Volume 1 STEPS For Successful Content Design In Digital Signage Systems
Table of Contents Introduction 3 Chapter 1 Color Theory For Content Design 4 Chapter 2 Font Considerations In Digital Signage 8 Chapter 3 Image Formats Used In Digital Signage 12 and When To Use Them Chapter 4 Audio - Making a Sound Decision 14 Chapter 5 Video - Is Your Content Moving? 16 Practical Application 19 Copyright 2014 Noventri. All rights reserved.
Introduction Content creation is just one aspect of digital signage, yet it is an important one. In fact, your success is dependent on content. How should content be designed for the best effect in your signage application? What can have the most impact on your audience? In this ebook, we take a look at several areas, from use of color and sound, to applying video and animation into your signage layout. Following the guidelines presented in this book will help make sure that your audience has a memorable viewing experience. Noventrick As you read through the material, you will come across Noventrick boxes. These contain tips, tricks, and other valuable information to help you get the most out of your signage content. Be sure to take note of these and refer to them often. 3
Chap- COLOR Theory For Content Design Graphic designers have a natural talent for creating content that is pleasing to look at. They artfully employ images, text, and textures into a unified mosaic, causing the viewer to pause and take notice. The thread that binds these pieces together is color. Colors are vitally important when it comes to creating highly effective digital signage content that is compelling to the human eye. Have you ever had trouble deciding what colors look good when creating content? This chapter will provide the basics of choosing colors that will make your content stand out. 4
Three Components of Color Hue is what we commonly call color. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple are all Hues. Saturation is how strong a color looks. In the summer, grass is a very strong, vivid green. As fall arrives, the green loses a bit of color. By winter, grass will commonly lose most of its green saturation. Luminance is how much White or Black is mixed with a color. Blue becomes baby blue when its luminance is increased. When orange s luminance is decreased, it becomes brown. Building Color Schemes A great visual guide for this is the color wheel. Using a line running through the middle of the color wheel, you will find colors that complement each other. These color schemes look good together because they are pure opposites. Using colors this way will help content be pleasing to the eye. By choosing color compliments, we are altering the Hue. The Saturation and Luminance can be adjusted to get endless combinations of good-looking colors. If high saturation and luminance are used in one of the selected colors, use low saturation and luminance in the other color. Using multiple colors presents a level of complexity to content design. By using the color wheel, the process of selecting colors becomes much simpler. There are four commonly used color schemes, as depicted in the accompanying color wheel charts. 5
Common Color Schemes Any two colors that are oppisite on the color wheel. Uses 3 colors. A base color and the two colors next to either side of the base colors compliment. Any three colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel. One color is usually dominate, one is used as an accent color and the third is a highlight. Primary and secondary colors mixed together. White and Black White and Black are interesting because they can be combined with just about any other color and look good. Use your best judgment based on readability; yellow text on a white background is nearly impossible to read, just as rich blue text on a black background is similarly hard to read. 6
Emotion and Color It is important to consider the emotional responses tied to each color. These emotional responses are better known to those in Marketing and are used daily in advertising to evoke certain responses from the viewer. Some are more obvious than others. Depending on the industry, you may want to get away from your company colors and use colors that evoke emotion. Below is a list of pure hues along with the emotions and actions associated with each. Common Colors & Emotions Red Orange Black White Yellow Green Blue Purple Passion, Violence, Fire, War, Love, Danger Energy, Movement, Change, Vitality, Welcoming Formality, Elegance, Power, Mystery, Sophistication Cleanliness, Purity, Goodness, Neutrality Hunger, Happiness, Cowardice, Hope, Caution Earth, Growth, Abundance, Stability, Wealth, Fresh Corporate, Sadness, Calmness, Peace, Reliability Royalty, Imagination, Luxury, Romance While it is recommended to use these emotional color connectors to your advantage, do not feel tied down with them. If a color combination makes you feel a certain way, then use it when appropriate. Ask co-workers and associates how colors make them feel; get some opinions before making a final decision. Sample Content 7
FONT Considerations In Digital Signage Your audience needs to understand the message your content is trying to convey. For most, a picture is worth a thousand words. When pictures alone cannot deliver the point, you need words. In digital signage, graphical content is extremely important, but choosing the correct font for text deserves equal consideration. What should guide you in determining the best fonts? To start, we will go over the font basics. 8
THE BASICS - SERIF OR SAN SERIF A serif font is any font that has swooshes or slashes at the end of the characters. For example, some font examples are Times New Roman, Georgia and Baskerville. A sans serif font has clean straight lines at the end of the characters, such as Helvetica, Arial and Bebas. Stuck on a Font? When in doubt, it is recommended to use a San Serif Font. While most studies show that serif fonts are best for printed materials, they do not work as well with digital signage. This is because the fonts are assembled on the display with pixels. In fact, the pixels are, simply put, little squares filled in with color. It is similar to creating a picture using graph paper, coloring individual squares until the image takes shape. Since the serif fonts have very thin edges, the resolution of the font diminishes, thereby making it harder to read. Sans serif fonts are much easier to read from a distance, as the pixels can recreate the fonts clean, bolder strokes. This makes sans serif fonts the best style for short messages, like listing events on a reader board at a hotel, or food items if you have a menu board. This is not to say you cannot use decorative or serif fonts. Take into account how these fonts blend in with your message. For example, if a serif font is used as a heading, balance the power of the decorative serif font with fonts that can be quickly read in the body of the message. Red = Caution The color red, when used as thin text, can generate unwanted noise and lack of detail. 9
FONT COMBINATIONS One should always be considerate to how many fonts are used on a single page. The general rule is The Rule of 3. This rule states you should not use more than three different fonts in a given project. Mixing and matching your fonts can lead to low readability, and ultimately, the impact you are trying to make with the message will be lost. For example, in designing a message board with a decorative heading, it would only be appropriate to use that font as a heading and choose a less dramatic font for the main text. Imagine trying to read an entire sign written in the font style Edwardian Script. Bigger is better with fonts on digital signage. The font size needs to be large enough to make the message stand out, and to be seen from far away. Make the font as big as possible for your audience. Are Your Fonts Sized For Readability? 10
For example, menu boards should be installed in a way for people to see the content while standing at the back of a line. The content (and font) should be created for easy reading at that distance. If all of the menu items or the message cannot fit on the screen, consider adding an additional display before making the font size smaller. Otherwise, the content will appear crowded. TEXT COLOR AND APPLICATION Color considerations are also important. Generally the more contrast there is between the text and the background, the better it is for readability. Refer to Chapter 1 to learn more about color considerations. While it may seem that there are limits to what fonts can be used, amazing content can be designed by adhering to the recommendations in this chapter. Finding the right balance of images, color and font styles will make for a great design that grabs attention and makes people want to read what is on your digital signs. Color Contrast The more contrast between the text and the background color, the more readable the text will be. To increase readability with complimentary colors, just darken one color and brighten another. Example: Put light red text on a dark green background, or vice-versa. 11
Image File Formats And When To Use Them In Digital Signage Graphic artists have their preferred graphic design programs, which can export images in many formats. What file types should be used when producing content for digital signage? Image files can either be compressed or uncompressed. Compression repackages a file in order to cut down on its file size. Unless there is limited storage space, or the digital signage application does not handle large files or only allows the usage of compressed file types, there is no need to use compressed image files. The following presents some of the differences between image formats. 12
GIF (.gif) - Graphic Interchange Format These compressed files should be avoided in digital signage. GIF files have a limit of 256 colors. The same picture saved in JPEG format will not only look better, but it will also be a smaller file size. If you need transparency, which GIF supports, we recommend using PNG files. DPI - Print vs. Digital Many designers are used to print specifications, so often, graphics are made in 300 dpi (Dots Per Inch). Much of that resolution will go to waste on digital signage since we are limited by the High Definition display. Our recommendation is to design graphics for 72 dpi, the maximum resolution for digital assets. Not only will the graphics look great, but they will drastically reduce the file size. This will make your project much more manageable. JPEG (.jpeg) - Joint Photographic Experts Group JPEGs handle photographic images best and have reasonably small file sizes. JPEGs do not support transparency. Avoid using text or logos, as compression will distort them. 13
PNG (.png) - Portable Network Graphics PNGs look good and they support transparency, making possible organic graphic overlaps that look more interesting than standard rectangular images. PNGs will automatically assign transparency where there is no pixel information. TARGA (.tga) - Truevision Advanced Raster Graphics Adapter TARGA allows you a greater level of control over alpha channels and transparency. However, it is not necessary to use this file type if PNGs are working well for your design. PNGs are smaller and normally provide the desired quality for digital signage usage. BMP (.bmp) - Bit Map Picture This uncompressed file type, while much larger in size than a JPEG file, will always look better than its compressed JPEG counterpart. If at all possible, use this file type for your images not requiring transparency. TIFF (.tif or.tiff) - Tagged Image File Format TIFF files are unique uncompressed files, because a user can actually save layers inside of one. This allows a designer to open a TIFF file later and continue editing where they left off. Like TARGA files, you probably will not need to use them for digital signage. To recap, if media storage space is not an issue, use BMPs for images not requiring transparency. If you have limited storage space, use JPEGs for images not requiring transparency. For all images requiring transparency, using PNGs is recommended. 14
AUDIO Making A Sound Decision Any effective digital signage strategy takes into account all the types of assets that can and should be used. It is digital, so the options are many and varied. Audio could be one of those assets that are being considered. Will having audio help the effectiveness of your signage? First, consider the surroundings. Is there already a lot of ambient noise? In most environments, there is chatter from customers, employees, and equipment, all competing for attention. How will adding more audio stimulation make it more likely to have a positive signage experience? It probably will not. It actually becomes harder to concentrate and can be counterproductive. 15
Experiment Try taking part in two conversations with two different people about two different topics at the same time. How does it make you feel? If the signage installation is in a location where audio is acceptable, there are still issues to think about. Consider the following experience: Bob, a kiosk owner at a shopping mall, had a signage display that was playing advertisements. There was a variety of content but every 10 minutes they would play a different commercial out of a set of five. That works out to hearing the same commercial once an hour. That may not seem like much, but it was too much for the other kiosk owners nearby to handle. After listening to the same commercials 8 to 10 times a day for two weeks, they took action. The next morning Bob came to work, fired up his signage system, only to find his system had been sabotaged. This ended the audio harassment. Vertical Screens Instead of Audio? When hung vertically (or portrait), people consider the screen and message as important information, not just a TV playing an ad. Getting their attention this way can eliminate the need for audio stimulation. Solutions have been created to provide audio to the viewer and to reduce the ambient noise to those around it by implementing near-range focused speaker systems in the ceiling or mounted below the monitor. While these systems are mostly effective, they are on the expensive side, costing thousands of dollars for each unit needed. Though it may seem like a good idea in the early planning stages when considering how to set up a digital signage system, in most cases, including audio in your content is not a sound decision. 16
Video Is Your Content Moving? Animation and video have taken the digital signage industry by storm since the beginning. However, there are some things to be mindful of if you choose to utilize this type of media in your content strategy. Whether you are using digital signage for Menu Boards in a restaurant, Way-finding screens in a hotel, or Data Metric Screens on the factory floor; the primary goal is to communicate with people. Motion video elements can be employed to attract the attention of distracted or disinterested people. Use Caution: It s easy to overdo it with video. In fact, video can be an expensive way to ruin an effective message. 17
TV Feeds? Mixing a live commercial television signal with digital signage content is often requested. Many systems make this possible. Usually a TV station is played on half the screen with digital signage content on the other half. Without proper license agreements, this is considered rebroadcasting of the signal. This could leave a business exposed to legal action by the Network, Cable Company and or the TV station. Instead use two screens, one for the digital signage content and a TV for the entertainment channel. Always check that proper licensing for the feed has been granted before rebroadcasting. Disassociation From TV With years of being bombarded by advertising, most people have trained themselves to avoid commercials, especially those playing on TV. To remove the mental association that digital signage is only a TV playing commercials, it is recommended to house digital signage in customized enclosures or surrounds that blend with the décor. Putting the screen into portrait mode also makes the display not appear to be a TV and has been studied to achieve 30% more information retention as compared to a display with the same information in the landscape orientation. All About the Audience In many instances digital signage is placed in areas where it is visible to people who are on the move. Screens in train stations are seen by thousands of travelers. In hotels and schools, they are seen by people on their way to meetings or classes. In these, and other similar scenarios, the targeted audience is moving. These people are often in a hurry and are distracted. They will only see the digital signage content for a few seconds as they rush by. In this case, content with little to no movement and with a concise message will convey the information faster and more completely than video. Use discretion in determining what type of content your audience will have time to view. 18
Creation Software and Video Formats Most Graphic Artists have a preferred application for making and editing animations and videos. Some of the more popular are Adobe Premier and Adobe After Effects for advanced users, and Windows Movie Maker or PowerPoint for those just starting out. Creating video content can be a lengthy and expensive endeavor, so choose software that gives you the flexibility for your particular needs and skill level. File Formats There are numerous formats and codecs that can be used for rendering videos. Much time and research can go into determining which ones offer the best quality and are also supported by your digital signage player. The two most common formats for digital signage is:.wmv (Windows Media Video file) This file type has been around for a long time and is supported by most video players..mp4 (MPEG4) A member of the mpeg family, this format has become widely used and supported by tablets, smartphones, DSLR s, and current video editing software. 19
Practical Application Digital Signage Content Templates We have created several industry specific Digital Signage templates in both Photoshop (.psd) and Noventri Suite (.sfp) formats. Jump start your Digital Signage project with a professional look. Each industry specific template includes: PSD and SFP Formats Customizable Layers Read Me Documentation Multiple Examples of Template Variations Download Templates Noventri 20940 Twin Springs Drive Smithsburg, MD (301) 790-0103 sales@noventri.com www.noventri.com Visit our Website 20