This week’s out of home design tips come from a blog post by Michael Baily, Graphic Designer, Independent’s Service Corp.  Insider wishes to thank Allen Atkins of ISCO for permission to reprint.

Here we have two billboard designs from an advertiser new to out of home advertising.

• These two billboards lack readability; they are very difficult to read, even while viewing them on a computer monitor.  My eyes cannot stay on any one line of copy or graphical element without constantly being distracted by the items around it.  So the worst mistake is overcrowding.

• What’s with the Mickey Mouse ears on the top corners?  These are like footnotes in War And Peace, and they are the first items I’d remove.  They add nothing positive to the design.

• Who is the advertiser?  Texas Style BBQ?  BBQ Deli & Grill?  Mini Donuts?  CharlieBrownFarms.com?  Some random location with a new fudge shop?  Would you be willing to pull the family off the interstate to see the “world’s largest beef jerky slab”?  What is a “date shake”?  It sounds almost criminal.  One day getaway?  How much of this copy makes any sense at all?  Would the advertised items persuade you to visit Charlie Brown Farms?

• One or two graphic elements and three lines of copy would be a nice contrast to the clutter of these designs.  What is the most popular reason people visit?  Or the second most?  Advertising those aspects would be an effective way to advertise what Charlie Brown Farms has to offer.

Removing 90% of the current items in these two designs should allow viewers to read the name of the advertiser, their location, and a brief description of the variety at Charlie Brown Farms.  And the mini donut character would make for a much more effective extension off the board than either date shakes or gift & doll shop.

Below we have taken their design, and enhanced it to be more effective for use as a roadside billboard.

We’ve taken a kaleidoscope of items and given it focus.  The words “Family Fun” and the Mini-Donut graphic are a big part of the essence of Charlie Brown Farms, and are more effective than the roulette wheel of items in the original designs.  We could have used an image of a large jerky stick or a large shake, and we chose the Mini-Donut to illustrate how to trim up the hedges blocking the house, metaphorically speaking, because it was already included in the original designs.

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