CONTENT:

The laws governing the University non-profit status would suggest that no commercial (for-profit) individuals or institutions be promoted through a University medium such as the digital signage located throughout Dickey Hall, Taylor Education Building, and Seaton Building.

Material should be informative and of interest to College of Education students, faculty, and staff.

Content production for the College of Education’s digital signage requires consideration of technical, legal, and aesthetic factors for video and audio delivery.  The technical considerations deal with the system’s capabilities and limitations.  The aesthetic or creative considerations relate to making graphics interesting to see and effective communicators.  Audio/sound delivery may be appropriate for some display speakers and inappropriate for other display speakers.

APPEARANCE:
It is important to consider these specifications:

1. The system’s horizontal aspect ratios
2. Legibility
3. Graphic colors and compatibility

Aspect ratio

The LCD displays are 16 x 9 widescreen displays.  The background template contains windows or boxes and crawls or scrolls.  It is important to realize this is a horizontal format.  The windows within the template/background are a 4 x 3 aspect ratio (4 units wide and 3 units tall). 

Legibility

The resolution limitations of the digital signage require simple, bold text or type.  It is best to avoid light, ornate fonts with fine thin lines or fonts with delicate serifs (even in larger sizes) because they are difficult to read.

Digital signage requires a limit on the number of characters (letters, spaces, etc) in a line AND the number of lines on a graphic.  Forty characters or less is a preferable line length.  A maximum of 10 lines per graphic is a good target.  The simpler the graphic, the better the communication will be.  A good rule of thumb is: when in doubt, leave it out. 

When the maximum amount of text is being used, a thick, simple (sanserif) font is recommended (such as Arial Bold). If it is not legible, it not only fails to achieve the goal of communication, but could also offend the viewer.  Therefore, content should be limited so that the viewer has sufficient time to read it during the brief display time.  Remember, most people are walking by the displays.  (This is NOT a captive audience.)

Graphic colors

Other legibility considerations are colors and contrast.  Insufficient contrast between text and background can make reading difficult. Some color combinations may provide sufficient contrast, but still be difficult to view because one or more of the colors is extremely bright.

SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION:

People who wish to post information on the digital signage should submit Word or PowerPoint files to Brad Duncan (257-7014) for approval, editing, and formatting to meet the guidelines describe above.  Files which cannot be edited may be unusable. 

At this time, criteria for sound or audio delivery have not been developed.

While the digital signage system is designed to display video (DVDs, VHS, live video feeds, and/or cable TV), the Digital Signage Team presently does not have this feature functioning.