Edis Course Digital Signage Artwork Design User Guide
- June 9, 2024
- Edis
Table of Contents
Edis Course Digital Signage Artwork Design
Digital Signage Artwork Design Guide
This guide provides key design and usage criteria for those wishing to advise
others or create stunning digital signage media
Viewers of digital signage are typically moving from one place to another,
waiting or involved in some other primary activity such as shopping, eating,
resting, being entertained, observing, study, etc. They scan and pay very
little attention to messages they don’t imediately see as relevant.
- They are drawn to look at moving images, faces in motion and subjects they like;
- They ignore messages that are difficult or too busy to read
- They want to see a complete message but only in the time span they have as they pass by
Your message must catch them in 5-8 seconds and get them to act !
Artwork Design Principles
The design of digital signage slides should be clean, simple, attractive,
appropriate and brief, with a maximum of 10-18 words on each slide. Using
multiple image slides as a series in order to communicate a single subject can
extend this limited word count. The viewer should be able to comprehend
single-image slides within 5 seconds and a series of image slides within 8-10
seconds. Key principles to keep in mind are brevity of your content,
thoughtful design placement, and a clear call to action.
The Artwork Design Guide below takes you through the various stages of
creating these slides.
Click here for Artwork Details Guide
Learn about simple graphic design principles for digital signage, screen layouts, colour and text in this short and easy to read Design Guide
Preparing Artwork
- We recommend using professional design software such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to create artwork for digital displays, although some digital signage systems like the Edis Android Signage Solution include graphics software and power point can also be used.
Final artwork dimensions must be specified (for example 1280 x 760 pixels
depending on your display resolution) Artwork file type can be in many formats
Image : jpg jpeg bmp png gif
video : wmv avi mpg mpeg
Flash : swf
Powerpoint : ppt pps pptx
Creating Artwork in Adobe Photoshop (Recommended)
- Create a new file with with 1280 pixels width and 760 pixels in height. Resolution should be set to 72 and color mode set to RGB.
- Create your slide in photoshop following our recommended content guidelines in Section.
- Choose “Save for Web and Devices” and save your file as JPEG, quality of 80 with the “Optimized” checkbox checked.
Creating Artwork with Microsoft Powerpoint
- After creating a new file, click “Page Setup” and change the width to 26.66 inches and the height to 15 inches (or equivalent to match screen resolution). (If you receive a warning dialog click “OK”; do not click “Fix”)
- Create your slide in powerpoint following our recommended content guidelines in Section 2.
- Choose “Save As…” and change the Format option to JPEG before saving.
Content Guidelines
Digital Signage slides often appear on the screen for only 8 seconds,
generally about once every two minutes.
Because of this it is important that you think of your slide in terms of a
roadside billboard. Users have a very limited timeframe to view your slide and
digest your message.
Recommendations
Do not simply re-use your flyer, poster, or any other type of ad for your
digital slide. You need to make a new design that is simple and to the point.
Simplicity is important. Focus on the basics, if the slide is for an event
what is the name of your event? When is it? Where is it? Is there an admission
price or is it free
Remember people only have an average of 8 seconds to read your slide. Avoid
using paragraphs; communicate relevant information with bullet points or in
short sentences.
Be careful of fancy fonts and fonts with thin letters (Arial recommended as
available on every player) . You can still have fun with fonts, just be sure
that they do not interfere with communicating your message. Recommended body
text size is 24pt or greater.
Recommended size for headlines is 40pt or greater (depending on viewing
distance).
Make sure you use contrasting colors that are easy to read. For example, blue
on black is not always easy to read when used to together, neither is white
onyellow.
Patterns and pictures can be useful, but make sure they do not make it hard to
read or interfere with your text.
Use only imagery to which you have licensed or of which you are the copyright
holder.
logos/images must adhere to the brand owners guidelines Call to Action – Be
sure that you provide a way for prospects to get more information, usually a
website or email address.
Good Example Slide
This slide provides a good example of concise communication blended with
attractive color, imagery, and typefaces. Notice the limited amount of text
used and the “call to action” the slide provides.
To make sure that you slide design is communicating effectively, try this:
- Set up your slide on a display of the correct size.
- Then walk 20 steps away from the display.
- Walk towards the display.
- When you reach the display turn away
- Now stop and think about what you have just seen. You have just viewed your slide like a passing viewer would see it.
- Do not look at the display again and ask yourself the following questions.
- How clear was the copy (words)?
- Could you read everything?
- Could you tell what the graphics were?
- Did the design leave any unanswered questions?
- Could you tell what the advertisement was for?
- Did the advertisement make sense?
- Did you remember to tell how to get more information?
Slide sequencing
A campaign is a library of content that plays on your signage and defines the
displays the content will play on. The CMS system allows you to create and
manage an unlimited number of campaigns. Campaigns run in loops, with multiple
campaigns running in sequential order in the loop.
Having determined the day and start and finish time for a layout (slide) on
the displays you choose you can add several layouts that will play
continuously one after the other until the time slot finishes and a new
schedule begins.
You may create slides that change during the day such as restaurant or coffee
shop menus, or hotel events for different rooms, timetable updates etc
At a school information could be to parents in the morning bringing children
to school. This could change to information to pupils mid morning, display of
a canteen menu to students and teachers at lunchtime, student artwork displays
in the afternoon and more information to parents collecting children at school
leaving time.
Digital Signage Placement
Where you site digital signage is just as important as the content and
messaging you schedule for playback.
The Digital Signage Placement guide provides instructions and guidance for
siting displays
Where should your displays be placed? The placement of displays is just as
important as the content and messaging. – read our Digital Signage Placement
Guide