Creating great content for digital signage can be a daunting task. The unique attributes that only digital can provide have challenged even the best of designers and content creators. In addition to the standard marketing questions like “Who is my audience?” “What is my objective?” & “What message do I want to communicate?”, there are 5 essential things you should know about the display that you are creating in order to make sure your content is the best that it can be.
1) Know what type of display you are designing for. Is it LED, LCD, Plasma, Projection, etc? Content shows differently on different solutions due to the technology that makes it work and what it is designed for.
2) Know the resolution of your display. In short, resolution will dictate how much detail you can use in your design.
3) Know the size of your display. The larger the digital display the more room you have to work, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should fill it with more elements. More on that will be covered in the future in a post about layout.
4) Know the viewing distance of your audience. The further away they are, the larger your message needs to be in order to be readable. Seems simple enough but I pass countless digital signs with key messages that are unreadable from an appropriate viewing distance (and I don’t need glasses!)
5) What environment is the display in? Is there high ambient light? Is it dark? Does it change depending on time of day or other factors? You must evaluate the environmental considerations to ensure that your message shines through.
Depending on the situation, there are many other factors you may consider, but these are the key elements that are unique to creating content for digital signage.
Good luck!