts. Reads brown-black in daylight rather than switched-off-screen black | | Deep gold | `#9C7A42` | Gold on light grounds, where `#C9A96E` loses contrast | Notes for the printer: - Large dark flood areas print flat and dead on some UV flatbeds. Ask for a **rich black build** (roughly C60 M50 Y40 K100) rather than K-only on the charcoal and near-black grounds. - The gold is a warm tan, not a metallic. Closest common reference is **Pantone 465 C** — request a proof strip before the full run if an exact match matters. Do **not** substitute a metallic gold ink or foil; it goes muddy outdoors and is not what the brand uses anywhere else. - Ask for a **matt or satin anti-glare finish**. Gloss on a north-facing fence in Adelaide sun will blow out the whole panel and photograph badly. ## 4. Print method and durability - **Preferred:** direct-to-substrate UV flatbed print onto the ACM, plus a matt UV clear coat. Expect 3–5 years outdoors before noticeable fade. - **Alternative:** UV print onto cast vinyl, applied to the ACM, matt laminate over. Equivalent life, slightly softer edge detail. - Avoid solvent print with no laminate — the gold is the first thing to shift. ## 5. Fixing Hole positions are shown in `guides/` (magenta = trim, blue = safe area and holes). **Delete the guide layer before printing** — the supplied `print-pdf` files already have no guides in them. - 4 × Ø6 mm holes, centres **30 mm in from each corner**. These stay clear of the 20 mm routed radius, which only cuts the corner squares. - Optional 2 × Ø6 mm at mid-height (30 mm from each side edge, 300 mm from the top) if the panel will sit on a temporary mesh fence in wind. - Hole centres were checked against all twenty-eight layouts — they land in flat field colour on every option and clear all type. - Fix with black nylon cable ties (temp fence) or M5 stainless with black cup washers (solid fence / hoarding). Black hardware disappears; galvanised does not. - On a flat, solid surface you can skip holes entirely: VHB tape plus a bead of neutral-cure silicone. 3 mm ACM at this size needs no frame. ## 6. Legibility — what this panel realistically does Industry rule of thumb is roughly **25 mm of cap height per 3 m of viewing distance** for comfortable at-a-glance reading. | Element | Cap height | Comfortable read | |---|---|---| | LK mark (largest layouts) | 85–94 mm | ~10–11 m | | LK mark (Kerbside layout) | 57 mm | ~7 m | | Phone number (largest, Kerbside) | 36 mm | ~4.4 m | | Phone number (typical) | 24–33 mm | ~3–4 m | | Phone number (softened set, Inter Medium) | 25–28 mm | ~3–3.3 m | | Serif headline | 22–34 mm | ~2.7–4.1 m | The softened layouts trade roughly 0.3 m of number legibility for the lighter weight. That is the cost of the softer look, and it is a fair trade at the distance this panel is actually read from. **Dark or light:** for an external panel on a residential frontage, light wins. It holds contrast in direct sun where a dark panel flares and flattens; it hides the dust and pollen that settle within a week, which a dark panel shows as grey film; it stays cooler and is less prone to bowing on a north-facing fence; and it separates from the fence itself, since dark colourbond, hedging and brick all swallow a near-black panel. Champagne is also the softer of the two. Keep the dark version for a smaller plaque by the door and for portfolio photography. **Read this honestly:** at 400 mm wide, the phone number physically cannot be made to read from a passing car — a 10 m read needs ~85 mm cap height, which would make `0401 061 246` about 770 mm wide. This panel is a **footpath and driveway sign**: the mark reads from across the street, the number reads from the front fence. That is the right job for it. If street-and-car readability is wanted as well, that is a second, larger panel (900 × 600 mm or wider) — the same layouts scale up cleanly because they are vector. Other applied guidance: light-on-dark or dark-on-light only (no gold type on champagne for anything that matters), one dominant message per panel, and mount perpendicular to the footpath rather than flat along the fence line. ## 7. Pre-press checklist - [x] Contact details checked against the live site (Aug 2026): phone 0401 061 246, lkdesignandbuild.com.au, ABN 17 697 207 391, @lkdesignandbuild. Note that the `tel:` links in the website prototypes in this repo still carry a stale 0481 742 026 and should be corrected there. - [ ] Pick the QR destination: `-insta` or `-web`. - [ ] **Scan the printed proof.** The Instagram handle changed to `@lkdesignandbuild` (no trailing underscore) on Lyda's advice and has not been confirmed against a live profile. The website still linked to the old handle in two places; that is fixed in the site source at `~/Projects_Local/lk/index.html`, uncommitted. - [ ] Licence `BLD 359176` replaces the ABN on every panel. Confirm it is correct and that a licence number is what should appear rather than the ABN. - [ ] Proof strip approved for the gold before the full run. - [ ] Guides file not sent to print. ## Sources Legibility and sign-sizing guidance: , , . Architectural / site-board conventions: , .