Tips for Creating Outdoor Digital Signage Content

It is a common mistake for those that are new to the outdoor digital signage market to use the same content that they use indoors for outside; however, what works inside may not necessarily translate to an outdoor environment where lighting and viewing distance is different.

Different colours, fonts, images, transitions – all work differently outdoors to how they look inside and just because content on an indoor digital poster or other advertising screen has been successful indoors it does not mean that it will work as well outside.

As viewing distance is greater outdoors the content, especially text, needs to be larger too. When it comes to outdoor digital signage the old adage “less is more” could not be truer.  Simple bold statements, using only the most important information such as price, brand etc.

Images need to be big and bold too and transitions should be kept to a minimum and any changes should be done quickly as people may only glance at the screen and if the important information is not there they may miss it.

There are some similarities to indoor with outdoor digital signage, though. Obviously, ensuring that content is spelt correctly and there are no silly grammatical or syntax errors is vital otherwise you will not only lose the effect of your adverts but it will diminish the brand reputation (“huh, if they can’t even spell properly I bet their products suck”).

Being unique is also important for outdoor digital signage especially if there are similar advertisements around. There is no point advertising a product or brand if the content looks similar to a rival’s advert as you could end up reinforcing their content with your own and essentially paying to advertise for them.

Perhaps the fundamental aspect of creating any outdoor digital signage content is testing. Whatever campaign you come up with should be trialled and tested to ensure that it is effective.