All of our outdoor markets and brand divisions offer award winning creative departments to help define and achieve your goals.
In addition to production expertise our creative staff have access to a digital image library with over 100 years of outdoor advertising history, as well as thousands of images, logos and concepts.
Great creative is a key component of a successful advertising campaign.
While placement, location and timing are all important, great creative can often be the difference maker.
If you are designing your own creative, below are some guidelines and tools to assist you.
Simplicity is the fundamental guideline for creating good out-of-home design. The most effective out-of-home designs capture the essence of a message with lucid expression. For this reason, good out-of-home design can lead to better advertising executions in other media.
Like sound waves, light rays have varying wave lengths or frequencies. Some pigments absorb light while others reflect it. Reflected frequencies are perceived as color. Complementary colors, such as red and green, are not legible together because they have similar values that cause the wave lengths to vibrate. Any combination of similar color value (even without vibration), will produce low visibility. Yellow and black are dissimilar in both hue and value providing the strongest contrast for out-of-home design. White complements colors with light values.
Strong contrast in hue and value is essential for creating good out-of-home design. Hue is the identity of color while value measures a color's lightness or darkness. Contrasting colors are best when viewing out-of-home designs from far distances.
The 14 color combinations above represent the best use of color contrast for readability on traditional or reflective content. Example one is the most legible color combination while example 14 is the least legible.
Note: Digital LED units and other back light displays have some subtle differences in contrasts. A chart is not yet available but an example of the difference is that most bright/light colors work well on a black background.
Advances in production technology are allowing advertisers to use increasingly complex imagery in their creative application. However, the requirements for effective outdoor advertising have remained the same — imagery must be bold, clear and easy to understand.
Strong images against simple backgrounds create high-impact visuals. The Image on the left is a good example.
Sufficient kerning between letters assures the legibility test from far distances. Tight kerning reduces legibility causing adjacent letters to attach together visually. Without proper kerning "clear morning" could be interpreted as "dear moming."
A single horizontal line of text allows rapid assimilation of a message without interruption. Multiple text lines increase the time needed to discern a message.
If more than one text line is necessary, use adequate leading between lines. When a line of text rides on the line below the interplay of descenders and ascenders it will make a message difficult to read.
Distance in Feet | Print Resolution | Resolution | Examples | Minimal Text Height in Inches | Minimal Discernible Text for Disclaimers |
5' - 50' | High | LCD | Malls, Airports, Retail, Lobbies, Office etc. | 1" - 2" | 1" - 2" |
50' - 100' | High | 6mm-12mm | Window, Street Display, Drive through | 2" - 4" | 2" - 4" |
100' - 200' | Normal | 12mm-18mm | Posters, Surface Streets | 4" - 8" | 4" - 6" |
200' - 300' | Normal | 18mm-20mm | Posters, Surface Streets and highway bulletins | 8" - 10" | 6" |
300' - 350' | Normal | 20mm-24mm | Highway Bulletins, Highway Posters | 10" - 15" | 6" |
350' - 500' | Normal | 24mm | Highways, Spectaculars | 15" - 20" | 8" |
500' - 600' | Low - Normal | 24mm | Highways, Spectaculars, Stadiums | 20" - 24" | 8" |
600' + | Low | 30+ mm | Skyscrapers, Spectaculars, Set back from road | 24" - 40" | 9" |
Note: Readability is also dependant on color contrast. Higher contrasts will allow smaller text size. Complicated backgrounds behind text will also reduce readability. |
Text that needs to be included for legal reasons, viewed in photographs, or by someone standing closer with the intent of reading the disclaimer can be substantially smaller. Any high resolution printed material can have letters as small as 1". Printed vinyl for bulletins and posters can have text as small as 2". Digital LED displays depend on the resolution of the display and need to include at least 8 LED diodes. (Example: A 20 mm display will have one LED diode every 20 mm so 20 x 8 = 160 mm or about 6 inches. So on a 20 mm LED digital display text should not be any smaller than 6” actual size.
(Note: Most LED digital bulletin and poster displays are 16mm - 25 mm)
Simplicity is the key to creating great out-of-home design.
A billboard's main purpose is functionality. Creating a billboard is mainly about making it read. Even the best design is worthless if it is not legible from a distance. It is only after legibility has been mastered that creativity can follow.
Although very similar, there are variances in designing for digital as opposed to traditional out-of-home. With that in mind, listed here are clear channel outdoor's recommended guidelines for designing a digital billboard.
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File Size | 400 pixels h X 1400 pixels w |
File Type | Uncompressed JPEG |
Color Mode | RGB |
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File Size | 400 pixels h X 840 pixels w |
File Type | Uncompressed JPEG |
Color Mode | RGB |
The Outdoor Advertising Association of America’s OOH Mockup Generator allows you to view billboard, street furniture and transit creative in the environment. Once you have uploaded your creative, you will be able to zoom in and out to see the work at a range of distances, share the rendering with colleagues and clients, and print out a copy for your records.
Requires (free) registration with the OAAA website.
The specifications detailed here represent our standard/typical national sizes. Due to structure variations and local ordinances, sizes may vary by market. Please verify final size and specifications with your Clear Channel Representative prior to the creation and production of any artwork.