1. What are your communication goals?
In other words, what would you like to accomplish by implementing digital signage?  Is it to communicate information, to entertain, to "wow" your viewers?  This is where you have to decide what type of content you want to display.  Will it be static photos or moving video?  News tidbits, event calendars, famous quotes, people profiles or bios?  Do you want to include a clock, a live feed for sports scores, financial information or weather?  Should there be sound or music playing?  There are many other options and you have to know what you are trying to achieve with the communication in order to choose the right types of content.

2. Where will content come from?  
Look at what resources are available for the various types of content. Where will your videos, images, photos, calendars and other information come from?  Do you have a person who can develop content, create image files, Flash animations, video properties, slide presentations?   Is it someone with good design skills who can create content that is visually appealing, with good taste in fonts, colors, background images?

3. How easy is it to build and manage content on the signs?
Since the value of digital signage is in the flexibility of the medium and the ability to change content quickly and frequently, it's important that it comes with easy-to-use scheduling software.  Find out if the software is included with the media player, or is it only available at an extra cost?  Talk with someone familiar to find out if the software is intuitive and what kind of training is needed.  Ask to try it out. Finally, is there someone assigned to take on the role of learning the software and keeping the signs updated with fresh content going forward?

We strongly recommend you take the time at the start to ask the right questions to ensure you make the best choice when choosing a digital signage solution.  The above examples are not the only questions, but they are certainly very important ones.

If you need more information on this subject, please ask us. Just send an email to: info@blrsignsystems.com

Whether outdoors on the side of a building, or indoors in a lobby or conference room, brand identity is something you want people to notice.  Usually, a company wants people to know clearly that they have arrived to their location and that they are in the right building.

Here is an example where we used three dimensional (3D) letters for a company logo.  The letters and the yellow "swoosh" mark were custom painted to match the approved corporate colors. We used this approach on an exterior brick wall near the entrance, and also on an interior wall in a conference room.

Many options exist in 3D letters: they can be made of acrylic, metal, foam, wood — you name it.  The same applies for 3D contour shapes such as you see here (yellow "swoosh") — as well as any logo or mark.  

If you want ideas that you can apply to your own office building or space, visit our sign portfolio — or give us a call at 408-956-9401.

In a reception area, a waiting room or a lobby, customers and/or employees tend to dwell for short or long periods.  Why not create a place for them that is fun to sit around in?  Here you will see a big corporation that has brought life to their dull lobby walls at HQ.

Before:

 

After:

The company's "emoticons" and "smileys" help to brand the space, while a variety of moods and expressions spring out of the wall in 3D.  Yes, folks, this is merely a sign— fabricated by a team of professional sign makers at BLR Sign Systems.  

If you want ideas for visual expression that you can apply to your own space or building, visit our signs and displays gallery.

A confused, unclear and unfocused sign is one that includes more information than is necessary.

Before:

Take the care to edit your message to its essential minimum—and think about the "white space" so to speak.  Especially in a busy environment, such as a trade show or office lobby, you need to clear away a space so your message can be seen.  It needs to "pop out" from the background scenery.

Where communicating an announcement or featuring a product, design your sign for quick, brief attention.  Think about whether you want it seen at mid-distance or up close—or both.

After:

In the "After" example above, the product is more visible and flows right into the text message.  Before, it was sitting inside a white box by itself, not totally integrated with the whole.

As you can see, it's important to put some thought into how to best arrange any visual message.

Even if your sign looked good when it was alone on your computer screen, look what can happen when it lands in its final location, perched high up on a building.  Your sign could lose impact when seen from the landscape of visual noise.

After walking through this scenario in Times Square, I asked some people if any one message stood out in their memory, to which they each replied "no".  There was no "take away" message, no "call to action" that stuck in their minds after being exposed to this cluster of signage.  Too many messages competing with one another do not result in a communication delivered to your audience.

When you are considering signage, or where to place a sign, take into account the surroundings it will be viewed in.  You don't have to be considering a location like Times Square in New York.  Even if you are designing signage for a tradeshow at a hotel or large hall venue, consider the competing signage and messaging that will exist there.  

Design something that stands out amongst the visual noise.  Don't just look at a design proof of your sign by itself only, but place it against a photo background of similar noise and distraction.  This will help you see what needs to be done to get your message seen against a busy background.

A sign must communicate. 

But in order for that to occur, one must first and foremost figure out what the message is.  When you've done that, it becomes a matter of putting things in that contribute to the message.

In this photo, you see an example of a sign that has the purpose to help point people in the right direction. The intended message was merely an informational one, to direct.  It can be as simple as that.  No additional content was added, not even ads—just the name of the event and arrows.

At the onset of any sign project, decide what the intended message is—and you'll find it easier to design and produce it.