Top 5 Billboard Design Tips You Should Know

Top 5 Billboard Design Tips You Should Know

Billboard Design Tip #1

Simplicity rules!

FACT: Uncluttered billboards usually achieve greater success. Ideally, your billboard design should consist of just 3 main components:

  • A compelling image / photo
  • A unique, benefit laden, emotionally charged headline
  • Your name / logo / contact info

Keep it SIMPLE.  Your business prospects are often driving by at 65+ M.P.H. They have only 5-10 seconds to notice, become engaged by and process your message. Don’t make it difficult by cramming your billboard with too much stuff.

Try to keep your copy length to 7 words or less. The fewer the words, the greater the chance they’ll understand, retain and recall your message. 

Billboard Design Tip #2

Use high contrasting colors

Bold, highly contrasting colors help get you noticed. Soft, mellow pastels may work fine in slick magazines but they don’t do well in outdoor advertising.

When it comes to color and designing billboards, bold is definitely beautiful.

Billboard Design Tip #3

Forget fancy font styles

Thin and/or elaborate script fonts are hard to read (and often invisible) at long distances. Use thick strokes and simple styles to increase legibility at distances greater than 1,000 feet.

Keep ample space between individual letters to avoid blurring, and avoid ALL CAPS, they’re less legible, too. Your billboard has to be read to persuade. 

Billboard Design Tip #4

Billboard advertising requires outstanding photography

Billboard photos often wind up printing as large as your house, making high-resolution images a must.  Good billboard designers leverage that huge scale to make a BIG visual splash, displaying one central image that’s 25+ feet wide rather than multiple small images that lack emotional impact from a distance.

Billboard Design Tip #5

Be bold, courageous and daring!

Bear in mind… Absolutely “NO ONE” will remember “DULL”.
Follow these 4 billboard design rules but break all the rest in pursuit of the memorable! Explore every possible concept, no matter how crazy it initially seems. Nutty ideas often develop into unique and highly memorable outdoor campaigns.