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September 25, 2008
Q&A -- Creating Compelling Billboard Content
Meric Adriansen, principal in D3 LED, has directly or indirectly worked on the content for 35 of the 50 signs in New York's Times Square, including ABC News, Fox, M&M, Walgreens, MTV, NASDAQ, Chase, Spectacolor, Kodak, Pontiac, and Hard Rock Cafe, etc.
Q: Meric, how tough is it to create compelling content in Times Square?
A: 1.8 million people pass through here each day. People's eyes are bombarded with visual stimulation. To coin a phrase: if you can attract eyeballs here, you can attract them anywhere. On billboards in general, certain things work; certain things don't.
Q: Like what?
A: First, the color white is not your friend. It wastes power, it shows imperfections, and it looks bad. Use black as your base color. Don't be afraid to use a lot of black.
Q: Okay, we understand. How do we use other colors?
A: Use variations of bold, rich colors with lots of varied textures. Layered graphics. Shadowed treatments. The more detail in the image, the better. Stay away from vast expanses of similar color. Stay away from pastels.
Q: What's the best way to communicate text on digital signs?
A: It depends on the size of billboard. But as a general rule don't go smaller than 12 point text. Big text works. Small text doesn't.
Q. Okay, how much text can you put on billboard?
A. Less is more when it comes to text. You only have people's eyeballs for a limited amount of time. Use bold messages. Simple concepts. And, again, build your text on a base of black.
Q: What about brightness?
A: Don't overdrive your billboard, especially at night, dawn, and dusk. Don't blind people with images that are too bright. White is especially hard on the eyes at night. Make your billboard a work of art that people want to look at any hour of the day.
Q: That it?
A. One more thing: billboard operators need to self-regulate as far as light pollution is concerned. If you modulate the brightness of your billboard, you are more likely to earn the community's praise rather than its ire.
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