Billboards are the ultimate in drive-by advertising. By their nature, viewers of roadside graphics are a distracted bunch — one that you hope to entice in the mere two seconds you have their attention, in between the annoying driver in front of them and the bite of a juicy cheeseburger.

Couple in car - man is driving and eating baguetteHence, when designing billboards, making that memorable first impression is key. Remember that you have your viewer’s eye for only a couple seconds before they’ve moved on.

Here’s a few no-nonsense tips to help make your next billboard design a huge success:

Make it BIG. This one should be obvious, but it cannot be emphasized enough that your ad must be readable from the road. Your audience passed the visual driver’s test to see road signage, not tiny text in that handwritten font you thought brought “personableness” to your business.

Make it simple. Resist the urge to over complicate it. It’s a billboard, not your life’s story. While you may feel the need to outline every service your company offers, your audience not only doesn’t care, but cannot process more than one idea amidst worries of being late and trying to remember if they turned off the oven.

Make it evergreen. Billboard space doesn’t come cheap, so consider the lifespan of the content. How long will the ad be visible? The last thing you want is to advertise an event or sale that has already come and gone.

Make it interesting. Roadside advertising serves one purpose for your audience — relieving boredom. So give your viewers a reason to look, and entice them with vibrant graphics or a great deal. Faces can also be surprisingly effective since we as humans are naturally drawn to them.

Make it relevant. Your audience isn’t just a cluster of cars driving past, but unique people with individual needs. Try to put some faces to your viewers. Research the community in which your billboard will appear. Learning about the demographic who will see the ad will enable you to craft your message accordingly and receive a better return. You may even discover that what you thought was a good location actually misses your target audience entirely.

Need some help getting a billboard design printed? We’d love to lend a hand!