|
1. Brass or bronze numbers. This is essentially an "invisible" number. If sunlight or
another light should reflect at just the precise angle to hit your eye, the number becomes visible for a split-second.
It's like a flash and then it's gone. Unless that happens, this number is invisible in the day and useless at night. It
will blend in with any surrounding background. You can be a foot away, looking, and still miss it. It doesn't matter if
the number is ten inches high. These numbers are horrible. Please don't get a brass or a bronze number. You are wasting
your money.
2. The number is written in handwriting. It looks fancy but it's very hard to see from
the road. We need a plain Arabic number.
3. The number is too far from the porch light. Sometimes
the number is too close and the light can outshine it. The number should be about twelve inches from the light. Often it's impossible to see the number at night with the porch light turned off. Make sure the light is on, even in the near dusk hours. Replace that burnt out light bulb.
4. Part of the number is missing. We
can forgive you if the first one is gone but not the last one. Worn out
numbers are also a problem. Keep your numbers maintained.
5. The number is too small. You have
to get out of the car and walk to get close enough to read it. Sometimes
you can't tell it's a number from the road. Mailbox numbers should be at least three inches high. House numbers four inches high.
6. The number on the house is only two
feet above the ground. Some numbers are on the grass line or porch
floor. How do they expect you to notice? The number should be displayed at eye level or
higher.
7. The number is on the face of the front door.
This is a very bad place to put it because people tend to leave the door
wide open. That will hide the number completely out of view. Sometimes people hang
stuff on the door and it blocks or partially obscures the number.
8. The number is the same color as the
house. It blends in like a chameleon.
9. The number has a light color and the
house has a light color. For example, a brass number on yellow or white.
You need a black number or any dark color.
10. The number is a dark color and so
is the house. It might be black numbers on brick. This situation calls for a white number. Please get a
number with a light color for a dark background.
11. The so-called "front" door is set back from
the front of the house. Sometimes the "front" door is located on the side of the house. In this case, the number doesn't belong near the
door. It belongs on the actual front of the house.
12. The number is on the overhang above the front porch. At night, when the porch light is turned on, the number is directly in front of the light. This outshines the number. Sometimes the number is shadowed by the overhang. Either way, you can't see the number at all. Please put the number on the same wall as the light so the light can shine on the number.
13. Sixes that look like eights. Ones
that look like sevens. The more fancy the number looks, the harder it is to distinguish
at a distance. We need a plain font style.
14. Some individual numbers come with
their own background. When you arrange them to form the house number, you need to
make the backgrounds touch so there is one large background. If there is a gap between backgrounds, the numbers will
blur when seen from a distance.
15. Christmas, Halloween, or any other holiday decorations that obstruct the number. Sometimes they block the number
completely. Please make sure to decorate around the number. The Christmas lights can be arranged to shine on the number to make it more noticeable.
16. Silver numbers on black background.
In the day, this needs to be extra large and extra bold to be readable.
This color scheme is not visible at night, no matter how big, so please don't use it. At night, the shiny silver does not have enough reflectivity to stand out against the black background. There is not enough light/dark color contrast. Don't use this color scheme.
17. The number is on the mailbox door.
This means it does not face traffic. It faces the street, which is 90 degrees
away from traffic. You can't see the number until you stop in front of the
mailbox. At night, headlights can't shine on the number. This is a serious problem. The number must go on the side of the mailbox facing traffic.
18. Stone engravings with no distinct
color for the number. You can't see the number at any distance. It blends
in with the rest of the stone. The number needs a color of its own, distinct from the
background.
19. Wood engravings. From a distance, wood engraved numbers are
very difficult to see. The number needs a distinct color to set it apart from the background. At night,
the porch light casts a shadow on every part of the engraving so you can't see it. Please
don't have a wood carved number.
20. Motion detector porch lights. They
don't activate until you get close. By then, you're usually on foot and this
is way too late. We need a constant porch light.
21. The number is posted on a vertical
column. There is not enough background. Sometimes the porch light shines
from behind the column so you can't see the number at all.
22. The house is set back from the road. You can't see the number because it is too far away. In this case, the number does not belong on the house. You need a
lawn sign next to the road.
23. The flag on the mailbox blocks the
number. Please move it out of the way.
24. Only your last name appears on the
mailbox. This creates a problem if your order has a different
name on it. Sometimes two houses on the block will have the same last name. Even if you did not order pizza, we would like to use your
number as a reference point to find other houses.
25. Too much information with the house number. We really don't need your street name, last name, first names, and the names of your pets. All this information clutters and creates a blur when viewed from a distance. Please show only the address number and nothing else.
26. Long houses with the number far away from the front door. It's bad enough when the number is over the garage door. Some houses have the number on the edge of the building and the front door is on the opposite end. The number needs to be in the general area of the front door.
27. The number is spelled out in Roman
numerals.
28. The number is displayed vertically
or diagonally. This isn't much of a problem, but people tend to associate by reading left to right.
It's more difficult to notice other patterns from a distance. |
