Foam Board Signs

What it's for

Foam board is the sign you see on an easel at the door: the welcome sign at a wedding or a gala, the schedule outside a conference room, the poster on a trade show table, the floor plan at an open house. It is a light, stiff board with a smooth face, so a big sign is easy to carry in, set on an easel, lean on a table or hang on a wall, and it looks crisp up close. Tell us where it will stand and how far away people will read it, and we will help you pick the size and lay it out so it prints the way you pictured it.

Board, sizes and printing

Foam board signs are printed in full color on 4mm foam board (about 5/32 of an inch thick), on one side or both, from one sign. Choose 12 by 12, 12 by 24, 18 by 24, 24 by 24, 24 by 36, 24 by 48 or 36 by 48 inches, standing tall or laid wide at the same price. Colors can run right to the edge. Design yours online from a template, or upload a print-ready file, and we check it before anything prints.

Where foam board works best

Foam board is made for indoors. It suits signs that stand on an easel or a table, hang on a wall for a season, or travel from event to event in the back of a car: welcome and seating signs, event programs, sponsor boards, lobby and front desk signs, menu boards, school project titles and presentation posters. Outdoors, rain and sun warp it, so for a sign that lives outside choose coroplast or an aluminum sign instead.

Foam board, styrene or coroplast?

All three are printed in full color. Foam board is the thickest and stiffest of the three for its weight, which makes it the one for an easel and for big indoor signs. Styrene is a thin, smooth plastic sheet that stays flat and wipes clean, the one for windows, shelves, sign holders and frames. Coroplast is corrugated plastic, waterproof and made for outdoors, the board yard signs are printed on, and heavier coroplast is stiffer still for signs that stay up.

Picking a size

The 24 by 36 inch board is the classic easel and welcome sign, read easily from across a room. 18 by 24 inches suits a smaller easel, a table or a door; 36 by 48 inches is for a presentation or a sign seen from the back of a hall. The 12 by 12 and 24 by 24 inch squares are for logos, photos and table signs, and 12 by 24 and 24 by 48 inches are tall and slim for a doorway or an aisle. Our sign sizing guide shows how big the letters need to be for the distance.

Designing for an easel

Keep words and logos half an inch inside the edge: an easel's lip covers the bottom edge, and a frame or holder covers the rest. Put the one thing people need first in big letters at the top, the details below, and leave space around them. Photos look best at 150 pixels per inch or more at the size they print. The designer flags anything that might not print well before you order.

How ordering works

Design it online: start from one of our templates or your own logo, or upload a print-ready file in the designer, and see the price for every quantity as you go. You can order just one, and the price of each drops as you order more. We check every file and send a proof within 1 business day, and nothing is made until you approve it. It is ready to pick up or ships 4 to 6 business days after you approve the proof. Rush orders are printed the next business day, with no separate proof: the design on your screen is what prints. See how rush printing works. Pick it up free at our Hopewell Junction shop, or we ship it anywhere in the US.

Questions about foam board signs