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Design principles

The design of digital signage slides should be clean, simple, attractive, appropriate and brief.

As a rule, the viewer should be able to comprehend single-image slides within five seconds and a series of image slides or an image-with-words slide within 8-10 seconds.

Key principles to keep in mind are brevity of your content, thoughtful design placement, and a clear call to action. You don't just want your audience to look at your content, you want them to follow up on your messaging.

Keep it simple

Reducing unnecessary text, image and design clutter in your slides will result in a message that is understandable to a passerby.

Some of the best-communicated messages are simple and to the point. Remember that digital slides are not posters. Viewers will only have a few seconds to view your message, so the information should be brief.

As a best practice, try to adhere to the 30-words or less when developing your slide content.

Content sizes and formats

Static content

All slide content must be created to the dimensions of 1920x1080 pixels (landscape displays) or 1080x1920 pixels (vertical displays), have a resolution of 150ppi (pixels per square inch).

Supported static file types include JPEG, PNG, GIF, PDF, SVG, PPT, Word and Excel.

Programs for creating static content:

• Windows PowerPoint
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe InDesign

Video content

Video content must be 1080p (1920x1080 pixels) at 30 frames per second.

Supported video file types include MP4 and WEBM.

If the video is being submitted to central content for campus-wide rotation, it must be no more than 15 seconds long. 

If you will not be enabling audio on your display, audio should remove it from your file.

Layout principles

Safe areas

The design elements on a slide must remain within certain “safe zones” to be viewable on screen.

There are two types of safe zones that apply to digital signage: title safe and action safe.

Title safe area

The title safe area is a rectangular area that buffers content from the four edges so that text or graphics are visible on the display without distortion. Text content should only be placed in this section.

Title safe area = 128 by 72 pixels from the edge (i.e., don’t put any text content within 128px from the left/right or 72px from the top).

Action safe area

The action safe area extends outside the title safe area.

On most displays content can be seen in the action safe area but it’s not recommended to place vital information within the action safe area. Images and motion graphics can bleed off into this area, however.

Action safe area = 64px by 36px from the edge (i.e., absolutely no text content should be 64px from the left/right or 36px from the top, but some non-essential graphical elements can bleed within this zone).

Communication hierarchy

In your message, include a headline, body copy and call to action.

Example of communication hierarchy:

Typography

Keep the copy concise. Limit the number of words used for copy on each slide. 

Recommended word count

Recommended type sizes

Headlines: 90 points

Body copy: 50 points

URL/call to action: 52 points

Recommended typefaces – Myriad Pro, Arial and Calibri

Myriad Pro: Myriad Pro is the institutional typeface of the UVic brand. We encourage content creators to use Myriad Pro for all brand applications including digital signage.

Because Myriad Pro is a licensed typeface, departments must purchase the font. We recommend purchasing Font Folio Education Essentials, which comes with Myriad Pro. Get it on the at an educational discount.

Arial: Arial is a recommended alternative typeface to Myriad Pro. It's a standard font on all PC and Mac platforms. It offers a clear, readable typeface for on-screen displays and comes in a variety of weights.

Calibri: Calibri is an additional recommended alternative typeface to Myriad Pro. It's a standard font on all PC and Mac platforms. It offers a clear, readable typeface for on-screen displays and comes in a variety of weights.

Images

For images that will exist only in a digital medium (digital signage, websites, television, etc.), it’s best to think only in terms of pixel dimensions. The optimal resolution for digital mediums is 72 dpi (72 pixels per inch).

Pixel size: about 400-600 pixels wide for a large image

Resolution: 72dpi

Appropriate file size: 200kb

Tip: If you’re building digital content in PowerPoint and you're not sure how to check pixel size or resolution of an image, note that PowerPoint integrates photos at their maximum size. As a general rule, don't stretch or increase the size of a photo once it'as been moved into PowerPoint. Any additional manipulation will result in a pixelated, distorted image.

Permissions

All images representing UVic students, staff or faculty must use those actual students or employees. Stock photos are not permitted. Any individuals identifiable in an image must have signed a photo release form. Access a photo release form on the UVic brand site. 

It is the responsibility of content creators and submitters to ensure that all images, video or content used in digital signage have appropriate permissions and do not violate copyright or other restrictions.

Respecting UVic’s brand elements

We have generated templates for digital signage to assist content creators with adapting to the UVic brand and style.

If you're not using a template, please refer to the UVic brand guidelines for instructions on logo placement, treatment and colour palette options.

UVic Style Guide

Please ensure that copy written for digital signage follows the .