Design Tips for Holiday Advertising

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With the holiday season quickly approaching, now’s the perfect time to start crafting a billboard to launch at the height of the season.

One of the most important factors of any billboard design is the color scheme. 

It is said that color evokes certain emotions and memories inside of us. For many people, seeing red and green makes them think of Christmas, thanks to colored lights and themed decorations.

After doing this for so many years, this specific color duo becomes ingrained inside of your psyche. Now, whenever you see these two colors together, it compels you to think about holidays spent around the Christmas tree.

This concept is referred to as “color psychology,” and even though it’s an area of science that lacks a refined amount of research, it’s definitely a strong foundation for explaining the relationship between color and our emotions.

An educator named Kendra Cherry wrote a fantastic and insightful article about the topic of color psychology that can be read here.

When creating a billboard for the holidays, the color scheme would likely be composed of reds, greens, and soft blue hues. These are colors that are commonly found in holiday advertising, especially in regards to Christmas.

This billboard design from Dunkin’ Donuts is simple yet effective at getting across the holiday season vibes. Photo via OOH Today.

 

For holidays outside of Christmas, think about some of the colors that are associated with them. It can really help to formulate the design in your head.

The next design tip involves fonts. When putting words onto billboards, it’s very important to pick a font that has bold lettering and is easy to read at a quick glance. Cursive font is often associated with Christmas. While cursive writing can be beautiful to look at, it can take longer to read than a sans-serif font. If you’re adamant about using cursive font, just make sure that it’s used very sparsely, and with simple words.

Another important factor to consider when making billboards for the holiday season is the location and demographics that go along with it. 

For instance, doing a heavy Christmas-oriented campaign in an area that has a large Jewish population may not be the best location strategy. In that situation, it would be more appropriate for an advertiser to honor Hanukkah festivities. This could ensure that your ROI (return on investment) is not negatively affected. Always investigate the demographics of the location that your billboard will be posted in. 

This Hanukkah billboard was posted along New Jersey’s Route 80. Photo via Chabad.

 

Keep up with our blog for more explorations into the billboard industry!