Almost every lettering job that disappoints someone is the wrong size, not the wrong colour or font. The fix is one number: roughly 1 inch of letter height for every 10 feet of viewing distance.
| Letter height | Readable from | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 1" | ~10 ft | Hours, small print, door detail |
| 2" | ~20 ft | DOT numbers (2" is the federal minimum), phone numbers |
| 3" | ~30 ft | Door lettering, office names |
| 4" | ~40 ft | Small storefront windows |
| 6" | ~60 ft | Storefront name, truck door name |
| 8" | ~80 ft | Boat transom, larger storefront |
| 10" | ~100 ft | Building fascia, big window |
| 15" | ~150 ft | Read from a moving car |
| 24" | ~240 ft | Highway-visible, building side |
The distance most people get wrong: measure to where the reader actually is, not to the far edge of the parking lot. Someone walking up to your door reads it from 6 feet. A driver at a light reads your truck from 25. Sizing for the furthest possible viewer is how a simple door set turns into a $200 order.
| Surface | Main line | Supporting lines |
|---|---|---|
| Glass entry door | 2–3" | 1–1.5" |
| Storefront window | 6–12" | 3–4" |
| Truck / van door | 3–6" | 2–4" (DOT min 2") |
| Boat transom | 6–10" | 3–4" (hailing port) |
| Office wall | 4–8" | 2–3" |
| Yard / job-site sign | 3–5" | 1.5–2" |
When a shop says 6 inch letters, they mean the cap height — the top of a capital letter to the baseline. Descenders on letters like g, p and y hang below that, so a line of 6 inch text can occupy 8 inches of actual space. Script fonts exaggerate this further. Always leave room for more than the stated height.
The designer sets letter height in real inches and shows the true finished size as you type, so you can hold the dimensions against the actual door or truck before anyone cuts anything. Then see what it costs at that size.
Type your words, style them, and send them to your area’s top-rated shops.
About 1 inch of letter height for every 10 feet a reader needs to see it from. A door read from 10 feet wants 1–2 inch letters; a storefront read from 50 feet wants 5 inches; something read from a moving car at 150 feet wants 15 inches or more. Round up when in doubt — undersized lettering is the single most common mistake.
Business name 2–3 inches, hours and small print 1–1.5 inches. People read a door from a few feet away, so going bigger just eats the glass. Most door sets land between 3 and 6 inches of total stacked height.
Business name 3–6 inches, phone number 2–4 inches, DOT and USDOT numbers must be at least 2 inches by federal rule. Parked, it is read from 20–30 feet; moving, nobody reads anything but the biggest line, so put your name there and keep the rest supporting.
Yes — it is the main driver. Price follows the square footage of cut vinyl, so doubling the height roughly quadruples the area and the cost. That is why sizing for the actual reading distance, rather than the biggest thing that fits, saves real money.
Vinyl lettering runs about $10 per square foot of cut letters in 2026 — most orders land $25–$150.
Read the guide →Vinyl banners run $4–$7 per square foot in 2026 — a classic 3×6 lands $75–$125, hemmed and grommeted.
Read the guide →Yard signs run $15–$25 each with stakes in 2026, dropping near $10 at quantity 50+.
Read the guide →