DIGITAL SIGNAGE BEST PRACTICES

Visual hierarchy 

Base your font sizes off of legible viewing distances, below. 

20pt: 7″

34pt: 12″

50pt: 18″

66pt: 25″

100pt: 36″

133pt: 49″

200pt: 74″

265pt: 113″

400pt: 150″

Image files

Jpegs, jpgs or pngs should:

Communications at a glance

Viewers will grab a GLIMPSE of content at a time. Keep your words few and short. Rewrite a few times to get it progressively more concise. Write in phrases rather than full sentences. Use active voice and action verbs.Text should be easily visible at a reasonable distance from the sign:

  • The content should take no longer than 7 seconds to read
  • 3 x 5 Rule 
    • Don’t pack the message with too much text
    • Utilize either three lines of text with five words, or five lines with three words 
  • Always ensure that text colors have high contrast with the background color
  • No script, limit use of italics
  • Stick with sans-serif fonts or official UK brand fonts: Mercury and Avenir
  • Use RGB color mode when designing for digital media 
  • Avoid dark backgrounds with neon colors and white characters
  • Keep your font sizes large, especially for your main messages
  • To test size, create a test screen with lines of different font sizes and have people view the screen at the farthest practical distance
  • Remember too that people may view the screen as they pass by and give your sign only a brief glance

What does the audience need to know?

Avoid confusion by providing exactly the information that the audience needs to know. For instance, date, time, event title, location, and sponsoring organization is important information to include in a message about an event.  However, providing details about the structure of the event is probably too much information for digital signage. 

  • What is the point of your message? 
  • What is the call to action? To promote an event? An organization? Drive users to a website? To inform about a certain topic? 
  • Avoid using ambiguous terms such as "tomorrow" when the message may play for more than one day

Practice design principles

When designing content for digital signage it is important to understand basic elements of design such as contrast, color, balance, scale, composition, readability, negative space, hierarchy, and typography. If you are unsure how to use these principles when crafting a message, ask if your department has a designer who can help to review the message. 

Content that is not allowed

Examples of inappropriate content for the signs includes (but is not limited to):

  • Political signs or information, including images promoting campus referendums or candidates for student government
  • Commercial solicitation or solicitation of donations
  • Content that is harassing, stalking, threatening or attacking others
  • Content that is defamatory, obscene, or depict violence
  • Content that is hateful in language targeting race/ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, nationality or political beliefs
  • Content that is fraudulent or unlawful
  • Content that violates any intellectual property rights

Appropriate content for signage

Examples of appropriate content for the signs includes (but is not limited to):

  • Announcements for upcoming campus events/activities that are open to all members of the campus community
  • Photographs or short videos showcasing campus events/activities
  • Information about campus services or resources

Other resources:

Brand Guide

Graphic Standards

Signage Policy

Style Guide

Remember, submissions for university digital signage must be university specific, be in the direct interest of students and be submitted by a UK registered student organization, department, college, center or other UK group. UKPR & Marketing will make every effort to fulfill requests but provides no guarantee that digital materials submitted will be posted and reserves the right to limit or exclude submissions.