Digital Posters: What Are They and How Do You Make One?

Technology has changed the way people and businesses communicate. One of the changes that technology has facilitated is the use of digital posters to convey information. Furthermore, many industries embrace this technology, with a forecast that the digital signage market will grow to $31.71 billion by 2025.

What is a Digital Poster?

A digital poster is a motion graphic or digital image displayed on a screen to convey the intended message to an audience. Businesses use digital signs to communicate information like upcoming events, for adverts for new products, or public service announcements.

Digital posters differ from traditional posters, which are static and limited in their functionality. However, unlike conventional posters, digital posters:

• Maximize graphics over text
• Are dynamic, moving between different screens
• Use animations to emphasize the message
• Use transitions to navigate and update the content while minimizing cognitive overload
• Are cheaper, easier to manage, and more engaging

If you are looking to switch to digital posters, keep reading for insights on how to go about it.

How are Digital Posters Used?

The primary purpose of any digital poster is to communicate motives, ideas, products, and vision. They serve as frequent advertisement tools, with their application cutting across a wide range of industries.

Poster designs largely depend on their application. Digital displays continue to be widely used to advertise products. However, other uses include passing information in the entertainment industry (recorded music albums, films, and concerts), travel destinations, and comic books.

They are also used in the political arena for national consciousness. The educational and religious sectors are also at the forefront in the use of digital posters to communicate. For example, in worship places, digital posters come in handy as way-finding signs, directories, menu boards, or live broadcasts.

How much do Digital Posters Cost?

Mvix Digital Signage Systems offers a lifetime, perpetual license of hardware and/or software with no ongoing fees starting at $299. Get a free quote for a digital signage solution that will work best for you.

Benefits of Digital Posters

Digital displays provide a myriad of benefits to both businesses and their audiences.

More Cost-Efficient than Traditional Posters

You can seamlessly update digital signage with new content at any time, which saves you time and money. Similar information can be displayed on in-store screens in multiple locations at the same time. With just a few button clicks, you can change the content instantly and effortlessly.

Some people argue that digital signage is a costly replacement for printed ads. While this could be true, this approach to communication is less expensive in the long run. If any downsides to digital posters exist, the benefits of having the signs far outweigh the cons.

They are More Effective in Communication

Digital signage has tremendous potential to influence a customer’s purchasing decision. Successful brands know that the visuals create a strong first impression that is hard to change. This explains why signage has become all too common in in-store environments.

Modern society expects to receive information and entertainment in digital formats. In other words, graphic representation of information tends to appeal to the inherent nature and triggers curiosity.

Other benefits of digital posters include:

• Ease of management, design, and customization
• Allow for experimentation with short-term promotions
• Enhanced cross-selling and up-selling
• Quickly attract attention in leisure, retail, and busy-service environments
• Engage, educate, and entertain customers
• Improve environmental footprint by using eco-friendly processes

Tips and Best Practices for Creating Digital Posters

Your digital poster should serve as a visual aid to promote a fruitful engagement with your audience. It should be succinctly communicated to everyone who sees it through titles, captions, and compelling figures. Here are some tips and best practices to keep in mind to help you achieve this effect with your posters.

Identify Your Vision

The first question to ask yourself is what you want to achieve by using digital posters. Is it to increase sales volume, convey a message, provide entertainment to your audience, or modernize your store?

Choose Your Solution

The next step is to decide how to create a digital poster that aligns with your vision. However, to create a digital display, you need the following crucial components.

Display Screen

You can use a simple TV display from the local electronics store. The essential thing is to ensure that it is compatible with HDMI input for connectivity to the media player.

Depending on your business, you may need a more heavy-duty display screen. This is especially crucial if you need to display your digital poster in an outdoor setting or to have it running 24 hours.

Media Player

A media player is hardware that connects to your display screen and supplies content to the screen. This is why the screen you choose must be compatible with HDMI technology. Choose an affordable media player for both the upfront costs and the recurrent energy costs.

Management Software

The purpose of the management software is to enable the screen to display your digital posters. For example, this includes displaying them in the right size and ensuring the content transits smoothly across multiple signs. Besides, the software must enable you to manage your poster content remotely, without having to touch the media player physically. This way, you save a lot of time by centralizing the management of your digital displays.

Try Different Tools

Once you have the necessary hardware and software, you need to create a poster that stands out from the competition. Technology makes this possible and easy by providing various tools to this effect.

• Canva- this software has a variety of free and paid poster templates for different situations
• Piktochart- best for drag and drop poster design, with valuable features and text to enhance your design
• Crello– for animated poster templates to activate your creativity
• Tyle- it organizes templates by mood, allowing you to capture your brand’s look and feel within the design

Add Visual Flair

While considering how to make a digital poster, don’t forget that the visual aspects matter. Unless you are short of time and have no choice but to use the traditional static format, consider creating dynamic content.

This entails the use of animations to demonstrate something to your audience instead of merely telling them. You can also include zoom features to enlarge graphs to make the contents more visible and attract attention. You do not want your audience to strain their eyes when reading content on your display. Besides, you may also make use of multiple panels to avail additional details if required.

Final Thoughts

The digital signage market is growing, and you should embrace this technology if you haven’t done so already. One thing that digital posters do very well is to engage customers, which is something you want for your business. If you need help to get started with this transformative communication technology, let an expert in the field help you in the quest.