Covid-19 has affected every industry differently. While hospitality, events and retail have experienced a significant downturn, manufacturers and engineers have been drafted in the thousands to mass-produce PPE for private and public sector customers alike.
But beyond the major sectors we all consider, there are some more niche market areas which have a more complex and nuanced relationship with this pandemic - for instance, the signage industry.
And just as masks, screens, gowns and other protective equipment are essential if we are to follow social distancing guidance and stay alert throughout this pandemic, so too are the signs and the literature that everyone has to observe and follow.
Hardy Signs is an award-winning signage supplier founded in 1993 by Nik Hardy. While in "normal" times, the firm supplies a complete end-to-end signage design and supply package for clients up and down the UK, it is currently focusing its efforts on helping people to get back to work safely and securely.
Its health and safety signage is clearly and simply divided among a "Covid-19 essentials range", advertised as "solutions to keep stakeholders safe". These products range from queue management and social distancing graphics - the kind most of us are now familiar with from local supermarkets - to safety screens and more complex LCD displays for hand sanitiser.
For every company across the country which has struggled to keep operating "business as usual" throughout this pandemic, there is another like Hardy Signs - a bastion of British innovation and ingenuity that reinvents itself to support other businesses and the UK public at a time of great need.
Hardy Signs' slogan claims that it has been "transforming the UK" for some 27 years - and it is this kind of adaptability and agility that no doubt makes it the envy of others in the signage sector.
