A printed sign lives or dies by contrast. Size gets the first look, but colour decides whether the words can be read at a glance.
Here are the choices that worked for me, with the numbers.
Light on dark. White or pale letters on a dark grey or black plate read best in a room with mixed light. The raised letters catch the light on their top face, and the dark plate stays calm behind them.
Dark on light. Fine for a bright office, but the shadows of raised letters can blur the edge. Make the letters taller.
One colour only. Print the plate and letters in the same filament, then colour the raised tops with a marker or a dab of acrylic paint. Wipe the surface with a cloth right away so the paint stays only on the tops.
Two colours in the print. Change the filament at the layer where the letters begin. Raised text of 0.6 to 1 mm leaves enough height for a clean change.
Some numbers to keep near the printer:
- Letter height: about 25 mm for every 3 metres of reading distance.
- Stroke width: at least 0.8 mm for a 0.4 mm nozzle.
- Font: bold sans-serif.
- Print the plate face up, and print a one-word test first.
If you already have a plate as an STL file and only need the words, Shapiful adds the text and gives you a new STL. It adds text; it does not design shapes: https://www.shapiful.com/?utm_source=mataroa&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signs_oct26