Digital signage could prove to be a highly efficient medium for some organizations. Digital signage refers not just to posters and billboards. It is extremely versatile and combines content from practically any source and then connects to a wide assortment of displays to achieve a hugely impressive interactive communications experience.

Digital signage is extremely dynamic and is used for informing and influencing target audiences for promoting products, explaining corporate benefits, providing directions, managing key performance indicators, reinforcing branding and a lot more.

In today’s dynamic and fast-paced consumer scenario, firms dealing with brand promotion are increasingly opting for Digital Signage. Digital signage has been proven beyond doubt, to be an effective platform for passing on the message to the target group. It is important for you to keep in mind that when your design comprises the right elements it is sure to grab consumer attention and more and more potential customers would not only be noticing the message, but would be considering it with seriousness.Designing digital signage could be pretty challenging task, but would be fun no doubt. You get the opportunity to experiment with basic design elements namely text, color, contrast and arrangement.

You should always remember that the purpose of digital signs is imparting information. While designing digital signs you must at first, clarify the precise purpose they are going to serve. Find out whether the purpose is company branding, entertainment, employee messaging, advertising or any other.

Tools for Creating Effective Digital Signs

Advertising experts believe that content is king and you must focus on creating content that is said to be engaging, relevant and appealing. The high-tech era has made it easy to access effective content-creation tools that allow greater flexibility and independence, while creating or changing content. This leads to lower costs and greater degree of efficiency. Content-creation tools are known for allowing filters, movement and effects that need to be infused into the content to make sure that post production studios are not needed.

Template Editor

It is effective in publishing information speedily and without any third party software. You could develop new content in a few seconds right from your web browser by using Template Editor and a host of other complimentary templates. Template Editor comes with an impressive complimentary template database which is growing consistently, without you having to pay any cost. Custom templates could be generated to complement a corporate design or unique specifications.

Picture Fine-Tuning

This is a very easy tool for cropping and rotating any uploaded picture. No image editing software is needed. Adjust pictures in such a way that it rightly fits a 16:9 or 4:3 screen, or some other format, as per your choice. All you need to do is upload a raw photo directly from the camera on to the Digital Signage screens in just a few minutes. You do not even need to use Photoshop or any such software.

Google Web Designer

This is the latest Google tool that has left a profound impact on digital signs. This tool is meant for authoring online advertisements in HTML5. This is offered free of charge by Google. In very little time you can come up with brilliant graphics enhanced by 3D animation. This tool is definitely one of the simplest HTML5 tools suitable for effective content creation. The tool has a great playback performance.

Google Web Designer makes easy layout of photos, vector graphics or text possible. 3D and 2D animation is possible with this tool. It has built-in controls that assist in video, interactive picture gallery, and maps manipulation. It supports advanced customization thanks to complete CSS tags and also, event-based JavaScript programming.

Some Do’s While Designing Digital Signs

You are required to do certain things and follow certain dictates for marketing your company, or products or services with success to your potential as well as existing target audience.

• You must clearly define the message to be promoted. It is best to focus on that message and include it positively in all content you develop.
• Make the message concise, clear and to the point as possible so that it is easy to retain. If your intended message is concealed behind weather updates, scrolling news feeds, and poor design, the audience would be confused and would take time to receive the message and definitely would not retain your message.
• You must concentrate on making your display areas and screens more visible. Make sure your target audience can easily access your message.
• Provide relevant content. Link your digital signage to certain systems namely Appointment Booking or Queue Management. This makes live interaction between two systems possible and provides specific content that has relevance to your client.
• Provide fresh content. Keep changing your content regularly. Even if you have a mind-blowing presentation, nobody cares much for the same content and customers do not respond to stale content. You could even alter the playlist, so content may be played at different times each day.

Some Don’ts While Designing Digital Signs

• It is best not to unnecessarily complicate your message. You must realize that cramming too much content would confuse your target audience as they generally have a pretty short retention span. Your message would be lost if you do not keep it simple.It is best to limit your campaigns to only one idea and just use two sentences to keep your text compact. It is a good idea to keep your posts less than 250 characters. This can definitely result in 60% more engagement. It is best to opt for multiple slides for communication instead of cramming everything into just one.
• Don’t just do digital signs just because others are doing it. You must come up with a clear strategy. Your team should know the precise reason why you are doing it and they should be aware of your ultimate goal.
• Don’t overdo on the first day. True, you are excited about your new digital signs solution, but try to keep the implementation basic and simple. You must allow your designers and marketers to completely appreciate and understand your product, before you go on to any detailed presentations.
• Don’t simply broadcast. You must identify your target audience, come up with messages and presentations that match your target audience and then choose the branch, or store or office where you would like to broadcast the information. There is no point in simply pushing content without any clear-cut strategies. It would only create tremendous workload for the designers and marketers. You would not get the desired results.

Latest Designing Trends in Digital Signs

Cost-effective Solutions

Digital solutions companies are trying out more cost-effective strategies to operate. Developers are looking for more economical and simpler ways for developing digital signage technology. This implies that cheaper software and hardware options such as small media players and USB sticks are gradually replacing the more expensive hardware options.

Ultra HD Displays

1080p HD has made way for ultra HD as the latest standard. This technology has generated a lot of hype and everyone is talking about it. The digital designers are naturally interested in adopting it. However, the cost as well as, the rate of adoption would play a vital role in determining how soon it is accepted as the standard for digital signs.

Intimate and Smaller Signage

There is growing tendency toward more intimate and smaller displays for engaging users. There has been a constant rise in the number of individuals using touch screen technology and tablets. This has prompted businesses to take advantage by offering smaller touch screen signs in strategic places in the stores. This results in a truly intimate experience. There are greater chances of customers interacting and engaging with the signs. These smaller units are important for capturing emails, encouraging couponing, entering contests, gaining access to select and exclusive promotions and gathering feedback regarding customer experience.

Mobile Integration

Mobile technology is very much in focus today and businesses are trying to bring in mobile integration right into their strategy for digital signage use. Smartphones and other mobile devices would be treated as an extension of mobile signs. Allowing users to enter contests, complete transactions and do a host of other things by interacting with digital signs via their mobile devices.

Simpler Interfaces

While designing digital signage emphasis should be on simplicity of use. It is necessary to create interfaces that are simple to use apart from being interactive. If the interface is not simple and easy the customer would not really understand what he is required to do or how he should interact with the given technology. This poses immense risk as the customer will disengage and you would lose him.

Cloud-based Solutions

There is a gradual inclination toward cloud-based solutions for supporting digital signage. This relatively new technology is effective for creating appealing digital signage experiences and novel ways for interacting or engaging with customers.

Creative Aspects of Designing Digital Signs

Digital signs should actually be an extension of your environment, culture and most importantly, your brand. The creative team should infuse and integrate graphics, fonts and colors into a design ensuring that each and every component is customized as per your unique project specifications. Emphasis should be on creating dynamic and attractive layout elements, tailor-made for your brand. You could think of incorporating photos, games, video and more.

For keeping continuity of message you could opt for designing quick-fill AxisTV templates. It is worth customizing PowerPoint templates for creating designs easily outside the system. Setting up pre-configured department notices and alert templates is a good idea. While designing digital signage, consider animating static logos, graphics and text for greater impact. Creating real-time shuttle mapping and energy usage dashboards proves to be more fruitful. It is always a good idea to keep your target audience engaged by encouraging audience participation with SMS Polls, QR Tags and more. You may customize directories and maps for giving precise directions to your visitors.

Design Tips in a Nutshell

Always keep in mind that aesthetics are essential for boosting audience engagement. Clear and concise communication always triumphs. You could consider adding motion for grabbing and prolonging audience attention. Relevant content is always necessary. You could keep digital signage entertaining by providing fresh content. Keep updating your content on a regular basis.

Do not forget to incorporate pictures as they convey a lot more than just text. Clever use of photographs can clearly help in enhancing audience engagement. Remember that including a call to action along with your message really helps. It definitely boosts audience engagement.

If you keep these basic guidelines in mind, while creating digital signs, your campaign is sure to be a success. Your digital signage would attract more viewers and engage more target audience. This would definitely enhance your organization’s communications.