Guidelines for Creating an Effective OOH Campaign
The team of nerds behind BillboardsIn loves making awesome and effective advertising. Over the years, we’ve developed a set of tips and tricks that can make anybody and ad design superstar. Read on and get ready to become a billboard rockstar!
Keep It Minimal
- Keep copy to a maximum of about ten words to ensure viewers have time to read everything—on average, people only have about six seconds to look at a billboard, so simplicity is key!
- Have a single-minded focus.
- The ABCs of simplicity are: Accuracy, Boldness, Clarity!
Be Legible
- Use a large, legible typeface that will be easy to read from a distance.
- Focus on the core idea!
- Do not crowd too many words/letters into a restricted area. This is reduced legibility. No more than 10 words total, and 5 words in the headline.
- Avoid large words. Short words are much easier and faster to comprehend.
Be Bold
- Use large fonts and images.
- Contrasting colors are best when viewing a design from greater distances.
- Complementary colors such as red and green are not legible together and appear to vibrate.
Be Remembered
- Rely on imagery over words.
- Use playful, lively elements.
- Involve the audience – dialogue not monologue.
- Challenge your audience! Use humor. Be bold. Be unique!
- This is not a newspaper ad or TV commercial. Your audience has a very limited amount of time to read and comprehend you message.
- Do not use an excessively complicated background color or image. It distracts the eye from the more important message.
Type Styles
- Fonts used for an OOH design must be very easy to read from variable distances.
- Use large and legible typefaces..
- Words comprised of both upper and lower case lettering are generally easier to read than words in all capital lettering.
- Spacing between letters assures legibility from greater distances.
- Avoid stacking text. One single horizontal line of text will allow rapid absorption of your message without interruption.
- Avoid overcrowding. Too many words will reduce the clarity of your message.
- Avoid fonts with thin strokes or decorative script as these will be very difficult to read.
Be Appropriate
Some ad categories are restricted and have guidelines put in place by vendors that need to be followed in order to post. While those may vary depending on factors like location or vendor, There are some rules to follow in order to help get your art approved and running. You can
learn more about these guidelines below:
Be Inspired
Need Inspiration? Here’s a collection of some of our favorite OOH ad designs we’ve produced recently! You can view these as inspiration to help create your own designs, or feel free to send to our design team as a starting point when you add the Custom Artwork Package to your order!
