The holidays are almost upon us and 2016 is nearly over. Before WhatTheyThink takes its holiday hiatus next month, we’ll have the annual “year in review” and “2017 forecast” features (our data elves are tabulating survey results and acquiring other economic data as we speak), but this week I wanted to highlight three product application areas to pay attention to in 2017.

Maybe I’m overstating things, but I think of signage as a basic human need. I mean, try to imagine a world without decent—or any—signage (or try to get around JFK airport, which is basically the same thing). Although it’s tempting to think that in the near future we’ll simply be navigating by staring at our tiny screens running Google Maps or something, or have satnav voices directing us everywhere, the fact remains that signage, like packaging, is one of those things that will always be needed. It will be needed not just for wayfinding, but for advertising and promotional and even decorative purposes.

“Signage” of course is a broad area that encompasses many different products created many different printing technologies, substrates, and even non-print components. We all know printed signs, but there are also traditional wooden signs, channel letter signs, as well as neon, LED, and digital signs and electronic messaging centers. Unless you are (or want to be) a full-service sign shop, you don’t need to offer all those kinds of signs, but many of them can complement each other. LED or other electric or electronic signage may be used outside a storefront, while the same logo and graphics may need to be reproduced on printed signage inside the shop. Signs can also complement other printed items you may already be producing, and handling all those products for a given customer is a great way to ensure consistency of branding. Signs, signs, everywhere a sign.