Bright digital displays light up several city centers, such as New York’s famed Times Square. Messages compete with each other with alluring faces, surprising text, or simple bombardment of lights.

This is the kind of advertising landscape the urban world is used to. Universities can take a page from the modern marketing playbook to convey messages about student affairs and campus life.

Think Billboards

Our audience is on the move. The typical exposure time is short – less than five seconds. When a digital sign shifts from one message to another, it tends to catch a passer-by’s eye. But even then, that person is not likely to slow down to look at a message, so a digital message needs to be concise, clear, and clean.  

• Concise: the fewer words, the better. Industry standard is SEVEN. Practice with the Six-Word Memoir concept.
• Clear: Composition, typography, and color let the viewer absorb the message immediately.
• Clean: Only a few design elements. No clutter!