Tips from a Designer

Need some assistance designing content for your digital signage? Well, below are 5 best practices that Captive's very own Creative Director, Brandon Bass, uses when designing content. Hope this helps to get you started. Happy Designing!

1. Size it up

It may seem obvious, but it’s critical to begin with a composition that fits your screen! Widescreen LCD monitors are sized to a 16:9 aspect ratio—and when you turn that same screen “tallways”, that portrait orientation now has a 9:16 aspect ratio. We design our typical content at a pixel dimension of 1366 x 768, but to create content at “Full HD”, you can size your composition to 1920 x 1080 pixels. Images should be at least 150 dpi (dots per inch), and animated graphics (SWF) should be set to 24 fps (frames per second).

2. Create a billboard

Digital signage screens are like billboards—a lot of people will look at them, but they might only have a short period of time to make an impact. Keep this in mind as you design content, making text large, legible, and on-screen for a comfortable amount of time to read and comprehend. It’s also important to keep your message simple and succinct. Chances are, you’re audience isn’t going to read the fine print on a retail digital screen, so it’s more important to hit the high points with big headlines, bulleted details, and a compelling call to action.

3. Catch glances

Using striking imagery and animation is another key facet of good digital signage content. The most effective graphics are recognizable instantly, hitting you with an immediate punch, but subtle images can get results, too. Aim to use photos that leave room for your text, so that the copy and image work together to occupy the ad space. When possible, use interesting animation effects on text to bring words to life and draw attention to the information, but avoid making images move too much while displaying text that you want your audience to read and digest.

4. Stick to a palette

The best brands in the world associate themselves instantly with a distinct color palette. When designing content, try to reflect the look of your logo or website, sticking to a restricted color scheme that viewers can begin to identify your company by. You might decide to tie a specific color to certain products or services so that, for instance, a content file with lots of red always advertises auto loans. The most important thing to remember is that consistency creates long-lasting connections between visual and mental functions, while inconsistency breeds confusion.

5. Make a storyboard

When it comes to any kind of design process, careful planning and organization never hurts. Make a storyboard of what you’d like your ad to contain, including ingredients like an introduction or headline, a main message or key points, and a conclusion or call to action. You can use thumbnail sketches of what each portion of the ad should look like to determine the best placement of images and text, making an effort to keep each section of the ad visually interesting and compositionally unique.