A pylon sign is a tall, freestanding sign beside a road or in a car park, built so drivers can see a business from a long way off. Think of the tall signs outside shopping centres, service stations, car yards and fast food outlets. The sign faces sit high on a structure called a pylon, usually one or two posts covered in cladding, so the message clears parked cars, fences and trees.
What pylon signage means
A pylon is a tall supporting structure, and in signage the word covers the whole sign: the base, the column and the faces on top. People often use pylon sign and pole sign for the same thing. Strictly, a pole sign sits on bare poles you can see, while a pylon sign has its posts covered, so the whole sign reads as one solid column.
Types of pylon signs
- Printed panel pylons, with fixed graphics that only change when you replace the panels.
- Lightbox pylons, lit from inside so they can be read at night.
- Shared pylons, with a panel for each business, common at shopping centres and business parks.
- LED pylon signs, with an LED screen on one or both sides that you change from your phone or computer.
Many pylons mix these, with a fixed logo panel at the top and an LED screen underneath for messages that change.
Pylon sign vs monument sign
A monument sign is low and solid. It sits on a base at ground level, often built from brick, stone, rendered block or metal, and it usually stands at an entrance. People read it from close by, walking in or driving slowly into the site.
A pylon sign is tall and is read from further away, at road speed. As a rough guide:
- Choose a pylon when you need to be seen over traffic, from a main road or by drivers coming from both directions.
- Choose a monument sign for an entrance, where people are close and moving slowly.
In Australia, signs at the entrance to a town, estate or school are often called entry statements, and many are built like monument signs. We built a full colour, double-sided LED entry statement for the Shire of Wagin.
LED pylon signs
An LED screen turns a pylon into a sign you can change every day. Show this week’s events, a new product, opening hours or a welcome message, and update it from your phone. You can choose:
- Single colour LED, for text and numbers. It keeps the cost down and is easy to read from a distance.
- Full colour LED, for logos, photos and video. St James’ Anglican School has a full colour LED pylon sign.
- Double-sided pylons, with two faces so traffic from both directions sees your message. Each side can show its own message.
Our FA2 outdoor screens are sealed to IP68 against dust and heavy rain, reach up to 10,000 nits for direct sun, and are fanless, running without air conditioning up to 55 degrees.
Pylon signs for business
A pylon suits any business or organisation that relies on passing traffic or sits back from the road: shops that share a car park, car yards, service stations, pubs, schools and churches. Size it for the road. Drivers need big letters and a short message, and a sign read from 50 metres away can use a larger pixel pitch than a screen read from the footpath.
Approvals in WA
Most new pylon signs need development approval from the local council, and a sign that can be seen from a main road may also need approval from Main Roads WA. Every council sets its own sign policy, so the answer depends on where your sign will stand. Our guide, do you need council approval for an LED sign, explains what usually applies. We help with the application as part of the job, at no extra cost.
Pylon signs in other states
We build pylon signs at our Welshpool workshop, and our own team installs them interstate. We help with approvals in other states the same way we do in WA, at no extra cost.
- Sydney: in NSW, fixed signs can need consent from the council under the state’s advertising and signage rules.
- Melbourne: in Victoria, most electronic and illuminated signs need a planning permit under the council’s planning scheme.
- Brisbane: Brisbane City Council and other Queensland councils control signs through their local laws, so many fixed and digital signs need a permit.
- Adelaide: in South Australia, signs are assessed under the Planning and Design Code, so a fixed digital sign usually needs development approval through PlanSA.
Ask us
See our outdoor LED signs and pylon signs. Send us the address and a photo of the spot, and we will suggest a size and a design and tell you what approval it is likely to need.
Get a free quote, or call Aaron on 0416 053 335 or the office on (08) 9335 7944.
