Content is king. Even if you have the fanciest digital signage system software, it won’t be effective unless you display good digital signage content.

There’s a lot more to creating digital signage that will make an impact than just producing something beautiful. In the process of designing your digital signage content, there are several things to consider. You should know what goals you are looking to achieve, who your target audience is made up of, and how digital signage can assist you with achieving those goals.

When you make both the small details and larger picture priorities, it’s easier to maximize the benefits that your digital signage solution provides for visual marketing. That’s why we want to share seven design tips that will ensure you implement digital signage that meets your needs.

1. Know Who Your Target Audience Is

Unlike some forms of marketing, digital signage solutions aren’t going to be the same for each business. Before you can begin to create the perfect display, it’s a good idea to know exactly who is going to be looking at it. As an example, a digital signage display that appeals to women from 25 to 35 isn’t likely to get many views from men in their late teens and early 20s. 

In addition to knowing who you’re targeting, it also pays to know where you will be targeting them at. For example, a digital signage display at an airport terminal is going to have a vastly different set of goals than a display at a conference or trade show. 

2. Don’t Be Afraid to Let Out Your Creativity

Getting the results you want is essential, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a good time creating a digital signage display. Many of the most popular displays will have a bit of humor. There’s nothing wrong with making someone crack a smile or even laugh. Since digital signage lets you include images, social media feeds, animations, and memes, there are all kinds of options available.

Think about what kind of presentation you want to offer before you get into the design stage. Having a refined knowledge of what your signage is meant to be about and offer others is what makes one display worth stopping and looking at while another one might be ignored.

3. Ensure Your Display Packs a Visual Punch

It’s common sense that you want to have your signage get the attention of the right audience, so they pay attention to the information you’re provided. This requires understanding the factors that make visual elements stand out. To boil it down to the basics, the larger the display and the closer it is to an audience, the quicker it will be seen and absorbed by others.

Many businesses make the mistake of forgetting this when designing, whether it’s for digital signage, the Internet, or even print. That just means that your signage can take advantage of this knowledge to stand out. Choose important messages and give them extra flair by using a new color or extra shading. The important thing here is to catch the eye of your audience while also imparting information to them.

4. Implement a Solid Call to Action

After you have someone’s attention, you don’t want to waste an opportunity. Reach out to the viewer and ask them to move forward with you by having a strong call to action on your digital signage. The CTA should be specific but straightforward to understand. It might be a call to have someone visit your website, use a specific hashtag on social media, or take advantage of a promotion.

If the digital signage is going to be placed at a physical store, it can create additional foot traffic while bridging the gap between digital and physical items. There’s no reason to be meek when including a CTA in your display. Using strong verbs and wording has been shown to cause people to take action.

5. Choose the Right Fonts for Your Needs

Most of the time, people are going to focus on images before text. That means using small sentences is often the best choice. The words should be considered another design element that complements the other visual assets in your display. Your layout should be built around visuals with short phrases and sentences to reassert critical concepts.

As far as fonts go, there are tons of options in terms of size, color, and style. A viewer should have the ability to quickly read the text and get the message you want without much effort. Designmodo states that using trending fonts can draw the eye and create additional attention with your sign. Just remember not to overdo it with too many fonts or fonts that don’t work together.

6. Understand the Importance of White Space

Some individuals will be tempted to cover their digital signage from top to bottom with images and text, but this can be overwhelming to the audience. Having empty spaces without words or images helps viewers understand what areas of the display should be focused on next. If there’s too much content, viewers may become frustrated and step away before your message is received.

Throughout each of your layouts, make sure that you include a bit of white space for a relaxing area that the eyes can reach. You should also ensure your images, videos, and text have a bit of room around them to avoid clutter. Having too much going on can detract from the message and frustrated anyone who stops to look at the digital signage.

7. Take the Color Scheme into Account

Another area where some people go with “more is better” is in terms of color. This can also create an issue if you place colors together that won’t fit or use too many colors overall. When choosing your color scheme, you want to think about both the location of the signage as well as who the audience is. While bright colors might look great in a children’s arcade, it isn’t going to be the right fit in an airport or a home goods store.

You should take your company branding into account when choosing colors, but don’t forget that location is just as important. Pick colors that are appealing, appropriate, and complementary to the location where the display is going to be placed. Some digital signage solutions have templates you can save so that you can start with the same branded color scheme each time.

Creating the Top Digital Signage with Seven Easy Design Tips

The reality is that planning your goals, knowing your audience, and being aware of your location are all critical factors to making digital signage that your audience will love. Using the design tips above will put you on another level and ensure you get the results you want from your next display. It could be the perfect answer to building your business and getting the most out of your digital signage software.

“This article was originally published at Enplug.com“.