Get Creative
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.
- Designing for Print
- Designing for Digital
- Digital Capabilities
Creative Recommendations for Print Graphics
Engage the Audience: Create dialogue by encouraging interaction through social media and exclusive promotions where applicable.
Imagery Should be Bold, Clear and Easy to Understand: Avoid using complex scenes. Bigger is better, make your logo large and clear.
Product Identification: Make sure you can immediately read the advertiser's name and understand what the product is.
Short Words/Copy: Use short words for faster comprehension and include no more than 10 words total on your ad (with no more than 5 words in the headline).
Use Large and Legible Type: Words are viewed from distances. Any text that is integral to the design should be as large as possible. (See chart and notes below)
Increase Line Thickness: Thin lines optically disappear.
Use Bold Colors: Dare to be bold! Being subtle at a distance doesn't work.
Simplify Everything: Focus on one key idea or message.
Color Recommendations for Print Graphics
| Vibration | Complementary colors, such as red and green, are not legible together because they have similar values. |
| Low Visibility | Any combination of similar color values result in low visibility. |
| High Visibility | Any combination of dissimilar color values result in high visibility. |
| Contrast | Yellow and black are dissimilar in both hue and value providing the strongest contrast. |
Contrast
Strong contrast in hue and value is essential for creating good Airport Advertising. Hue is the identity of color while value measures a color's lightness or darkness. Contrasting colors are best when viewing Airport Advertising from far distances.
Take a few steps back from your monitor to see which color combinations offer the strongest contrast.
Choice of Type
Color contrast, type choice, style and size are all critical factors for legibility in Airport Advertising. Feelings and opinions about typeface choices and styles of lettering can be subjective. Common sense dictates that they should be simple, clear, and easy to read. Type faces in upper and lower cases tend to be easier to read than all capital letters.
Space: Word spacing and letter spacing need considerable care. With too little spacing, letters tend to merge together when viewed from a distance.
Style: Simple type faces are recommended for use in Airport Advertising. As a general rule, ornate faces, those with thick or thin strokes do not read well from a distance. Sans Serif fonts tend to be more legible, since Serif fonts pose the problem of overlapping when spaced too close together.
Legibility: Whatever type face is selected, the ultra bold or ultra thin variety are not recommended. Heavy type faces become blobs from a distance, while very fine strokes tend to fade and disappear.
Text Legibility Guide (see Disclaimer for 0'-5' Distances)
| Distance in Feet | Minimum Readable X-Height in Inches |
|---|---|
| 5' - 50' | 1" - 2" |
| 50' - 100' | 2" - 4" |
| 100' - 200' | 4" - 8" |
Disclaimers
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. High-resolution printed material can have letters that are smaller than the recommended guide.
Simple and Clear
- Bigger is better; make your logo large and clear
- Use sans serif fonts for better legibility
- Avoid using italics, serif fonts and decorative, thin lines
- Avoid landscapes and complex images
- Create your message using RGB colors to utilize bright, vibrant color. Bright, saturated colors command attention, especially when coupled with high contrast colors that compliment each other
- Artwork for digital should be clear, simple, precise and easy to read
- As a general rule, copy should be read within 5 seconds
- Reduce unnecessary elements until the design is as simple and clear as possible
- Focus on the key idea and message
- Display one idea or thought using 3 visual elements or less. For example, one image, one logo, and one headline
- If you have to communicate multiple messages, split them amongst different loops (ad stacking)
- Design as you would for a website, TV, or computer monitor but with no audio
- Consider placing logos and any call to action on the screen at all times
- Take a small object and make it large (like a watch) rather than making a large object small
- Avoid using complex sentences
- Engage consumers and create a dialogue by making things fun and unique
- Encourage interaction through social media and exclusive promotions where applicable
Tiled Video Wall Guidelines
If you are designing for a tiled LCD video wall, you must take into consideration that there are thin black "grid lines" that separate each screen that make up a video wall. You will receive a detailed specification drawing that indicates their exact locations.
- Use a typeface that does not consist of thin lines, as they can be broken by grid lines
- Avoid using white as your background color if you want to hide the grid lines
- Do not place small text or logos directly on top of a grid line
- Designing with high contrast works best for viewing digital at far distances. Complimentary colors, such as red and green, are least legible together because they have similar hue value.
If you do not receive a detailed specification diagram or have questions, please reach out to your Clear Channel graphics coordinator, or email us at CCAMarketing@clearchannel.com.
Update content in near real-time, have your creative automatically change based on conditions, engage consumers by adding RSS data overlays, or simply stack or day-part creative with our dynamic capabilities.
Below are a few sample capabilities to use as thought starters.
Conditional Triggers
Time Sensitive Promotions
Targeted Geodata Intelligence
Social and Text Call-To-Action
Dayparting and Ad-Stacking
Data Overlays and RSS Feeds