Digital out-of-home creative
You get about four seconds. Design for them.
Most people see a roadside billboard for four to five seconds while they are moving. This guide covers what to write, what to draw, and what to deliver so a DOOH ad still works in that time on every screen it runs on.
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01 · Principles
The glance rules
Social and web ads get a scroll. DOOH gets a passing look from someone who is driving, walking, or waiting. Every rule below comes from that one fact.
One idea per frame
Choose the single thing the viewer should remember. A second message usually means neither gets read.
Three elements, no more
Headline, one dominant image or product, and the brand. The OAAA guide calls for a single focal point and few elements so the idea lands in one look.
Brand visible at all times
Put the logo on every frame of motion and at a size you can read from across the street. If the viewer only catches one second, it should be a second with the brand in it.
A CTA a moving person can act on
A search term, a short URL, a store, or a direction ("Next exit", "Aisle 7"). Only one. No QR codes (see Goldfish house rules).
Contrast beats brand purity
If a brand color disappears in daylight or next to a busy street, change the shade for this medium. Being readable matters more than matching the style guide.
Design for the place
A highway board, a bus shelter and a gym screen have different dwell times, distances and moods. Build for each environment instead of stretching a banner to fit.
02 · Copy
Writing the copy
Industry guidance falls in a narrow range: seven or eight words at most on a roadside board, and fewer than five on highways, where exposure can be two to three seconds. Treat seven as the limit and count everything on the board, including the CTA.
✓ Do
- Lead with the benefit or the feeling, not the product spec.
- Use short, common words. "Get", "now", "open", "free" read faster than "experience" or "available".
- Write in active voice and present tense.
- Use numbers as digits ("90 sec", "$5"). Digits are quicker to read than words.
- Use local and contextual hooks: the city, the weather, the game, the commute.
- Use wordplay only if it lands on the first read. Too clever means too slow.
- Put the whole message in the headline. The body copy slot is empty on purpose.
✕ Don't
- Write full sentences with commas and clauses.
- Use long URLs, phone numbers with area codes, or social handle lists.
- Include legal copy you can avoid. If legal requires it, keep it off roadside boards and use high-dwell venues.
- Stack several offers ("20% off + free shipping + new colors").
- Run text over a busy photo without a solid panel or strong shadow behind it.
- Set headlines in all caps. Upper and lower case is easier to read at a distance.
- Use QR codes or "Scan to…" CTAs.
CTAs that work in DOOH
| CTA type | Example | Best in | Why it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Directional | "Next exit" · "2 min ahead" · "Aisle 7" | Roadside, retail, gas | Tells a person on the move exactly where to go. |
| Search term | Search "Brand Fall" | All venues | Easy to remember and shows up as branded-search lift you can measure. |
| Short URL | brand.com/go | Transit, place-based, urban panels | Good for longer dwell times. Keep it to one short word after the slash. |
| In-store prompt | "In the cooler now" | Grocery, convenience, pharmacy | The shopper can act on it within minutes. |
| Time-bound | "Tonight 8pm" · "Ends Sunday" | Bars, QSR, sports, entertainment | Urgency works when the moment is close. |
03 · Visual design
Visual design that stands out on busy streets
A DOOH screen has to compete with sunlight, headlights, store signs, and other screens. Contrast, scale and simplicity do most of the work here.
Contrast first
Use dark on light or light on dark. Industry research shows high color contrast can lift outdoor recall by as much as 38%. Avoid pairs with similar brightness, such as red on green or blue on orange. They look like they vibrate.
The grayscale check
Turn the design to grayscale. If the headline still stands out, the contrast is strong enough. If it turns into a gray blur, add more separation.
Toned white, not pure white
A bright screen at full white glares, especially at night. The OAAA guide recommends a slightly toned white background on digital screens.
Bold sans-serif type
Use medium to bold weights and upper and lower case. Avoid thin, script, condensed-light and highly decorative fonts, since thin strokes break up at a distance. A thin dark stroke around text helps it separate from the background on digital boards.
Size for the distance
Digital billboards should read from about 500 ft, which means letters about 15 in tall on the physical face. On a 1400×400 file, keep the headline at least ⅓ of the canvas height. Many networks set a floor of 15 px for any text.
One hero image
Use one large, simple, high-resolution image: a product close-up, a face, or a food shot. Cut out busy backgrounds or put them on a solid color.
Keep a safe margin
Keep the logo and text at least 5% in from every edge. Bezels, glare and cropping on some screens can eat into the frame.
Test it small and far
Shrink the design to thumbnail size, or look at it from 15 ft away for five seconds. If you can't get the message, a driver won't either.
Layout by aspect ratio
| Shape | Where it runs | Layout that works | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra-wide ~3.5:1 1400×400, 1200×400, 1600×400 | Roadside and highway bulletins | Read left to right: logo, headline, then image or CTA. One line or two short lines. | Stacking copy vertically or shrinking a 16:9 video into the middle. |
| Portrait 9:16 1080×1920, 2160×3840 | Bus shelters, urban panels, malls, transit, gyms, bars | Read top to bottom: headline at the top, hero image in the middle, logo and CTA at the bottom. Viewers are often close, so scale matters less and clarity matters more. | Reusing a landscape asset with big empty bands above and below. |
| Landscape 16:9 1920×1080, 1280×720 | Retail, grocery, office lobbies, bars, rideshare | Split the frame: image on one side, message and brand on the other. Closest to video layouts. | Running a TV spot with its supers and small legal text as-is. |
| Near-square 4:3 1024×768, 1280×960 | Bars, restaurants, offices | Center the composition with a strong headline band. | Letterboxing a 16:9 asset. |
04 · Motion
Motion and video
Motion draws the eye, but the viewer almost never sees the spot from the start. They catch it partway through and look away. Every frame needs to work alone.
✓ Do
- Build 15-second spots. Many screens loop spots of 7.5–15 seconds.
- Show the brand and the key message in the first second and keep them on screen.
- Use simple movement: a slow push-in, a product reveal, a single text build, a gentle loop.
- End on a still frame that holds for at least 2 seconds with brand plus CTA.
- Burn in any words you need, sized for the screen. Most placements have no audio.
- Deliver a static version too. Some screens only take stills.
✕ Don't
- Tell a story that needs a beginning, middle and end.
- Use fast cuts, flashing or strobing. Many roadside regulations restrict motion and brightness changes.
- Rely on voiceover or dialogue.
- Save the logo for the final frame.
- Use a :30 TV spot trimmed down. Recut it for DOOH.
- Animate small text. Moving text is harder to read than still text.
Roadside digital boards often run static-only and have minimum dwell times per creative set by local rules. Check each placement before producing motion for highway inventory.
05 · Environments
Designing by venue
The same brand idea needs different treatment depending on where the screen is, how far away the viewer is, and how long they stay.
| Venue | Viewer state | Glance | Words | Creative approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highway bulletin | Driving fast, far away | 2–3s | ≤5 | Biggest type, one image, logo. Static. Almost no CTA beyond brand or exit. |
| Roadside / arterial | Driving, stopping at lights | 4–5s | ≤7 | Classic billboard. Directional CTAs ("Next right") work well. |
| Urban panels, bus shelters | Walking or waiting, eye level | 5–15s | ≤10 | Portrait. Product detail can show. A short URL or search term works. |
| Transit stations, subway | Waiting, commuting | 10s+ | ≤12 | Time-of-day messages (morning coffee, evening delivery). Can carry a bit more. |
| Retail, grocery, pharmacy | Shopping, near the shelf | 3–8s | ≤7 | Show the pack. Point to the aisle. Last chance before purchase. |
| Gyms, bars, QSR, office, elevators | Seated or waiting, close | 15s+ | ≤15 | More room for story, context and entertainment. Match the mood of the place. |
| Point of care | Waiting room, calm | long | ≤15 | Reassuring, clear, compliant. Keep legal copy readable. |
Glance times from industry research. Word limits for high-dwell venues are Goldfish recommendations.
06 · Sizes
The sizes worth building first
Screen sizes vary widely. Goldfish's US programmatic inventory lists hundreds of slot dimensions. Most screens fall into a small set, though, so build these and ask for any odd sizes after the plan is set.
Screen counts from Goldfish's US DOOH inventory ad-spec data, pulled September 2026. Counts change as publishers add and remove screens. Your plan's export lists the exact sizes you need.
Build approach: design one master in portrait 1080×1920 and one in landscape 1920×1080, then adapt the concept to the 1400×400 ultra-wide bulletin. Do not stretch or crop automatically. Each shape needs its own layout.
07 · Contextual creative
Make it relevant to the moment
DOOH can swap creative by time, weather, location or live data. In an OAAA and Harris Poll study, 81% of people who saw weather-triggered ads with relevant offers found them valuable. Start simple: two or three versions tied to a real trigger usually do more than dozens of small variations.
| Trigger | Example | How to build it |
|---|---|---|
| Time of day | Coffee in the morning, dinner delivery after 5pm | 2–3 dayparted versions scheduled in the plan. |
| Weather | "Rain? Your umbrella is in aisle 3." Iced drinks above 80°F. | A warm and a cold version, or dry and wet, linked to a weather feed. |
| Location | "Hey Chicago" · distance to the nearest store | Versions by market or DMA, or a dynamic field for store address. |
| Countdown | "3 days to launch" · "Tickets on sale Friday" | Daily versions, or a dynamic date field. |
| Live events and scores | Game-day offers, score-triggered messages | Pre-approved versions for each outcome, switched by a data feed. |
| Audience | A different message where the audience skews toward new parents or commuters | Versions mapped to the audience segments in the plan (see Goldfish house rules). |
Every version needs publisher approval, and some publishers render dynamic HTML5 creative as stills. Ask about dynamic support before the creative is built, and allow one to two weeks for dynamic set-up.
08 · Delivery
Files and specs
These are common programmatic DOOH requirements. Each publisher has its own, and the plan's spec sheet is the final word. Mistakes here lead to rejected creative and late launches.
Static
- Format
- JPG or PNG
- Color
- RGB, never CMYK
- Resolution
- Exact pixel size of the slot, 72 ppi
- File size
- Under 10 MB
- Text
- 15 px minimum anywhere
Video
- Format
- MP4, H.264
- Length
- Usually 6, 10 or 15 s; confirm per publisher
- Frame rate
- 30 fps
- Bit rate
- Under 5,000 kbps is safe for most
- Audio
- Remove the track unless the venue supports sound
- File size
- Under 50 MB
- Pixels
- Even-numbered width and height
Trafficking
- Approval
- Every creative needs publisher approval, even when bought programmatically
- Lead time
- 5 business days before launch for standard files; 1–2 weeks for dynamic
- Naming
Brand_Campaign_1080x1920_10s_NYC.mp4- Borders
- No crop marks, bleed or frames
Need exact file sizes and formats? See the DOOH Creative Specs Guide
09 · Goldfish Ads
Goldfish house rules
These are the practices we use on the DOOH plans we build with agencies and brands. They sit on top of the industry guidance above.
Start creative from the plan, not the brand guide
Ask for the plan's inventory export before design starts. It lists the venue types, markets and exact screen sizes. Brief the creative team on what share of the plan is roadside versus place-based, since that decides word count and whether motion is worth making.
No QR codes Always
QR codes do not work in DOOH. Viewers are moving, too far away, or the ad rotates off before they can scan. Use a search term, a short URL, or a directional CTA.
One idea, three shapes
Build a portrait master, a landscape master and an ultra-wide bulletin version of the same idea. These cover most of the screens in a typical plan. Order odd sizes only after the plan is final.
Write for the audience in the plan
Goldfish plans are often built on AMAP audience data at the census-block level. If a plan targets different audiences in different areas, make a version for each main audience instead of one generic message.
Version by venue mood
A gym screen and a grocery screen reach people in very different states. When the budget allows, adjust the line to the place: energy in gyms, the pack and the aisle in grocery, a social tone in bars.
Deliver a static version of every spot
Some screens in any plan are static-only. A still of the end frame keeps those screens running your creative instead of dropping out of delivery.
Submit early for approval
Send final files at least five business days before launch. Each publisher reviews creative on its own timeline, and a late rejection can delay a launch across a whole network.
Build in how you will measure it
Choose a CTA that can be measured, such as a unique search term or short URL, and decide on it with the media team. Goldfish reports proof of play by tactic and campaign, and can add an independent brand lift study to show what the creative did.
10 · Before you send files
Pre-flight checklist
Check off each item before creative goes to the media team. Your checks are saved in this browser only.
Sources
Goldfish Ads · Goldfish Ads, DOOH Media and AMAPDATA · Industry figures draw on OAAA guidance and published industry research; Goldfish recommendations are marked as such.