By on 08/19
Content creation for digital signage is fun. From picking intricate colors and patterns to use, creating videos, to playing around with texture and format. The only thing to remember is to let it be brief and as informative as possible.You must be familiar with some basic rules that will make your content captivating and legible.
Competition is stiff and there is no reason to take needless risks. Let the message be straightforward and easy to read. Carefully adjust contrast so that the message is legible. Finally, create a balance between the contrast and all colors that are used in the background and foreground so that text messages stand out.
Sometimes little means more. Because you don’t have all space in the world, be brief and concise. Don’t fill the display with meaningless paragraphs that end up boring your viewers. Let the text be large enough and only contain the most valuable information. As rule of the thumb, have at most three lines each with five words, or five lines with three words each.
Be careful which fonts are used. Italics should be sparingly used because they can be hard to decipher even close-up. You can improve legibility by using large text with bold lettering. Arial is an easy to read font recommended for short texts.
Color improves the contrast and creates intricate texture. The digital display has three basic colors – red, blue, and green (RGB). White is a combination of all three while black is the absence of color. To improve the range of color that can be picked by the human eye, try:
Create anchor points in the display to guide people to important information. Headlines, bright colors, graphics, and high contrast items can draw attention. The size of different items, arrangement and angles will create a hierarchy of importance in the minds of the audience
When previewing the design, consider what draws the most attention and emphasize it some more. Make all texts readable before rolling out. Do this readability test while standing at least five feet from your monitor to have a feel of what the audience will see.
Like every design, you must show that you know what you want to represent! Know the brand and the people it is meant for and start creating a representation that is as good. If a brand is not available, invent one. Thereafter, let people know about the brand. Choose words wisely to suit the audience so that they get as much information as possible.
Come up with a list of what is going to be included in the digital signage. This may shed more light on what needs to be done in the project and also come up with interesting layouts for different sizes of screens.
Give life to your concepts. Transform the rudimentary framework you imagined into a workable plan. Once you have all the details figured out, set a deadline for the project.
Once all the basics are covered, you can work out the fonts. Most people use San Serif fonts for headings and Serif fonts for the body. Remember just not to use the same casing everywhere.
The best way to do this is through a viewing test. A one-inch font can be seen 20-25 feet away. However, pixel density and monitor size is something that can affect legibility.
Don’t clutter the screen with a splash of all colors. A simple contrast is soothing to the eye. In most cases, no more than 2-3 colors are needed. 1 color can be dominant and others used for contrast, and accentuating certain elements. Paletton is a great site you can use to quickly come up with a color scheme of complimentary colors.
Try making the display as interactive as possible. This way, you’ll know what did not work and work to improve it later on.