How to Make Your Own Sale Signs to Print With Tabs

Perhaps you are selling just one item and need an inexpensive way to advertise this item for sale in your community. Or, maybe you want to create your own sales signs with pull-off tabs to sell products you make as part of a home business. Whatever your particular use for your sales signs, creating a sales sign with tabs that can catch the public's eye isn't terribly difficult. You will need to use a graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop as well as your imagination to create successful signs.

Things You'll Need

• Graphics program

Instructions

1. Begin by creating a rough draft of your sign on paper. You may wish to include a photo (or photos) or clip art that you find online. You can locate a great deal of public domain clip art and photos online. It is usually a good idea to include a photo of the item for sale on your sign, but you can add other graphics to give your sign some pizazz.

2. Use a commercial graphics program like Photoshop or Paintshop Pro to create your sales sign, or a freeware program such as GIMP. You will need to create a new document that will become your sign. Begin by picking a background such as white. Add the numbers into the dialog box that match the dimensions of the size paper you intend to have your sign print on. Typically, you will want to add a height of 11½ inches and a width of 8 inches, which is the dimensions of standard paper that you can print on a home printer. Add next your resolution setting. A setting of 300 pixels will give your printed signs a high-quality look.

3. Open any artwork, photos or other graphics you have saved on your computer by selecting “File,” then “Open.” Next, choose “Copy,” then click “Paste.” Each image you bring in will be saved on a layer of its own in the layers panel. Do this for each image you wish to incorporate in your sign's design. Create additional layers for text as well as for your own artistic creations you develop in the program. To do this, click the icon “New Layer” in the layers panel.

4. Use image adjustments and the various tools in the toolbar to create your sign's design. The “Text” tool allows you to add your text selections while the “Move” tool enable you to move text and graphics and position them where you want each element. You should use the “Text” tool to type in (using a small font) the phone number (or whatever information you wish to use on your tabs). Use the rotate and move functions to position the text where you want the first tab to be. You then must copy and paste the content used for the first tab in order to repeat this content on each subsequent tab at the bottom of your sign.

5. Save you sign's final design in a high-resolution JPEG format for printing. Select a professional printing service, or opt to print your own signs. If you are printing your own signs, you can simply use scissors to create the separations between each tab.

References

• Yellow Pages Profit: Custom Flyers and Business Cards