Ever feel like your internal communications are falling on deaf ears? Like your carefully crafted memos and emails vanish into a digital abyss? Maybe it’s time to switch things up and give your team’s eyes a feast! In this guide, we’re serving up 9 piping-hot tips to transform your internal comms from “blah” to “ta-da!”
We’ll cover everything you need to create eye-catching, informative displays that actually get noticed (and acted upon). No design degree required. By the end of this guide, you’ll be armed with the knowledge and tools you need to create displays that inform, inspire, and ignite action. So let’s get this show on the road!
Crafting Eye-Catching Displays: A Masterclass in Readability
Think of your informational displays as billboards along a busy highway. If drivers can’t quickly grasp the message, it’s a missed opportunity. The same principle applies to your workplace displays. To ensure your message hits the mark, we’re diving into the nitty-gritty of visual design.
- Font Fundamentals: The cornerstone of readability is font choice. Opt for sans-serif fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana. These clean, simple fonts are easier to read on digital signage screens than their serif counterparts (think Times New Roman). A font size of at least 24 points is generally recommended for headlines, while body text should be no smaller than 18 points. For larger displays viewed from a distance, scale up accordingly.
- The Power of Contrast: Imagine trying to read black text on a dark gray background. Not easy, right? High contrast is key to ensuring your message doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. Aim for a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 between text and background colors. This means your text should be significantly lighter or darker than the background it sits on. Black text on a white background is a classic for a reason.
- Color Psychology: Colors aren’t just pretty; they pack a psychological punch. A study found that color increases brand recognition by up to 80%. Use this to your advantage! Choose colors that align with your company’s branding and evoke the desired emotions. Warm colors (red, orange, yellow) are energetic and attention-grabbing, while cool colors (blue, green, purple) are calming and trustworthy.
- Whitespace: Don’t underestimate the power of whitespace. It’s not just empty space; it’s a crucial design element that gives your content room to breathe. Adequate spacing between lines, paragraphs, and elements enhances readability and prevents your display from feeling cramped. Aim for a line spacing of at least 1.5 times the font size and generous margins around your content.
- Declutter for Clarity: Resist the urge to cram every bit of information onto your display. A cluttered layout is a surefire way to overwhelm and confuse viewers. Instead, prioritize the most essential information and present it in a clear, concise manner. Use visuals, icons, and infographics to break up text and add visual interest. Remember, a well-designed display is like a well-curated museum exhibit – each piece has its place and purpose.
Curating Content that Clicks: The Art of Strategic Selection
Your display is a prime piece of real estate, not a dumping ground for every memo and announcement. According to a study, employees are 50% more likely to engage with internal communications that are personalized and relevant to their roles. So, how do you hit that sweet spot? It all comes down to strategic content curation.
Think of your display as a newsfeed for your company. What’s the headline? What’s the breaking news? What’s the water cooler gossip (in a professional way, of course)? Your goal is to deliver a concise, compelling snapshot of the most important information your employees need to know. This could include company-wide announcements, team-specific updates, industry news, or even a fun fact of the day to lighten the mood.
Brevity is Brilliant: Crafting Concise and Compelling Content
We’ve all been there—staring at an information-packed display, feeling our eyes glaze over. Don’t let your internal comms suffer the same fate! When it comes to informational displays, less is often more. Studies show that people only read about 20% of the text on a webpage, so imagine how much less they absorb from a passing glance at your display. It’s time to embrace the power of brevity.
- The Goldilocks Zone of Text: There’s no magic number for word count, but a good rule of thumb is to keep headlines to 5-7 words and body text under 50 words. Remember, this is a display, not a dissertation. If you need more space, break up the information into multiple displays or leverage digital signage for scrolling content.
- Visual Storytelling: A picture is worth a thousand words, and an infographic? Even more! Visuals like photos, illustrations, charts, and graphs can convey complex information quickly and effectively. They also add visual interest to your display, making it more likely to catch the eye. When choosing visuals, ensure they are high quality, relevant to your message, and easy to understand at a glance.
- Lists and Bullet Points: Want to make your information even more digestible? Break it down into bite-sized chunks with lists and bullet points. This not only makes your content easier to scan but also helps emphasize key points. Use numbers for sequential information and bullets for unordered lists. Keep your points concise and parallel in structure for maximum clarity.
Mastering Visual Hierarchy: Guiding the Eye to Key Insights
Imagine your display as a symphony orchestra. Each element—text, images, colors—plays a distinct role in creating a harmonious whole. Visual hierarchy is the conductor’s baton, orchestrating how viewers perceive and process information. By strategically employing size, color, and placement, you can lead the eye to key points and ensure your message resonates.
Size Matters: Making a Bold Statement
The human eye is naturally drawn to larger objects. Leverage this principle by using a hierarchy of font sizes and image dimensions to create a clear visual flow in your internal communication. Headlines should be significantly larger than body text, acting like a beacon that grabs attention from afar. Key visuals, such as infographics or product photos, can serve as powerful tools to drive employee engagement. This strategic use of visuals within your internal communications strategy, particularly when utilizing digital signage, can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your message.
Think of it as a newspaper headline-grabbing your attention before you delve into the article details. By using this size disparity within your corporate digital signage, you create a visual hierarchy that guides the viewer’s eye towards the most important information first, ensuring they don’t miss your critical message.
Color Coding: Beyond Aesthetics
Color is a powerful tool for guiding attention, creating visual interest, and keeping your employees informed. Leverage color psychology to your advantage in your internal communications digital signage. Warm colors like red and orange are energetic and attention-grabbing, making them ideal for CTAs or highlighting crucial information that will improve your employee communications. Cool colors like blue and green are calming and trustworthy, well-suited for backgrounds or secondary details that will support your overall internal communication strategies.
Don’t be afraid to use contrasting colors to create visual separation and pop important elements in your digital screens. For example, a bright yellow call-to-action button on a blue background will instantly grab attention, enticing viewers to click. Maintain a consistent color palette that aligns with your company’s corporate communications for a professional and cohesive look.
Placement is Key: Strategic Positioning
The placement of elements on your display can significantly impact how they are perceived, particularly when crafting effective employee digital signage. In Western cultures, people tend to read from left to right and top to bottom in a scanning pattern known as the F-shaped pattern. This means viewers tend to focus their attention on the top left corner of the display, then scan horizontally across the top, before moving down the display in a vertical fashion, focusing more on the left side of the content.
Leverage this knowledge when developing your employee communication strategy. Place your most critical information at the top left of your display, and guide the viewer’s eye down and to the right with subsequent elements. Use negative space strategically to create focal points and avoid a cluttered look. Consider the natural flow of reading and arrange your digital signage content in a way that feels intuitive and easy to follow. When placing visuals, ensure they are relevant to the nearby text and positioned to enhance, not overshadow, the message.
The Power of Headers and Subheaders
Headers and subheaders are like signposts on a winding road, guiding viewers through your content and highlighting key takeaways. Craft descriptive headers that accurately reflect the content they introduce, using strong verbs and action words. For example, instead of a bland header like “Company News,” consider something more engaging like “New Product Launch: Boost Sales with the XYZ Widget.”
Subheaders can provide additional context and break down complex information into smaller, more manageable chunks. Think of them as mini-explanations that elaborate on the main points introduced in the header. Don’t be afraid to use varying font sizes and styles to create a clear visual hierarchy. Larger, bolder fonts for headers will grab attention, while slightly smaller fonts for subheaders will maintain a sense of order and readability.
Call to Action: Sealing the Deal
Every display should have a clear call to action (CTA), the final nudge that compels viewers to take the desired action. Whether it’s “Sign up now” for a new employee benefits program, “Visit our website” to learn more about a product launch, or “Download the report” for in-depth industry insights, your CTA should be visually prominent and easy to understand.
Don’t bury your CTA in a sea of text! Use a contrasting color, a larger font size, or a unique design element, like a button or arrow graphic, to make it stand out. Place your CTA in a prominent location on your display, such as the bottom right corner, to ensure it’s the last thing viewers see before moving on.
Consider adding a sense of urgency or scarcity to your CTA to encourage immediate action. For example, “Limited time offer: Sign up for the free webinar today!” or “The first 50 respondents get a free gift: Download the report now!” By crafting a compelling CTA and making it visually distinct, you’ll transform your informational display from a passive broadcast channel into an active engagement tool.
Branding Brilliance: Infusing Your Identity into Every Display
Your informational displays are more than just informative; they’re a reflection of your company’s personality and values. They’re an extension of your brand – a visual handshake with your employees. So why not make it a firm, confident one that leaves a lasting impression?
Imagine walking into a high-end boutique where everything, from the sleek displays to the carefully curated merchandise, exudes luxury and sophistication. That’s the kind of cohesive experience you want to create with your internal communications. Your displays should seamlessly blend with your company’s overall aesthetic, echoing its unique brand voice.
This means more than just slapping your logo on every corner. It’s about using your brand’s color palette to evoke specific emotions, choosing fonts that reflect your company’s personality, and incorporating imagery that aligns with your brand’s story. It’s about creating a visual language that resonates with your employees and reinforces your company’s identity at every touchpoint.
Think of your displays as mini-billboards for your brand. Just as you wouldn’t put a cartoon character on a billboard for a law firm, you wouldn’t use childish fonts or jarring colors on a display for a tech company. Every design choice should be intentional and purposeful, contributing to a unified brand experience that builds trust and loyalty.
Strategic Placement: Maximizing Visibility and Engagement
Think of your informational displays as strategic outposts in the landscape of your workplace. Their effectiveness hinges not just on content and design, but on their location within the flow of employee traffic and interaction.
Consider your workplace as a dynamic ecosystem with varying levels of foot traffic and engagement zones. High-traffic areas, like cafeterias, break rooms, or main hallways, offer prime real estate for your displays. Here, your message can effortlessly reach a wider audience, catching the eyes of employees as they move about their day. But don’t discount less frequented areas entirely. Displays near elevators or common workspaces can still capture attention during those moments of transition or downtime.
The key is to analyze your workplace’s unique traffic patterns and strategically position your displays to maximize visibility. Consider conducting a walk-through of your office, noting areas where employees naturally congregate or pause. Look for places where a display could seamlessly integrate into the environment, becoming a natural part of the employee experience. By placing your displays thoughtfully, you ensure that your message isn’t just seen, but seen at the right time and in the right context, increasing the likelihood of engagement and retention.
Breathe Life into Your Displays: The Rhythm of Content Refresh
Imagine walking past the same static display day after day. It wouldn’t take long for it to blend into the background, unnoticed and forgotten. Just like a bustling city never sleeps, your informational displays should pulsate with fresh, relevant content that captures attention and keeps employees coming back for more.
The frequency of content updates will depend on the nature of your information and your workplace culture. For time-sensitive announcements or rapidly changing data, daily or even hourly updates might be necessary. For less time-critical information, weekly or monthly updates could suffice. The key is to establish a consistent rhythm that keeps your displays from becoming stale. This is where a powerful media player like CrownTV’s comes in, seamlessly delivering your content to screens with unmatched reliability and flexibility.
Remember, a well-timed content update can be the spark that reignites employee interest and drives engagement. By keeping your displays fresh and dynamic, you transform them from passive information sources into active communication hubs that foster a sense of connection and community within your workplace.
Ignite Engagement with Interactive Elements: Transforming Passive Viewers into Active Participants
In the age of smartphones and social media, we’re all accustomed to instant gratification and personalized experiences. Why should your internal communications be any different? Research indicates that interactive content generates twice the conversions compared to static content. By incorporating interactive elements into your informational displays, you can tap into this innate desire for engagement and create a more immersive and memorable experience for your employees.
- Touchscreen Technology: Touchscreens are the most intuitive and accessible form of interactive technology. They allow employees to directly interact with your content, exploring information at their own pace and delving deeper into topics that pique their interest. Imagine a company directory where employees can tap on an individual’s photo to access their contact information or a map of the office that allows them to zoom in and find specific locations. With touchscreens, the possibilities are endless.
- QR Codes: QR codes, those black-and-white squares that seem to be everywhere these days, offer a simple yet effective way to bridge the gap between your physical displays and digital content. By embedding QR codes in your displays, you can direct employees to websites, videos, surveys, or other online resources that provide additional information or opportunities for engagement. For instance, a QR code on a product announcement display could lead to a detailed product demo video or a link to sign up for a webinar.
- Interactive Polls and Surveys: Want to know what your employees really think? Interactive polls and surveys embedded in your displays can be a valuable tool for gathering feedback and gauging sentiment. Ask employees for their opinions on new initiatives, their satisfaction with company culture, or their preferences for future events. The data you collect can be used to inform decision-making and tailor your internal communications to better meet the needs of your workforce.
- Gamification: Who doesn’t love a good game? By incorporating gamification elements into your displays, you can transform mundane information into an engaging and interactive experience. Quizzes, trivia games, and leaderboards can be used to educate employees on company policies, product knowledge, or industry trends. Not only does gamification make learning more enjoyable, but it also increases knowledge retention and encourages friendly competition among team members.
- Augmented Reality (AR): While still in its early stages, AR has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with information. By overlaying digital content onto the physical world, AR can create immersive experiences that blur the lines between reality and the virtual realm. Imagine an employee pointing their smartphone camera at a product display and seeing additional information, such as 3D models, videos, or customer reviews, pop up on their screen. AR opens up a whole new world of possibilities for interactive and engaging internal communications.
In addition to the interactive elements mentioned earlier, CrownTV’s digital signage platform also offers a variety of apps and integrations that can be used to further engage your audience. These apps allow you to customize your content and make it more relevant to your viewers.
Data-Driven Design: Measure, Analyze, and Elevate Your Displays
You’ve poured your heart and soul into crafting stunning informational displays, but how do you know if they’re hitting the mark? Are employees actually engaging with your content? Are your messages driving the desired actions? Don’t leave it to guesswork. Enter the world of data-driven design, where metrics and analytics become your compass for continuous improvement.
- Beyond Vanity Metrics: Impressions and reach are nice to have, but they don’t tell the whole story. Dig deeper into engagement metrics to gauge the true impact of your displays. Track dwell time (how long employees spend viewing a display), click-through rates (for interactive elements), and conversion rates (for specific actions like signing up for a webinar or visiting a website). These metrics provide valuable insights into what’s working and what’s not, allowing you to fine-tune your content and design strategies.
- Feedback Loops: Don’t forget the power of direct feedback! Conduct surveys or polls to solicit employee opinions on your displays. Ask them what they like, what they don’t like, and what they’d like to see more of. This qualitative data can be invaluable for understanding your audience’s preferences and tailoring your content to their needs.
- The Iterative Process: Remember, creating effective informational displays is an ongoing process. It’s not about getting it perfect the first time; it’s about constantly experimenting, learning, and adapting. Use the data you gather to inform your decisions, try out new approaches, and refine your strategies over time. By embracing an iterative mindset, you’ll ensure your displays remain relevant, engaging, and impactful in the ever-evolving landscape of internal communications.
Wrapping Up: Your Blueprint for Display Brilliance
There you have it! Your toolbox is packed with actionable insights to transform your internal communications. Remember, it’s not about throwing information at a wall and hoping it sticks. It’s about crafting a visual symphony that resonates with your employees.
Here’s a recap of the key takeaways:
- Clear the Clutter: Craft concise content that gets straight to the point.
- Design with Intent: Use visual hierarchy to guide the eye and emphasize key messages.
- Speak Your Brand’s Language: Infuse your company’s personality into every design choice.
- Location is Everything: Strategically place displays where they’ll get maximum exposure.
- Keep it Fresh: Regularly update content to maintain interest and relevance.
- Get Interactive: Engage employees with touchscreens, QR codes, and other digital tools.
- Let Data Be Your Guide: Track metrics and gather feedback to continuously improve.
If the thought of juggling content creation, display installation, and technical troubleshooting feels overwhelming, take a deep breath. You don’t have to go it alone.
CrownTV offers a comprehensive suite of digital signage solutions designed to simplify the process and empower your internal communications. From cutting-edge cloud-based software to a vast library of customizable templates, we equip you with the tools you need to create stunning displays that captivate and inform.
Our team of experts can guide you through every step of the process, from initial concept to final installation. We offer a white-glove experience that takes the hassle out of digital signage, allowing you to focus on what you do best – running your business.
With CrownTV, you’ll gain access to:
- Indoor and high-brightness window displays: Choose the perfect displays for your needs and environment.
- Expert installation and support: Let our team handle the technical details so you can focus on your message.
- Customizable templates and content creation: Create stunning displays that align with your brand identity.
- Advanced cloud-based dashboard: Easily manage your displays from anywhere, anytime.
- Real-time updates and remote management: Keep your content fresh and relevant with just a few clicks.
- Secure and reliable platform: Rest assured that your data and displays are protected.
Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, CrownTV has the expertise and experience to help you elevate your internal communications and achieve your goals.