From the layperson’s perspective, design can often look too easy. Take Apple for instance. It never ceases to amaze me how the company is able to combine all the principles of elegance with the complexities and completeness of operational excellence in their products. But what some folks fail to recognize is that great content covers a variety of sins when it comes to development. That is, if the design looks good, we are more likely to ignore bugs and operational inefficiencies. This is true for websites, but especially true when it comes to digital signage. Here are three tips in developing content for your digital out-of-home audience.
First, remember to make it interactive. Audiences love to not just look at the beauty of good content and cool technology, but they want to be able to utilize it to its fullest. And in today’s iPad-familiar world, more kiosk, digital signage and out-of-home advertising experiences will continue to require a great deal more of interactivity and engagement with the audience. Whether you decide to use an iPad or a touchscreen digital display is irrelevant. It is the content itself that will make the difference. This means flash and web-enabled digital content will be required to keep the audience engaged in what they are doing.
Second, if the content is not interactive it is absolute that it pops. When the audience needs to be interrupted, the content is often the bearer of that burden. In many cases, this means more than having good content, it means making it what some would consider obnoxious. Just like the increasing volume on a television commercial, the digital content will need to be a bit “in your face.” Methods for accomplishing this include sound, bright colors and point number three.
The third and final point is to make the content dynamic. What is the point of a “digital” sign if the content lacks movement or dynamic-ness. This could be Flash content, movies, or animations. Anything that draws attention will generally work. Keep it clean, keep it dynamic. That’s point three.
Today’s real world digital display networks can avoid content blunders by adhering to a few simple tricks of the proverbial trade. In reality, the audience often determines the type and form of the content you are displaying. Paying attention to their needs can often be difficult, but they are the horse that will draw the carriage to the bank.
