Here’s an example of good motives and terrible billboard design.  Potomoc Local reports that Prince William County decided to rent a billboard to urge commuters to vote absentee.  The county spent $3,262 to rent this billboard from Lamar.  There are three problems with this sign.

• Too many words.  Remember the billboard design rule which says 7 words or less.  The Prince William William Sign has over 100 words.  It’s unreadable.

• Bad colors.  You don’t want to use light blue and white in a static billboard because it blends with the sky.

• Bad location.  A left hand read on a small board across traffic will always be difficult to get noticed.  The sign’s design compounds the problem.

Insider’s take: You do yourself no favors when you let clients use a design which is sure to fail.   Insider hopes that the Lamar rep pointed out these design issues to Prince William County and was overruled.

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