Sizing & placement guide
Holographic signage that people stop and look at
A hologram sign is a floating, moving image with no visible screen. In practice that’s an LED hologram fan, sized and placed so people can read it from where they stand. Get the size or the spot wrong and it becomes a pretty blur. This guide and the sizer below make sure it doesn’t.
What counts as holographic signage
The phrase gets stretched to cover transparent LCDs, projection film and museum-grade Pepper’s ghost rigs. For a shop, café or booth, it almost always means an LED hologram fan. That’s a spinning array of LEDs that draws a bright image in mid-air, with the dark parts of the picture turning into empty space you can see through.
As signage it has two unfair advantages. Motion catches peripheral vision, and the missing frame makes people look twice to work out what they’re seeing. The catch is that it’s circular, it has a sweet-spot viewing range, and its content needs to be designed for it. The rest of this page is about getting those three right.
If you want a full explanation of how the illusion works, our hologram projector guide has a simulator. This page is about using it as a sign.
Hologram sign sizer
Set how far away your audience stands and what you’ll show. We’ll pick the smallest fan that still reads well, and draw how big each size looks from there.
Readability uses the sign industry’s rule of thumb of about 1 inch of letter height per 10 feet of viewing distance, applied to a short two-word message filling the fan. Pictures stay recognizable roughly twice as far. Treat both as starting points, not guarantees.
Every size, side by side
Specs from our product pages. Prices update live.
Swipe to compare →
| H16 | H23 | H39 | H-PRO | 9-fan wall | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image size | 16 in (41 cm) | 23 in (58 cm) | 39 in (99 cm) | 60 × 146 cm | 155 × 155 cm |
| Blades · LEDs | 2 · 246 | 4 · 720 | 4 · 1,184 | 3 × H23 · 2,160 | 9 linked 65 cm fans |
| Brightness | 1,800 cd/m² | 2,200 cd/m² | 2,600 cd/m² | 2,200 cd/m² | — |
| Text reads to about | 4–5 m (13–16 ft) | 6 m (20 ft) | 11 m (36 ft) | 6 m (20 ft) per line | 17 m (56 ft) |
| Link into bigger images | No | Yes, with router | Yes | Pre-linked | Pre-linked |
| Mirror your phone live | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | — |
| Price today | See product | See product | See product | See product | See product |
Where to put a hologram sign, and how
Shop window
The classic. Stand or hang it 20–50 cm (8–20 in) behind the glass so reflections don’t sit on the image. If the window gets direct midday sun, move it back about 3 ft (1 m). It’s mirrored from inside the shop, so staff see text backwards. Customers don’t.
Counter or checkout
Great for add-on sales, but it’s within reach, so it needs the protective case or a wall mount above head height. The H16 suits most counters.
Hung over an aisle
The Vantage Plus ceiling bracket takes H16 to H39 fans. Tilt it slightly down toward the approach so the brightest part of the image faces people as they walk up.
Trade-show booth
Size for the far side of the aisle. Linked H23 fans or an H-PRO read from across a hall, and a guard keeps curious hands out of the blades.
Covered outdoor spots
Entrances, canopies, covered patios. Standard fans aren’t weatherproof, so keep them dry and out of direct sun. For open-air branding at night, a logo projector is the tougher tool.
Content that works as a sign
Someone walking past gives a hologram sign two or three seconds. Design for that person, not for a viewer sitting still.
- One message per loop. “30% off today” or the product. Not both.
- Three words, max. If it needs a sentence, it belongs on the poster beside it.
- Slow turns beat fast cuts. A product rotating once every six seconds looks solid. Rapid edits look like flicker.
- Bright on pure black. Anything that should be invisible must be #000000. Dark gray shows up as a ghostly disc.
- Skip QR codes on the fan. Cameras struggle with a spinning display. Put the QR code on a printed card next to it.
- Loop cleanly, 6–10 seconds. Keep the offer on screen for most of the loop, so a two-second glance still catches it.
Our software guide has a free file checker that flags gray backgrounds and odd sizes before you upload.
Safety, rules and neighbors
Guard the blades. Mount above about 2.1 m (7 ft), put it behind glass, or use the protective case anywhere people can reach it, and doubly so around children.
Check your sign code for anything visible from the street. Many cities regulate flashing or animated signs, and some count window displays. It usually takes one email to the planning office to find out.
Mind the landlord. Malls and shared buildings often have their own display rules. A hologram sign is small, but it moves, and that’s what gets noticed. Ask before you mount.
Fans run from a standard outlet through their adapter. The H16’s is 12 V, 2 A. Put the sign on a plug-in timer so it switches on with your opening hours.
Holographic signage questions
What is holographic signage?
Signage that shows a floating, often moving, image without a visible screen. For most businesses that means an LED hologram fan, whose spinning LEDs draw a bright picture in mid-air.
How big should a hologram sign be?
Size it to your viewing distance. As a rule of thumb, a 16-inch fan carries short text to about 4–5 m (13–16 ft), a 23-inch to about 6 m (20 ft), and a 39-inch to about 11 m (36 ft). Pictures stay recognizable roughly twice as far. The sizer above does the math.
Can a hologram sign go in a shop window?
Yes, that’s the most popular placement. Keep it 20–50 cm (8–20 in) behind the glass and out of direct midday sun, and use content with a pure black background.
Are hologram signs weatherproof?
Standard LED fans are not. Use them indoors, behind glass, or under cover. For outdoor branding at night, a weatherproof logo projector is the better choice.
How do I change the message?
From the phone app over the fan’s own Wi-Fi, or by loading files onto its SD card. INNAYA fans play MP4, AVI, RMVB and JPG.
Can several fans make one bigger sign?
Yes, from the H23 upward, using the linking router. The H-PRO and 9-fan wall come pre-configured as one large image.
Keep reading
Sized it? Good.
Your holographic sign can be up the day it arrives.
Our H16, H23 and H39 ship free with a 16 GB card, a wall frame and app control. Returns are accepted for 30 days on unused units.