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Motion graphics for digital signage
IIt never ceases to amaze me what businesses will put in the public domain to represent their company. Some completely understand the market and their target and go about constructing a message from that basis and others don’t take the time to research and will throw anything into the public domain. This is a small article about what i've learnt from motion graphics in the digital signage arena.
As soon as I started seeing digital signs pop up everywhere I started researching who was involved in the design phase and what they were producing. I saw signs in the commercial arena as something positive because at long last we would have intelligent marketing that would have a heritage in television but borrow techniques from all forms of marketing to create something new.
Most marketing design can be traced back to print. It was in print that the first calligraphy was written by monks and scribes and it has been evolving ever since then into more complex and elaborate designs. Webpage design is essentially a vertically scrolling page with pictures and text –it too could be traced back.
Early chinese textsAll this aside, there are of course practical techniques in designing graphics for a LCD or plasma screen. Here are a few I’ve learnt of the years:
Think about the market
I always break a job down into the most simplistic message first. So what product? Who will buy it? And will visually attract them? As silly as it sounds I always get an image of a bee in my head when I do this, what flower attracts them?
Sometimes you can see the client has clearly thought this out and all you have to do (as a designer) is make it move. Other times the client has not thought about their message but just wants a moving visual sign.
It’s essential to do this research even if it means simply typing the product into Google images and see what visuals come up – a lot of times I’ll find people in their normal lives and this gives me so many more clues than borrowing from other companies marketing design. If you can see how the consumer or target market uses the product and what draws them to it - 90% of the works is done.
I’ve been involved in digital signage campaigns where the client has done their homework so well that they know when the target market was in the store, what motivated them to buy, what other brands they liked and all kinds of material that blew me away and made design so much easier.
Of course as a designer I used to think this was a waste of time, bah! Market research won’t help my designs! Now I can’t get enough of books on selling techniques psychology of marketing and consumer stats.
A good tool for this is creating mind maps as it really helps you focus and expand on all areas that relate to your brand.
Structure the content
I saw a technique for thinking about how order and structure to a television commercial – it was that you compose the whole 30secs in text only (in motion). So this means a series of questions, or just words representing the product that you’re selling. This forces you to think about the structure of the ad and the timing of the visuals and really shows you where you are losing time or where you need to hold for the message to sink in.
I believe in digital signage there is a chance to break away from the standard model of selling products on TV and radio. Generally the structure of the content is visuals about the product, people enjoying the product then cut to an end graphic with price and contact details.
Some of the best signs that I’ve seen have woven the message the motivation and the product together. As the consumer is already motivated to be in the store (for whatever reason) I believe that ‘in store’ marketing is about getting them either A) motivate to buy or B) keeping them in the mood of the brand. This will effect how you structure the content of the ad.
Placement of the digital sign. Location, location.. errr location!
So, I am at a stop light at night. There are no other cars on the road and just the general glow of shop and street lights. Right in front of me there is a row of small shops – a real estate company, an oven repair shop and a pest control company. So you’d think oh, that’s easy you’re going to talk about the effectiveness of the real estate signage. Nooooo, the pest control shop has this tiny screen in their window.. Because of the nature of the location it meant that I am sitting captive at the lights staring right smack bang at this sign. That, yep! Was playing a long corporate video about nothing.
Of course this is a different case than most digital sign locations but it really highlighted that you can have the best (or in this case worst) marketing idea but if the sign isn’t in the right spot or you don’t capitalize on the spot you have, the message is completely lost.
Can you imagine the number of people this guy would reach?
A captive audience
About a minute at red lights
Main road
All day, all night?
Motion Graphics for digital signs
There are so many references for this online however I find they all spell out the obvious. Here are a few of my notes that I have made over the years:
Clear separation between foreground and background
One trick that I find works really well is two layers of movement. So the background layer is ambient movement but visible enough that it holds the viewers attention then over that put the brand message. Of course the brand message can be faster and more direct with its movements.
High contrast text
You know it’s simple but the number of times a day I see this mistake and it drives me crazy. If you have a deep blue background - don’t put black text on it. I have worked in television for some time now and when I was first starting out I used to make this mistake a lot and because the old analog signal can get noise and interference a mistake like this can mean a totally wasted call to action.
Section changes to different environments
I observed this from watching countless opening titles for shows and events. One technique that helps keep the viewer motivated to watch is lots of cuts or breaks to different sections with different colors. This is well known to editors.
Of course the opposite can be true as well if the brand you are trying to sell with your digital sign isn’t so bold. I mean who can look away from a close up ultra slow motion clip of water?
Colors – in particular color theory.
Everyone knows the basis of this – red, strong, bold, action, hot. Blue – cold, mellow. I find good designers naturally observe the rules of this instinctually however it is well worth sitting down and reading books on this subject if you are serious about getting a message across.
Reference
This does not mean steal. For every project I work on I spend a lot of time digging around online and in the library for books on the product or culture around a product. I’m looking for the visual language that they use to sell the product – typeface, imagery, emotive style. This is the most valuable technique that you should employ in the work flow of motion graphics for digital signage as it allows you to get a clear picture of the style that has been used and who the market is. If you are very clever you can even use this knowledge to break the rules of the pre established style to stand out from your competitors. But still hit your market.
I can’t stress how important any reference is in the design processes. The number of times I have been handed a 12k gif as a designer and been told “that’s all we have to work with”. And not from the client but from the producer! I used to try to make an example of these jobs pushing myself to do all their research that I’ve talked about above and deliver something not only visually spectacular but hitting their market as well. Of course now I’m a lot older and don’t really need to prove my work anymore, and I like to go home at 5.
One of the arguments out there is that you’re wasting time finding reference when you could be doing the job. In my own experience with motion graphics and digital signage in particular is that the more I develop the idea in my own mind the easier it becomes to actually make. I have had jobs that should take me days finished in a weekend simply because I have thought it out before even starting to work it out on a machine.
Try something NEW!!!
When digital signage is done correctly the audience wants to look at it. To be a true leader in this industry it’s about delivering a message in a way that the audience hasn’t seen before. It really isn’t just another TV screen but a way of offering the audience a visual gift, like handing them a sample of your product. Whoever understands the visual marketing heritage of print/TV and applies it to something new in digital signage will get the results.
Brad Schwede (E) brad@bradschwede.com | analogik.com - multimedia and electronic music group
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