Designing a billboard is a great way to advertise whatever product or service that you want to sell. Billboard marketing is proven to be a successful way to get your message out there, but as with all things, there are good and bad billboards. You don’t want to make a billboard less than top-notch, so what should you consider when designing your billboard? Well, there are several billboard design factors to keep in mind, and to make things easier for you, Formetco Hardware will walk you through the three most important ones.
1. Your Budget and the Quality of Your Billboard
You will want to make the best billboard possible with the amount of money you have available to spend on your billboard. This means that you need to figure out who provides the best design services at the price that best fits your budget. Many designers out there offer different kinds of services and rates. For example, some designers charge a flat rate, while others charge by the hour. Depending on what style is best for you, you’ll want to find a designer who is affordable and high-quality.
2. Location of Your Billboard
If you’re trying to market something on your billboard, it makes sense that you want many people to see what’s on your billboard. Consider your location when designing your billboard because you want traffic to be facing your billboard and want the height of your billboard to be substantial enough to be seen.
Plus, if very few cars frequent the highway that you position your billboard on, it probably won’t market your product as well as it would if it were in a better location. Also, consider the weather conditions at the site of your billboard. If there are rainstorms and dark clouds around your billboard most of the time, then there’s a lesser chance that people will be able to read your billboard.
3. The Color and Design of Your Billboard
When you’re designing a billboard, you must think about how you can make your billboard stand out from all of the others. The chances are that there might be other billboards that are near your billboard, so if you use bright colors and captivating graphics, then the chances are that more people will be captivated by yours. The point of a billboard is to get the attention of a passerby, so don’t be shy with your billboard. Use colors and graphics that stand out, and keep your message short—drivers only have a few seconds to read it as they pass, so simple, legible copy performs far better than a crowded design.
Why These Billboard Design Factors Work Together
These three billboard design factors don’t operate in isolation—a beautifully designed board in a low-traffic location won’t perform, and a great location can’t save a cluttered, hard-to-read design. Industry groups such as the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) publish research and creative guidance on what makes out-of-home advertising effective, and their guidance echoes the same principles: balance budget against quality, choose locations with strong visibility, and design for a quick glance rather than a long read.
A common mistake is treating these billboard design factors as a checklist to complete separately rather than a set of trade-offs to balance together. A premium design budget won’t make up for a poor location, and the best location in town can’t rescue a design that’s too busy to read at highway speed. Working through budget, location, and design as a single decision—rather than three unrelated ones—is what separates a billboard that gets noticed from one that gets ignored.
Formetco Hardware is passionate about connecting people with billboards that they can be proud of. When you’re designing your billboard, there are many billboard design factors to consider, and we’ve outlined the three that matter most today. If you have any more questions about the logistics of billboards, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We want to hear from you because we want to help you with all of your billboard concerns!
Formetco continues to share updates related to billboard design factors as they develop. Stay tuned to the Formetco blog for more on billboard design factors.