Creating successful billboard layouts

Creating successful billboard layouts is something we strive to do everyday because a billboard design is as important as a billboard location. No matter what billboard company you choose for your advertising needs, your goal should be to make people look. Send a clear, concise message that is legible to commuters driving 60+ MPH. Whether you’re supplying your own ad or your billboard company is designing one for you, here’s some tips to consider when creating successful billboard layouts:

Your ad should grab attention FAST.

Keep your message SIMPLE, make your fonts BIG, and make it POP!

• Limit your ad to three elements and avoid complete sentences. If you have eight words, try to cut it down to four or five. Studies show the most effective billboard are 7 words or less.

• Communicate one single idea clearly and concisely by engaging the viewer with humor, a clever slogan, surprising imagery, or a call to action.

• Use big, thick fonts, and mix uppercase and lowercase characters. Thin and script fonts don’t maintain legibility over long distances.

• Do not stack more than four lines of text or your ad will be illegible from the road. Three stacked lines of text is better, two is ideal, one is fantastic!

• The optimum text height on billboards is 3 feet. Text smaller than 18 inches makes legibility difficult within the limited viewing time.

• High contrast colors = best readability. This can improve advertiser recall by 38% (oaaa.org).

• From a distance, shading can blur text by softening the contrast value so use drop shadows deliberately and sparingly, especially on text.

• To represent how your ad will look from the highway, check colors, text sizes, and readability by printing your layout at 1’ = 1/4” scale and viewing from 10′ to 15′ away.

• There should be a natural flow of information that your eyes follow quickly so your ad can be read clearly…and FAST.

Want more billboard information? Contact us at info@porlier.biz