Because we want you to be successful, we recommend that your billboard ad be designed by a professional. If you don’t have a trusted designer or a large design budget, don’t worry. We’ll design your ad for you in 5-7 business days.
Your content will only be visible for a few seconds at a time. The best billboard designs communicate without a lot of words. In fact, most drivers will stop reading after five words. Try to convey the essence of an idea rather than describing it with prose. Because viewers only have a few seconds to absorb your message, short and direct copy always performs best.
The billboards you choose will determine the size of the artwork that you will need to create. The ads you submit must match the pixel dimensions of the billboards they will appear on. Billboard dimensions vary by board. The required dimensions for your artwork are listed as “ad size” in the sign information for each sign individually. This information can be found after you select a sign during the campaign set-up process.
Designing a billboard that stands out means using large, bold fonts and avoiding narrow or ornate fonts. Use bright colors with a high level of contrast between the text and the background so your ad is easier to read at a distance. This is one of the most important billboard design best practices you can follow.
Please save your ads as .png or .jpg in order to upload them to your campaign through our billboard maker.
Make all ad content appropriate for all audiences.
All content is reviewed before it is eligible to appear on any billboard. Artwork will only be approved if it meets the following criteria.* Blip wants you to be successful. Please follow the below guidelines to make the best ad possible.
*Your ad may be approved or rejected for any reason.
You don’t have to recreate the wheel – or a billboard. Whether you’re looking for billboard design ideas or just need a starting point, we provide templates to ensure your design is on point and wildly effective.
Learning how to design a billboard is unique in that the conventions that you would normally use for other forms of advertising formats actually work against you here. Keep these tips in mind when you plan a billboard campaign and design your ad.
Don’t ask a question that a customer could possibly answer “No”: A question with an easy negative response gives people a reason to disengage.
Don’t create a business card on a stick: Too many pieces of contact on an ad make it look busy. Use the most memorable form of contact – probably a website – since most people won’t have time to memorize a phone number.
Read direction matters. Ads that read right to left feel awkward; the text should go left to right for natural readability.
Avoid redundancy. If your URL is the same as your business’ name, you do not need to repeat it more than once. Keep your custom billboard clean and focused.
Blip partners with a variety of media owners, and some have stricter content requirements for their boards. Here are frequent rejection triggers to avoid when you design a billboard:
The most effective billboard designs follow a few core principles: limit your message to 7 words or fewer, use high-contrast colors between text and background, choose large bold fonts that stay legible from a distance, and include a clear call to action. Your logo or brand name should be prominent and easy to recognize.
Avoid clutter by focusing on one main message instead of trying to communicate multiple ideas. Drivers and commuters typically have only a few seconds to absorb your ad, so clarity beats complexity every time. Check out real examples from businesses that nailed their billboard ad design on our success stories page.
Save your billboard ad as a .png or .jpg file. The required pixel dimensions vary by billboard — you can find the exact “ad size” listed in the sign information for each individual board when you set up your campaign through Blip. Make sure your artwork matches those dimensions exactly to avoid rejection.
Billboards are viewed at high speed and from a distance, so fine print is virtually unreadable. Including disclaimers, footnotes, or any small text makes your ad look cluttered and unprofessional. Focus on one bold, clear message instead.
Common rejection reasons include images of marijuana leaves or weapons, risqué or sexually charged imagery, politically charged content (unless properly attributed with a “paid for by…” statement), pure white backgrounds, QR codes or text codes (which encourage distracted driving), billboard designs that look unprofessional compared to other ads on the sign, and any content containing nudity, profanity, or hate speech.
All website domains in your ad must be legitimate and functioning. The identity of the advertiser must also be clear through a logo, brand name, or URL, since phone numbers alone don’t count as proper identification. If you’re a sign operator interested in learning more about content standards, visit our sign operators page.
Start with a single, bold idea rather than multiple messages competing for attention. Use bright, contrasting colors that remain visible from a distance and in various lighting conditions. Select fonts that are thick and easy to read, avoiding thin, script, or ornate typefaces that become illegible at speed. Strong billboard graphic design relies on simplicity above all else.
Position your text to read naturally from left to right. Include your most memorable contact method (usually a website) instead of a phone number that commuters won’t have time to memorize. When in doubt, remove elements until only the essential message remains. If you’re not confident in your design skills, Blip’s free Artwork Generator works as a quick billboard maker for simple designs, or our professional design services team can create your ad within 5-7 business days.
Absolutely. Blip gives you two ways to create a billboard ad. The free Artwork Generator Tool, Blip’s built-in billboard creator, lets you choose a template, write your message, upload a logo or image, and customize fonts and colors in just a few steps. You’ll find it under the “Design” tab during campaign setup.
If you’d rather hand off the creative work, Blip’s Professional Design Service will deliver a custom billboard design within 5-7 business days. Either way, you can select locations, set your budget, and launch without a media buyer or agency.