Buyer Guides
Front-Lit vs Back-Lit Luminous Letters
How front-lit and back-lit construction change the way a shopfront reads from the street.
Front-lit letters throw light at the viewer, so the face is the brightest element on the facade. Back-lit letters hide the source and cast a halo on the wall, so the sign reads as a silhouette.
Front-lit suits signs read across a street or from a moving vehicle. Halo suits textured or dark facades where a bright panel would look like a lightbox bolted on.
The trade-off is distance. At 40 to 50 metres a halo softens into a blur and the letter shape loses definition, which is why back-lit is a poor fit for roadside signage.
