Design Tips for Outdoor Advertising

Creating Award Winning Outdoor

While there are no hard and fast "rules" when designing for the outdoor medium, there are a few basic guidelines that should be considered to ensure success. There are always exceptions. However, breaking the guidelines requires an appreciation for the rudimentary principles of good outdoor design.

Outdoor advertising presents limitless options and approaches for creative design. There are dozens of sizes and shapes, endless locations and boundless opportunities for designing effective outdoor advertising.

The Creative Challenge

Designing outdoor advertising is visual storytelling. The expression of an idea can surprise viewers with words or excite them with pictures. Through the use of humor or drama, outdoor designs can influence consumer decisions and sell products. However, designing for the outdoor medium is a challenging communication task that requires the expression of a concept with clarity and austere focus. When outdoor advertising is well designed, it will entertain and intrigue consumers with arresting impact.

Basic Rules for Design

The outdoor viewing audience is mostly mobile. People travel swiftly in vehicles or walk at a brisk pace while they perform the activities of daily life. Mobility limits the potential viewing time of an outdoor message to only a few seconds. Because of limited exposure time, outdoor designs require a disciplined and succinct creative approach. However, high frequency is a fundamental strength of the medium and repeated exposures will ensure that a message is absorbed and retained over time.

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