Nice information on outdoor advertising. It can be useful to keep in mind.

People who have had heart problems over the last few months such as heart attacks, irregular heart rhythms, and unstable angina, chances are taking Viagra would increase the risk for recurrence of these diseases and complications.

Its really great to know that you share the process to us. Please keep doing it.

some says
” the more you give the more you will get”

” anybody can steal the product but the knowledge behind it remains”

this is true my lucky day finding your website

best regards from Jakarta
_TDM

http://www.3dand2dmag.wordpress.com

I believe the black background was the right choice, it allows you to focus on the images and gives greater contrast.

Steve,
Sometimes showing the true emotion of ones face can be more powerful than other mediums but of course there are a many solutions to a problem.

Kristine,
Haha, if it only was that easy… when you compile it in a post like this it came come accross like that.

In regards to electronic billboards, in Australia we hardly have any of them… maybe a few in the city and around airports but that is about it. I would have to research about the lighting required for that but I would presume it is a specialised company that does it.

Eydryan,
1. I did have a go with changing the font into a condensed form however it just didn’t work as well.

2. I have attached a revision based on some of your suggestions (see post), any more feedback would apprecaited.

3. I tried to find a happy medium for the letter T. What do you think?

4. That is true however it is still quite a striking image / message but there is always ways to improve a design. Thanks again for your feedback.

1. my suggestion of a newspaper font was because you use a very large size of type and you don’t leave it enough room to breathe, so I would personally use a condensed font to make it look more at home.

2. regarding the kerning I can’t draw you a diagram regarding current kerning vs optimal because I haven’t got the mouse here and you try drawing with a touchpad. anyway, an example would be the distance between the T and the H in “the”. the T has a big lateral space as opposed to the H so it needs to be optically closer to the H in order to maintain the same appearance as the distance between the H and the E. another example would be the O. circular letters tend to compress vertically in your mind so you need to adjust for that as well. also as a rule of thumb you should have more tracking for all caps text, because it’s hard to read otherwise, you need to separate the letters so the brain can identify each separately. I can write a lot more on this so if you want to just drop me an email and I’ll expand.

3. the T may not look ok like that but have you tried something in between? i just feel that T should be a little bit to the left.

4. extreme… maybe, but you’re going for impact here. all advertising is about impact, that’s why they use bright colors and contrast and loud commercials etc. (or the exact opposite). I mean I feel you could have taken the concept a lot further as far as impact goes.

All points are really strong – but I’m wondering how would you approach Electronic Billboards… I’m seeing more of those in our city area’s…

I guess the design process would be the same as you have discussed but how about adding the flashing lights and buzzing colors and moving text on electronic billboards?

This could get messy and sometimes the billboard designers make it too flashy to read quickly as people drive by…

Kristine

Being a university brief I would have created a fake URL and phone number and added it to create the notion of an organisation actually existing. Whether you could’ve done this with this project or not, I don’t know.

Creatively, I think the photos are little too bright, they could be a bit duller – maybe add a texture or a faint dark image behind the text instead of the block black.

Imagery wise i’d have used something a little less obvious. Maybe a picture of a bare food cupboard, something along those lines.

Ksuyin,
Some other commentators have mentioned the red not being easily decipherable. It is interesting to note how other people think – user testing is great!

Eydryan,
In regards to the type I believe it was a correct choice for the medium of a billboard. A newspaper heading font, is harder to read and would usually not work when moving at higher speeds. Could you explain how the the all cap letters are not kerned, I still can not see how I can improve it much more and any help you provide here would be appreciated.

Regarding lining up the the stem of the T, it didn’t look right with the bar sticking over the side.

Your idea of the retire is quite a good one, but pretty extreme. Pensioners are not usually homeless but I can see the thinking… I even see that that thought came up in my brainstorming. One of the thumbnails depict pensioners lining up in a homeless line for food.

Paulo,
I will try to put the sketches in more often into my design process articles.

Thanks for the feedback on the red tough, I used red for its ability to draw attention, especially when on a road. I did check the design on a printed gloss page however that is nothing to a billboard size.

Joann,
Thanks for the tip regarding elderly eyesight however you are right, the target audience would be the general public and working adults.

If this project weren’t fictional I would definitely visit the location and take photos of it for mock-up purposes.

Abbas,
I agree, seeing other peoples process is a great way to compare each others work. When you say I’ve taken the obvious route what would you have said is the other route? Something a bit more creative?

Regarding the call to action, we were not given any website or association to go with the design however I can see it going in the right hand corner of the design. It usually is pretty easy to accommodate / balance.

Hoof,
As mentioned to Abbas above, the product would most probably be a website or association.

I can agree with you about the ‘made up’ goals, especially in logo designs. Thank you for your feedback and yes the challenge is the fun part about designing.

Cristhian,
Please see my comments above in regards to the red and yeah to be honest I don’t mind hard markers, it really does make you improve and show you that hey, this design probably would not work in the real world. If students kept getting 90/100 they would think they are ready for the real world and get a nasty surprise when told otherwise.

Blog Expert,
Good to hear I can blow peoples minds!

Olly,
Please see my comments to Abbas & Hoof. Thank you for your feedback.

George,
It seems some others didn’t get the message straight away. Interesting to see who sees it and who doesn’t.

You seem to have ticked all the boxes in choice of font, layout and legibilty so technically its spot on but its lacking the one important thing, the creativity.

I understand that you’re writing from a design perspective here and I don’t mean to be too critical, but what’s the one thing that makes this ad different from everything else? What’s the take home message? is there a call to action or are we supposed to just agree or disagree with this very black and white claim?

The idea could have had a little more punch. For example an image of a pensioner in a bank queue holding a sawn off shotgun is both provocative and memorable.

That said it was interesting to see your thought process, and I think its a very well thought out and interesting how-to.

As you state “Product Identification – Your message / product should register quickly.” But what is the product?
This is a statement that is true in most countries (too true in too many), but I can not see what the reason for this billboards is.

Lately I have been seeing lots of designs with ‘made up’ goals, products or messages, which are much easier to make something according to the KISS principle.

Would you agree that in a real-world application a billboard like this could not exist without at least the name/logo of some insurance company? Possibly a tag line and/or a URL or phone number… And maybe a logo of some organisation that shows the message is approved by the national board of pension insurance yadayada…

Because there is where is gets harder to make bold billboards. (and I agree with eydryan that the third image has too much of a different character).

You insights and talent are great, don’t get me wrong. But the challenge in reality might be more of shuffling information, message, logotypes, client wishes, and all, and less ‘freedom’ to just find the right image and the right words.
So your three billboards like this would be the sketches the account people show the client, after which chaos and disorder commences. Tears will be brought to eyes. Loud words will be spoken. In the end you are wondering if you will ever make something you can put in your portfolio without explaining why all those other stuff, opinions, colors and choices had to be incorporated.

By the way, for me that battle is what makes designing the challenge, fun, exciting, frustrating thing it is

The imagery could be a little more stark and hard-hitting and I think you’ve taken an obvious route. But for a University project I think this will be fine, a client, however may be looking for a bit more.

My main criticism is that most billboard campaigns have the main message, then have a call to action. There’s no call to action here, there’s nothing to make me want to find out why the pension isn’t enough, who’s the main sufferer? Does this affect me? Who can I talk to about it?

I can imagine myself driving past this and thinking ’so the pension isn’t enough’ and then forgetting about it at the next set of traffic lights.

There needs to be a URL to go to for more information at least.

The first thing that I would consider when taking on a billboard campaign would be the must-have details, what must go on, and then workaround those.

Great insight to your design process though Jacob, keep up the good work.

Here’s a tip I learned on a recent “senior” project. Elderly have a difficult time deciphering RED. Although I think your target audience is probably working adults.

Additionally, whenever I did a billboard project I made sure to visit/drive by a couple of the locations so that I could envision my design. Sometimes taking pictures and dropping in my/our design for concept.

Keep up the good work.
Joann