LED Electronic Sign Design Tips

LED electronic signs come with intuitive software that empowers you and your team to upload new designs and schedule your designs by time of day, day of the week, and more. But first you need a few engaging designs!

Hire A Designer

We live in a DIY day and age but just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should. While your initial goal may be to save a bit of money, time is money so invest your time doing what you do best. If that’s not design, hire a designer. Reach out to the designers who have worked on your current or previous print and online promotions to see if they also design for over-sized digital displays, specifically 3D, motion, and video.

If you have a billboard or multi-screen display you definitely need a digital billboard designer as the size and scale combined with the digital design is a whole other ballgame.

Edit And Design For Size And Scale

Speaking of size and scale, you might already have a few videos or graphics that you plan to use on your new sign, but most will not work on a digital display. This might mean that they aren’t HD, are pixilated, or don’t fit the screen size. Sometimes what you have can be edited to work but you may have to start from scratch—even if it’s a replica of the original design. View this as a positive because at least your designer has somewhere to begin.

Design For Placement

An LED electronic sign can be square or rectangular, placed indoors and outdoors, and designed as small, medium, oversized, or billboard. So, this means that you need more than just a design that will pop digitally, but an LED electronic sign that is designed for where it will be placed. For example, the size and scale of images and text will vary greatly for signs that you drive by versus signs you walk by.

Signs that are eye level will also be designed a bit differently than signs that are 10, 20, or 30 feet off the ground. If you have multiple digital displays you may have a similar, but properly scaled design for the sign you walk by, drive, by or that is posted alongside your digital directory.

Brand Your Design

Your designs must always look and feel like your brand. This can be achieved in a variety of ways including, but not limited to:

• Matching your current print or digital marketing and promotions
• Creating the same look and feel as your website
• Creating the same look and feel as your menu board or catalog
• Designing with your company colors
• And more!

Keep It Simple

An LED electronic sign is large, so it can be tempting to add more text, images and graphics, but—the goal is to create a short, sweet, and to the point message. If you want to communicate more, use a slideshow or video where each segment delivers a sentence or two of a larger message. There are of course exceptions to this rule. For example, if your sign is an instructional sign placed in a lobby, line, or waiting area it may be there to simplify the jobs of customer service agents and may be a bit more detailed.

Or menu boards will have a large amount of text. However, most signs will need to engage quickly as attention spans are short.

Always View New Signs Before They Go Live

You may have approved your new digital design, motion display, or video but when viewed on your smaller laptop or smartphone screen but it might not look the same on your oversized display—so you must always test and view the sign or video before it goes live. This is to ensure that it is properly sized, that the design has good contrast, that the text is the right size, and that it delivers the look and feel you desire when viewed on a larger scale.

If you would like to learn more we invite you to reach out to Mega LED Technology today!