Anyone here ever designed for digital billboards?

[M A V I C]

A friend is trying to do an ad for a 17'x26' digital billboard. The px count is 496x704. I'm curious what the minimum recommended font size is, as well as just how high contrast it needs to be.

[DRR]

Yes. It sucks. My two experiences for designing for those giant pieces of crap was that not only does small text need to be about 50% larger (not kidding) it's generally better if it's bold also. I took the font size into account when I designed it but I did not account for the fact that thinner lines will look like crap, especially if they're on a diagonal (most letter shapes have diagonal lines.)

Oh, and unlike your computer monitor, the "pixels" are spaced much wider apart. They are not as dense as they would be on a computer monitor. Instead of going edge to edge and touching, there seems to be a little bit of dead space in between pixels. Must have something to do with the panel being that size.

My other learning experience with those things is that they are super super bright. Anything even close to white will clip out. Shadows seem to hold much better.

It's akin to designing for cheap newsprint. You have to overcompensate for everything.

[DRR]

Contrast in the mid-ranges was ok, But I would say anything with less than 10% in the shadows or more than 80% in the highlights, will either drop or clip out.

[M A V I C]

DRR wrote:
Contrast in the mid-ranges was ok, But I would say anything with less than 10% in the shadows or more than 80% in the highlights, will either drop or clip out.

Thanks, that's actually not too shabby, IMHO. Often cheap offset printers can't even hold that.

[pRICE cUBE]

I have been told this by an advertising guy:

1. If the billboard has more than 6 words, people tend to not get the message.
2. Images of hukers and booze catch people's eyes.

[GinaP]

Our company, Daktronics, actually manufactures digital billboards and we understand it’s a different medium than traditional static billboards or print. As such, we have consulted with several ad agencies and graphic artists using our products to help them design for this medium. We developed guidelines with tips and tricks on how to create effective ads. Give me a call and I’d be happy to help you out and arm you with some of our tips and tricks. 605-692-0200, x56675