Service 06 / Creative
Billboard Graphic Design
Artwork built to be read at speed, from distance, in Jamaican sunlight. Six words, one idea, and type big enough to look absurd on a monitor.
A billboard is not a scaled-up social post
The single most common reason outdoor campaigns underperform in Jamaica is artwork designed on a screen, for a screen, then enlarged. It looks fine at desk distance and disappears at forty miles an hour.
Billboard design is a discipline with hard constraints. The viewer is moving, usually driving, often in bright sun, and gives you around five seconds. Everything follows from that: fewer words, larger type, higher contrast, one idea.
We design artwork for both our own network and for boards elsewhere, in the formats each site actually needs. The technical requirements are set out in our artwork specs guide.
What design covers
Concept through to a print-ready or screen-ready file that matches the site you booked.
Concept and copy
The six words. Getting the message down to what fits is most of the work, and it is where design and copy cannot be separated.
Format-correct layout
A 48 sheet is 2:1 and a 96 sheet is 4:1. A layout that works on one looks lost on the other, so each is designed rather than resized.
Legibility testing
Every layout checked at thumbnail size. If it cannot be read at five percent zoom it will not be read from a car.
Colour for conditions
CMYK build for print with contrast that survives direct sun, or RGB for LED where the screen does the work.
Print-ready files
Correct bleed, safe area, outlined fonts and the right resolution for the format. Handed straight to printing.
Digital variants
Several versions for rotation on digital sites, including dayparted messages.
How a design is made
Brief and site
What the board must achieve, and crucially which site it is going on. Format and viewing distance change the design.
Message reduction
Cutting to one idea. Most briefs arrive with three, and choosing between them is a decision worth making deliberately.
Layout and type
Headline scale, hierarchy and logo placement. As a working minimum the headline runs at a fifth of the board height.
Contrast check
Reviewed at thumbnail and in daylight conditions rather than only on a calibrated screen.
Production file
Built to the exact spec for the booked site and released to print or to the screen.
Design rules that decide whether it works
| Rule | Why | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Six words or fewer | Five seconds of attention at speed | A headline plus three bullets |
| One idea per board | Split attention reads as no message | Three offers on one face |
| Headline at 1/5 board height | Legibility at distance | Type sized to look right on a monitor |
| High contrast | Mid-tones vanish in direct sun | Mid-grey on mid-blue |
| Short memorable URL | Nobody scans at speed | A QR code on a roadside board |
Frequently asked
Can you work from my existing brand guidelines?
Yes, and we prefer to. The constraints of the format usually mean adapting the system rather than abandoning it.
Do you design for boards we booked elsewhere?
Yes. Give us the site spec and we will build to it.
Why do you keep cutting my copy?
Because a driver has about five seconds. Words removed from a billboard are not lost, they move to a channel that can carry them.
Do QR codes work?
On indoor screens where people are standing still, yes. On a roadside board passed at speed, no. Use a short URL instead.
Works well with
Artwork that gets read
Send us the brief and the site, and we will come back with a layout built for the road it is going on.