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Panel decals - typeface, capitalization, hyphenation

walkman

Well Known Member
I'm designing my panel decals and looking for some input.

1) Do people generally use all caps, or mixed case for switches/breakers? Is one more readable than the other?

2) What typeface are people using? No, I won't consider comic sans or any serif type faces :)

3) Is autopilot generally hyphenated or not?
 
I can't speak for all people, but I used:

1. Mixed case

2. Calibri - used Word to create dry transfers

3. I suspect many label breaker AP. Most of the traditional labels in my panel are electronic on the VP/X, which are displayed on the EFIS.
 
In general - All caps and a simple font such as Helvetica or Arial

Bold and abbreviations by personal taste.

MASTER Arial bold

MASTER Arial Black

MASTER Arial

I think looks better than

Master Arial Black

You decide which one is easier to read and comprehend at a quick glance...:)
 
letters etc.

as others have said, make what looks good to you.
there are lots of examples out there, look at as many as you can, and you'll see the 'bad' examples too! ( black letters on a dark brown panel etc.)

Millions have been spent on 'the most legible' lettering studies. Look at a highway sign....most states & provinces are converting the old 'highway gothic' to this font......(to the layperson, yeah, it's a lot like arial or helvetica medium.)

the latest flavour is called 'ClearView' , and exhaustive testing showed faster recognition and longer viewing distances, always with upper and lower case.
that said....esthetically I agree that a nice line of all caps has a certain formaiity to it... I mean, you know it says 'MASTER' not 'Mister'.
If you use some simple design software, it's easy to condense the longer words to reduce the need to abbreviate or hyphenate. ( if you're not savvy, your 9-year old neighbour can help!)

keep in mind, after a few months, you'll want to change something! :)
 
A few things to consider ...

San Serif fonts are easier to read (and thus easier to read quickly).

Caps or mixed is a personal option but for single words and word-pairs, all caps is easier to read (quickly)

Abbreviations are acceptable as long as they are common or meaningful. In this case it really is personal choice. For example, MKR-BCN may be obvious to you but the next builder may want MRKR.BCON as their representation.

If you use abbreviations it helps to be consistent. If you shorten "LIGHTS" to "LTS", then consider doing it everywhere.
 
Just type Comic Sans into Google and see how much talk there is about it....

It's like Marmite - you either love it or hate it :D
 
Arial Rounded MT Bold in Autocad. Used 0.125 height for all major notations like titles and 0.100 for minor notations (like off/on).

Sent files to Stein and purchased 2 sheets of waterslide decals.

12161414934d325d26deccd.jpg
 
Bill's Arial Rounded MT Bold shown above mimics the font that would be used in an engraving machine
- constant width, sans-serif, rounded corners and ends. It's also close to the font that us older
VAF members might have used with an ink pen and letter template in drafting classes pre-CAD...:)

It's a nice choice.


http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/font.aspx?fmid=918
 
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Bill, for your water slide, did you cut out individual areas or is that entire panel a single water slide ?

I did a little bit of both, Glen. I think the image is of individuals but my memory is not clear on that. I did this part twice.

When I drew the panel, I drew the text in position. For the decal sheet that I sent to Stein, I copied all the text AND the switch hole circles with centerline marks into an 8.5 by 11 inch rectangle. The hole marks greatly simplified positioning the decals.

Early on, I tried to slide one big decal but it was a bit unweildy. Wrinkles were a pain. I wound up going down to a size of 3 or 4 switches at once. It was manageable for me and it kinda matched the switch groupings on my panel.

Gil is right on. :) Maybe his comment is why I like this font. I did plenty of lettering the old way before CAD. My dad built the audio panel for our '65 Mooney from scratch and used a drafting set to letter the face with india ink. It was beautiful. He was a real craftsman.
 
Is the name of the font "Axial" or "Arial"? Gil's link went to Arial and I cannot find Axial as stated in rzbill's post.

It looks like Arial Unicode MS Bold is a pretty close match. I can't find "rounded".
 
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Sorry if I typo'ed that (axial vs arial).
If I did, somebody went in and fixed it for me. :eek:
 
For those looking to do water slide decals, here is a tip. Microsoft PowerPoint produces "dimensionally accurate" output. I created "templates" for the common B&C switches and Klixon breakers. I used the full layout to mark for drilling and the deleted all but the text for the water slide printing.

switches_breakers_thumb-575x422.png
 
I made my own waterslide decals using my HP inkjet printer a couple of years ago. I found the blank waterslide decal paper at Hobby Lobby (I think it's made by Testor's - the model paint folks) and it comes in clear as well as colors. I made a replacement 'limitations' placard for my Cessna and when I got the font right, it looked exactly like the factory placard. I think the media cost me about $8 for five 4"x6" sheets.

Roger Pierce
Broken Arrow, OK
 
Are those of you using water slide covering with clear or leaving it exposed?
I wounder how it reacts with the clear. Since I am painting my plane with base/clear I had planned on doing the same with the panel.
 
Mark, I'm finishing a multi-part article on my panel update and have a section on the paint and labels. I clear coat over the water slide. The short answer it it works well with some caveats. I'll link the article to a VAF post in about a week.
 
Arial Rounded MT Bold in Autocad. Used 0.125 height for all major notations like titles and 0.100 for minor notations (like off/on).

Sent files to Stein and purchased 2 sheets of waterslide decals.

I did similar, but used 10pt (0.139") font and custom rub-down lettering. Used Visio to do the layout. Multiple copies of the legends on the sheet in case I messed up (which I did). Nest things like on the old model decal sheets to maximize use of the sheet. I was also able to revise one switch later by carefully scraping off the old legend. Works great.
Been a while, but might have been these guys:
http://www.cliffdigital.com/services/color-transfers-and-letraset/color-transfer-ordering-and-pricing
 
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Hmmmmm ...

How did that work? All my inkjet printer ink is BIGtime soluble in water ... it would disappear on a decal sheet in h20. ??
 
Are those of you using water slide covering with clear or leaving it exposed?
I wounder how it reacts with the clear. Since I am painting my plane with base/clear I had planned on doing the same with the panel.

I can show you some pictures of my bike that I built last year. Most of the graphics are waterslide with the exception of the white on the carbon fiber, that's paint using a paint mask.
After applying the white and blue and then the waterslides, I clear coated over all of it including the bare carbon with House of Kolors clear.
With the exceptions of the white and blue paint..everything else is waterslide printed on a color laser at the office. I couldn't be happier with it and it looks at least as good as any bike costing 5 times as much that I've seen.
What I learned from that fun little project is that someone else is painting my plane! I can do it and it's not even all that difficult..but **** its a lot of tedious work to do well.

Long and the short of it is waterslide really is amazing stuff. You cant see any edges or anything through the clear. I was skeptical, but not any more. I used THIS STUFF

IMG_2083.jpg

93703055.jpg
 
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Bill - that is one SWEET ride!

Nice road bike...you should get a hobby though! :)

man, those are some TINY pedals...what size are your shoes.....ONE! :rolleyes:

somehow I don't think you oughta leave that parked unattended outside 7-11!

ah, to keep this decal related, I was amazed how good the Brother imprintable label maker worked. quite a bit of flexibility in letter size and spacing, black on clear film actually looks ok...on a beige panel. Probly not so good on a darker colour.
 
inkjet printer ink is soluble in water ... it would disappear in water

I had the same problem with laser printed decals.

The trick is to print out your decals, then spray a light clear coat on the decals and let it dry before you attempt the water bath.
 
If you are not close to a Hobby Lobby, or you fear that your man card might be revoked for going there (it's not all plastic flowers and doll parts) then ebay is a good source for waterslide paper too: try this link.
 
This is exactly why we charge more than a few dollars for a sheet of waterslide decals...while the inkjet and laser ones can be somtimes made to work, the ink is occasionally is not of good quality (UV, water, etc..) and moreso with inkjet than with laser - the laser usually does a far superior job if you're doing it yourself. Most of the shops like ours use a dye sublimation printer for decals. It's also one of he only ways you can actually print in white, foils, or other light colors. As noted, if you do use the laser or inkjet type printer, make sure to use some sort of clear or bonding agent over the labels before applying them to a panel. The pic below is a Lancair panel we just shipped out today (sorry for the fuzzy iPad pic)...but this one has all sorts of neat decals all over it. Properly applied and clearcoated, the edges literally just dissapear. You can and will have the same result with your own decals if you are careful!

Cheers,
Stein

8540985486_491d6194b5_z.jpg
 
I considered dry transfer but when I looked at $100 or more for the necessary equipment, it didn't make scense for my one panel. If I were in production, it would be well worth it.
 
This is exactly why we charge more than a few dollars for a sheet of waterslide decals...

Highly recommended gang. Just lay out exactly what you want in MS Word, email it to the Great White North, and Stein's elves send back decals that work.

Shoot the color base and one light coat of clear, cure, wet sand lightly to slick out the surface, then apply the decals. Shoot three coats of clear, block sand wet (with a small hard rubber block) over the decals to level the clear with the surrounding surface. Shoot one more clear and you're done. The decals are buried in the surface. You can't see or feel the edges, and you can't damage them without chipping the clear.

PPG has a matte clear.

I fiddled around with a bunch of ideas and this beats anything I ever tried.
 
DanH - great advice on the process. I did my own water transfer slide labels but followed your instructions (which you posted elsewhere at some point). The decals are safely and cleanly burried under clear.
 
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