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Printing your safety sign: PDF, PNG or SVG

· 3 min read

Once a sign looks right on screen, it has to get onto a wall. Every sign on Safety-Signs.work can leave the builder three ways: as a Printable PDF, as a PNG image or as an SVG vector file. Each suits a different job.

Printable PDF

The new Printable PDF button is the quickest route from the builder to the office printer. Pick a paper size and the PDF is built in your browser:

  • Letter (8.5 by 11 inches), the standard in the United States.
  • A4, the standard almost everywhere else.
  • Tabloid (11 by 17 inches), for a bigger sign from a printer that takes it.
  • Sign size: the page is the sign itself, so a landscape header sign comes out at its real 14 by 10 inches and a hang tag at 3.25 by 6.25 inches.

On office paper the sign is centered with half-inch margins, and the page turns to match the sign: a landscape sign gets a landscape page, a portrait sign a portrait one. The sign-size option is the one to take to a print shop, or to use when the size matters, for example when a rule sets a minimum letter height. Print it at 100 percent, not scaled to fit, and measure.

A portrait sign prints on a portrait pageCustomize →
A tag at its actual 3.25 by 6.25 inchesCustomize →

PNG

A PNG is the right choice for documents, slide decks, training material, intranet pages and email. The image has a transparent background and is trimmed to the sign. Two settings in the Customize card control it:

  • PNG size, from tiny for a thumbnail up to full, a print-ready image up to 4500 by 5400 pixels at 300 DPI. The default, large, is plenty for a page or a slide.
  • PNG shape: minimal (trimmed to the sign), square, 4:3 or 16:9. The padded shapes make a sign drop neatly into a slide or a social post without being cropped.

The Customize card shows the exact pixel size you will get before you download.

SVG

SVG is a vector format: the sign is stored as shapes and letter outlines rather than pixels, so it stays sharp at any size, from a label to a banner. It is the file a sign shop, a large-format printer or a vinyl cutter wants. Use Open SVG in a new tab, then save the file. Because the lettering is already converted to outlines, the shop does not need our fonts.

Pipe markers suit vinylCustomize →
An exit sign face for a floor planCustomize →

Making it last

  • Indoors, a laminated sheet in a plastic sleeve or sign holder lasts for years. Laminate before trimming, and leave a small sealed border.
  • Outdoors or in wet areas, print on vinyl or polyester label stock, or have a shop print on aluminum or plastic. Paper fades and curls fast in sun and damp.
  • Lockout and tagout tags must stay legible in their environment, which 29 CFR 1910.147 requires; see our post on lockout tags.
  • Mount signs where they will be seen before the hazard, not beside it, at eye level where you can.

Exit sign faces from the builder are for training material, floor plans and mockups. A real exit sign has to be illuminated and listed under the building and fire codes, so do not use a printed sheet in its place.

Descriptive file names

PNG downloads are named after what is on them, so a CAUTION sign that says WET FLOOR saves as wet-floor-caution-sign.png rather than a string of numbers. When you make a set of signs for a facility, the folder stays readable.

Pick a sign from the Sign Directory, or start with a CAUTION sign, and try the Printable PDF.