In some respects digital signage content creation is similar to content creation for print. You’ve got to factor in the size, resolution and color capability of your medium. You will likely have a standard font, a set of graphic images that depict your products and services, along with style guidelines that reflect your corporate identity and branding goals. The principal difference from the print world is the dynamic quality of digital signage. Unlike static printed advertisement, digital signage can move. It can change at a moments notice! But this is powerful reason to use digital signage over print.

The KISS Principle
KISS means: keep it simple, stupid. Avoid complicated, distracting digital signage at all costs. If possible use black and white text. This provides optimal legibility and the best over-all viewing contrast on TV screens. Use sans-serif fonts. There are a wide variety to choose from. And use all caps sparingly. This treatment can be hard to read and may come across as pushy.

While digital signage offers a wide range of fancy animation, transitions and other special effects you should strive to keep them at a tasteful minimum. Too much movement in your signage can become distracting for viewers. This is especially true for older audiences, so please gauge your viewers carefully.

Let it Breathe
When your signage consists of multiple “pages” or scrolling images it is important to slow down the timing to give viewers time to absorb the message. You don’t want viewers becoming nervous. Likewise you don’t want to slow things down to the point where the message becomes stale. A good rule of thumb is to set content/image pacing between 6-8 seconds.

A Picture Says a 1000 Words
Most people hate reading: it’s just true. High definition images or video should dominate your digital signage. Use text to punctuate the visual image; to highlight important features/information or for a call to action. Consistently use images, colors and graphic styles that reflect your corporate identity and branding goals.

Digital Signage Content Creation Tools
Most signage products provide proprietary digital signage content creation tools. In many cases these tools are only suitable for basic content creation tasks. If possible consider off-the-shelf content creation software like PowerPoint®, Photoshop and Illustrator. These software products provide a rich set of features designed specifically to creation very profession content.

PowerPoint Digital Signage
For small to mid-sized companies we recommend using PowerPoint for digital signage content creation. PowerPoint is widely used by most companies. You can leverage PowerPoint’s flexible layouts and widely available digital signage templates to create great looking content. Combine text, pictures, animation effects and cutting-edge HD video to produce multimedia signage that drive home your marketing message.

Take a look at PowerSignage™, a cloud-based digital signage service that uses PowerPoint for content creation and low-cost PC/compute sticks for content display. Please visit https://www.powerdigitalsignage.com for more information.

PowerPoint is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. PowerSignage is a trademark of Power Media Designs Pty Ltd. Copyright (c) 2017, Power Media Design Pty Ltd., all rights reserved.