Billboard Design: Special graphic design considerations
At a glance, billboard design appears to be a seems simple task. But that is an illusion. And there are considerations unique to billboard design at every point in order to achieve that illusion of simplicity—while marketing, during design, and throughout production.
These facts apply to any designed piece:
The time required to adequately take in a design—to comprehend its who, what, and how—is directly related to the design’s simplicity and logic of its layout; and,
Viewers only act on what they take in.
Billboard design is especially vulnerable to this truth.
The Who, The What, And The How
On average, viewers have 5 seconds or less to take in billboard details, so they must have ultra-simple designs—simpler in fact than business cards. A viewer can take in about three design elements in five seconds. These are almost always the company name/logo (the who), the message (the what), and the call-to-action (the how).
The Company Name/Logo
It’s beneficial to speak quickly about the importance of a clear, simple corporate logo design. If viewers spend half or more of their time deciphering all the layered detail of a complex logo, there’s little time to get to the other two important elements. They’d know who the client is, but miss the message or how to engage—the what and how.
The Message
All that billboard space can lead one into message bulk. “Well that’s part of my message, too.” “Seems like we have plenty of space for , too.” “How about we add…” are common requests, even understandable, but they should be seen for what they are: temptations into the Forest of Ineffective Design.
Imagine you have only 5 seconds of battery life to tell your rescuer how to save you. Would you ramble like an auctioneer, trying to get in as many details as you could quickly. Maybe, but you’d be wiser to include only a couple key details in as clear a fashion as possible. The same is true with billboard design. Rather than filling the space edge-to-edge with information, it’s wiser and more effective to limit the message to one thing whenever possible—one service, one special, a short pitch. And that one message should itself be ultra-short:
Fun for the Whole Family
Free Drink with Fill-Up
Best Mexican in the County
Next Stop 50 Miles
Free Estimates. Always.
The Call-To-Action
The call-to-action is what the viewer needs to do to become a customer. Like the message, it needs to be singular and concise:
Phone number
Web address
Exit 250 / 1 mile
Stop In. Next Exit.
Since this unique ad space is expensive and because attempts are being made in every market nationwide to phase it out, let Company Man Design concept, design, and deliver your attention-getting, effective, and targeted billboard.
Environmental Design encompasses any design that connects people to places, including everything from graphic design to architecture to landscape. However, at Company Man Design, we’re concerned with the graphical side of things, such as interior and exterior signage and signage systems, to design and art intended to both decorate and impart information in an organization’s place of business.
Signage and Signage Systems
Signage and signage systems may seem like a simple affair. But because much of it works well in our lives, we may find that we take it all for granted. But undertaking signage is not only expensive from a production standpoint but it is also surprisingly complex—external, internal, directional, fixed, moveable, static, changeable, print, digital, fabricated, etc. Then one must consider the specifics of human interaction—viewer distance, time exposed, language, symbology. Then there is corporate identity. And more. Let CMD guide you through this complex landscape.
Wall Art
Businesses have the option of designing their interior and exterior wall space to include anything from fine art to informative posters to inspirational quotes and more. Let CMD help you get the most out of the spaces around you whether you’re wanting a calm, inspirational, informative, or mixed work environment.
CASE STUDY: TWELVESTONE HEALTH PARTNERS
Tennessee-based TwelveStone Health Partners‘ needed exterior signage, digital signage for their infusion suites, and decorative and informative wall art to fill out their Murfreesboro and Chattanooga locations’ interior spaces. We provided them a cohesive set of signage and artwork that maintained the strong corporate identity we had helped create for them in 2015. We are proud to continue to work with them regularly today.
Signage and signage systems may seem like a simple affair. But because much of it works well in our lives, we may find that we take it all for granted. But undertaking signage is not only expensive from a production standpoint but it is also surprisingly complex—external, internal, directional, fixed, moveable, static, changeable, print, digital, fabricated, etc. Then one must consider the specifics of human interaction—viewer distance, time exposed, language, symbology. Then there is corporate identity. And more.
The difficulty with designing branded merchandise isn’t only that the designer has to think three-dimensionally where he/she is probably more accustomed to designing for the two-dimensional page or screen: it’s that they don’t do it every day. Most designers are more confident working on a complex design project they’ve done a lot as opposed to simpler one they’ve never touched before. Ebooks, multi-page documents, trade show displays, websites, or any other complex design projects were daunting the first few times we took them on. But we made our mistakes, streamlined work, and found ways to improve quality along the way. Soon, all the considerations and steps to producing them were second-nature, if not ever what one would call simple.
Branding merchandise is not one kind of job but as many types of job as there are things an organization can put their logo, tagline, and/or message on. Water bottles, keychains, mouse pads, rulers, and any other gadgets and knick-knacks you’ve seen at events, conventions, trade shows, grocery stores, etc. And every one of these jobs has its own print area, print resolution, and color limitations or translations. Additionally, designers are accustomed to printing on paper with ink, but with merchandise branding, you’re more likely to have your logo stamped, sewn, engraved, and many even stranger “printing” methods.
There may be a customer tendency, even a designer tendency to think of the small-sized jobs as easier. But as I’ve written about business cards digital ads, just the opposite is often true. So let Company Man Design brand the merchandise for your next event or giveaway. We’ve branded about every kind of merchandise imaginable and by using our network of trusted, quality vendors, we take the worry away, getting the job done on time and on-budget.
Packaging design—the design of boxes, bottles, stickers, wraps, and more—presents a couple unique challenges to a designer.
The design normal considerations apply:
Creating a strong, attention-grabbing design
Showcasing the client’s corporate identity
Selling the specifics of the product itself; and,
But the designer must also consider
Imparting multiple blocks of directional and legal information; and, most importantly,
Achieving all of this, not in 2 dimension, but for 3-dimensional items that will possibly be handled, turned, stacked, shipped, etc.
The bottom line is that packaging design is not for the amateur or inexperienced designer. Company Man Design has the confidence and experience to design your packaging so that it tastefully stands out while communicating your company identity, all while standing up to whatever the real world might throw at it.
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