26 Nov 2020

Outdoor Advertising Design Ideas You Should Be Following

Outdoor advertising, also known as out-of-home (OOH) advertising, is arguably the most classic way of advertising out there. These advertisements are quite literally everywhere that isn’t your home—you see them when you go to work, when you go to school, when you go out with your family or friends, and so on. 

In fact, people spend 70% of their time outdoors. This makes outdoor ads effective for broad audiences and the most easily accessible type of advertisement, especially for those who don’t have access to TV or any digital medium.

We also consider outdoor ads to be a familiar form of advertising. They’ve been around in Europe since the 1400s when people used to fly post posters on buildings.

Outdoor ads indeed have been around for a pretty long time, and we really think they’re gonna stick around for some time more. They may have come a long way, but they’ve stood the test of time because they are still in use and they still keep adapting and innovating.

In this article, we will tell you outdoor advertising design ideas that your business should be following to make them even more effective. But to start off, let’s start with some basic outdoor advertising tips.

 

1. Incorporate some imagery

Although texts are the most important part of your outdoor ads, there’s no reason why they should be just plain text. Adding some form of imagery, like photographs, illustrations, or graphics will certainly catch the attention of people and boost your outdoor ad’s impact and effectiveness.

 

2. Know the 3 S’s

When making custom advertising designs, the contents should be short, simple, and straight-forward. Generally, this tip just means that the visual elements of your design should only be kept minimal to avoid visual clutter.

If there are texts in the ad:

• Short means using a minimal amount of words at around 7 words or less.
• Simple means not using complex words, jargon, and technical terms that might be too hard for the average person to understand.
• Straight-forward means cutting all the unnecessary bits and delivering the message as it is

If there are images in the ad:

• Short means there shouldn’t be too many images.
• Simple means the image’s subject must be clear and easy to understand, with plain or transparent background
• Straight-forward means being authentic and having a “what you see is what you get” principle. The ad should show the product as it is.

 

3. Don’t forget your logo

Another visual element you need to put in your design aside from image and text is your brand logo.

The difference between your brand logo and the images and texts within the ad is that the logo has a more utilitarian purpose; and not an aesthetic one, unlike images and text.

Your brand logo also represents your company. Your audience should know whose product it is they’re looking at and who and where to go to in case they’re interested to know more.

This also strengthens brand recall and association from your ad to the product and the brand.

 

4. Make it visible within a reasonable distance

Your ad should be visible within a reasonable distance from its location. This means a huge billboard should contain huge images and huge text as well so it can still be seen from far away.

For texts, you can play with its font style, font size, and colors.

You should pick font styles that are easy to read, like serif, sans serif, and display font styles. The text should have a considerably large font size and a color that contrasts the background to make it visible.

For images, don’t use too many as 1 image is enough. Adding too many can make your ad look visually cluttered and hard to see from a distance.

Too many images can also make the audience lose their focus and attention.

The image you’ll be choosing, however, should have minimal visual elements as well. As much as possible, the subject should be the only image you can see from the ad, unless they have a plain or transparent background.

Next, to make your ad visible from a distance, you also have to make it as large as possible. If you can’t get a larger ad size, you can make the images and text look bigger so it still catches people’s attention.

If you followed the 3 S’s stated earlier, you’ll have space in your ad to make your design larger. 

Check out this detailed article on tips for creating effective billboard designs. 

 

5. Think about the location

Thinking about your outdoor ad’s location ensures that you make the most out of your ads. 

The location can impact your outdoor advertising design through:

• Cultural influences
• Environmental factors
• Ad placement
• Ad size
• Ad shape and form

Knowing your location would also let you know what specific type of outdoor ad you will eventually be working on. This leads us to…

 

6. Know the different types of outdoor ads

Outdoor advertising is such a broad subject and it has so many different mediums. The possibilities are just endless!

Here are the most common types of outdoor ads:

1. Billboards

• Static
• Digital

2. Banners, posters, and flyers

3. Street 

• Bus stops
• Street chairs
• Street lamps
• Booths
• Kiosks

4. Roads, highways, bridges

5. Transit

• Buses
• Trains
• Taxis
• Trucks
• Car wraps

6. Retail 

• Ceiling ads
• Floor ads
• Window ads
• Point-of-sale displays
• Mall kiosks

BONUS: Think outside of the box

To truly stand out, you can use custom advertising designs that are not conventional in outdoor advertising.

• Spilling, ads that spill outside the rectangular ad space given
• 3D, non-flat ads that pop out of the canvas
• Ads that adapt to their environment
• Guerilla ads
• Stunt ads
• Interactive ads
• Multiple billboard ads
• Mural ads
• Aerial banners

To conclude...

Outdoor advertising is a great way to advertise your brand on a large scale. Fortunately, Graphic’s Zoo’s talented graphic designers are well-versed in outdoor advertising designs that yield the best results for your brand.

Send us an email now at support@graphicszoo.com