Digital signage has transformed how businesses communicate with their audiences, offering dynamic, visually engaging solutions that capture attention and drive engagement. At the heart of effective digital signage lies the power of content design, turning displays into compelling messages that resonate with viewers.

Samsung’s VXT platform revolutionises this process, providing an intuitive content management system for designing and managing digital content. VXT makes it easy to create digital signage that delivers results. It gives you tools like pre-design templates, options to add your branding, and features to manage content quickly and easily.

Good digital signage content is about connecting with your audience. Clear and interesting graphics grab attention instantly, hold that attention by being relevant, and inspire viewers to take action. This ensures that your message reaches the right people and leaves a lasting impression. For businesses, this means happier customers and better results.

In this article, we’ll explain the main things you need to know to make your digital signage work better. We’ll talk about the key elements of good design, like making your content easy to read and keeping it in line with your brand. We’ll also show you how to use Samsung’s VXT Canvas to create content easily and share tips for making your multimedia content more engaging and user-friendly.

Principles of Effective Digital Signage Design

Digital signage is most effective when it communicates a clear and memorable message. To achieve this, a set of design principles can help ensure your content captures attention and drives engagement. Below, we explore the essential principles for effective digital signage design:

• Clarity and simplicity

• Visual hierarchy

• Brand consistency

• Balance between text and visuals

• Test and tweak

Clarity and Simplicity

One of the important rules of digital signage design is to keep it simple and straightforward. Digital signage has a few seconds to capture attention, so your message needs to be concise and effective. Avoid overloading the screen with information, instead focus on a single, clear message that resonates with your audience. Here is what you should focus on:

• Prioritise Concise Messaging 

Good digital signage grabs attention immediately by keeping messages short and focused. Avoid lengthy explanations or excessive details. A strong headline, one or two supporting points, and a call-to-action (CTA) are all you need. For example, “Summer Sale – Up to 50% Off! Shop Now” effectively conveys the essential information in seconds.

• Use Easy-to-Read Fonts

Readability is important for effective signage. Serif fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Open Sans are often a good choice. Additionally, ensure text size is appropriate for the viewing distance. For outdoor signage, larger text ensures visibility, while for indoor screens, moderate-sized fonts can work well. Make sure the fonts and colours you use align with your brand identity. 

• Avoid Clutter

Cluttered designs distract and confuse viewers, reducing the impact of your message. Keep your layout simple by limiting the number of visual elements, such as text blocks, images, and animations. A minimalistic approach helps emphasise key points, ensuring viewers can quickly understand the message without feeling overwhelmed by excessive details.

Visual Hierarchy

Effective digital signage design relies on visual hierarchy to guide viewers' attention to the most important elements first. By organising content strategically, you can ensure your primary message stands out. Using size, placement, and colour effectively directs viewers’ eyes in a logical flow, maximising engagement and message retention. To create a compelling visual hierarchy, focus on:

• Focus on the Headline

The headline is the most important part of your digital signage. Put it at the top or in the centre of the screen so it’s the first thing people see. Use a bold, easy-to-read font that stands out from the background to grab attention right away.

• Use Size and Colour Strategically

Making key elements stand out is important for grabbing attention. Use bigger fonts to draw the eye to the main message, and choose bright or contrasting colours to highlight important parts, like buttons or calls to action. For example, a red “Buy Now” button on a light background is much easier to notice and prompt an action.

• Balance Layout

A well-balanced layout ensures your design is visually appealing and easy to process. Divide the screen into distinct zones for the headline, visuals, and CTAs. Avoid overcrowding any section, and leave enough negative space to enhance readability. This structured approach helps viewers quickly understand and engage with your message.

Brand Consistency

Samsung VXT makes it easy to ensure your digital signage matches your brand. With its helpful tools and ready-made templates, you can create designs that use your brand’s colours, logo, and style. This keeps your message consistent across all screens, helping people recognise and trust your business. Below are three key ways you can use these features to create content for every display:

• VXT Templates 

Samsung VXT offers templates you can quickly customise. You can add your logo, use your brand’s colours, and keep the same style across all your designs. For example, if your brand uses specific colours, applying them to every screen makes it easy for viewers to know it’s your content. Prefer to start from scratch? You can also create your own templates to match your unique vision.

• Keep a Consistent Look and Feel Everywhere

With Samsung VXT, you can make sure all your digital signs have the same tone and style. Whether it’s a modern design for a new product or a warm, friendly look for a holiday sale, VXT helps your displays match your brand’s personality, no matter where they’re shown.

• Custom Branding Made Simple

Samsung VXT lets you customise every part of your content. You can create bold headlines, add animations, and even make changes in real-time. This means you can adjust your content quickly without losing the consistent look and feel of your brand.

Balance between text and visuals

Balancing text and visuals is key to creating effective digital signage. Too much text can overwhelm viewers, while poor visuals might fail to grab attention. Keep text concise—7–10 words per line and 3–5 lines per screen work best. Short, impactful phrases paired with eye-catching visuals ensure your message is clear and engaging.

High-quality visuals like photos, videos, or subtle animations should enhance your content, not compete with it. Motion, such as smooth transitions or simple animations, can help direct attention without distracting from the main message. For example, an image of a freshly baked pizza paired with the text “Hot. Fresh. Delicious.” and a clear “Order Now” button can grab attention and make your message memorable while encouraging action.

To keep things looking smooth and professional, make sure your videos have the same settings—30 or 60 FPS (60 for extra smoothness) and full HD resolution work great for creating a sharp and consistent look.

Test and Tweak

Even the best designs can be improved with real-world testing. Start by A/B testing layouts, colours, and calls-to-action (CTAs) to see what works best. Samsung VXT’s analytics features make it easy to track engagement, helping you gather valuable feedback and identify which designs resonate most with your audience for maximum impact.

Regular updates keep your signage fresh and relevant. Use insights from testing to adjust content and avoid viewer fatigue. For example, if a retail store finds red CTAs perform better than blue ones, it can update all its signage to reflect this change, creating a consistent, data-driven approach to design.

By mastering the principles of effective digital signage design you create a strong foundation for engaging content. But having the right tools is just as crucial. Samsung VXT’s templates offer a simple, user-friendly and customisable way to bring these principles to life across all your displays. Now, let’s explore how you can use VXT templates effectively to ensure your digital signage looks professional and delivers results that align with your brand goals.

Using VXT Templates Effectively

VXT Canvas is a powerful tool for creating professional digital signage content, available as a web-based platform. It allows users to easily create and manage content for displays without requiring any design expertise. Whether you're importing existing content or creating from scratch, VXT Canvas provides a seamless experience that works across devices, offering the same intuitive user interface on mobile, tablet, or desktop. With VXT Canvas, Samsung's content creation system integrates content management, remote device handling, and security features for real-time control.

Customisation Features

VXT Canvas offers excellent customisation options to make your digital signage content match your brand and messaging. You can modify pre-built templates with ease by adjusting fonts, colours, layouts, and more. For example, you can quickly apply a filter to images, resize elements, and adjust positions using the Arrange tab.

In addition, the Animation tab lets you add dynamic effects to your content, improving its visual appeal. Once satisfied with your design, you can save your work and view it live on connected screens in real time, providing a dynamic and engaging user experience.

Tutorial Highlights

VXT Canvas is easy to use and doesn’t require advanced skills. To start, simply login to your VXT account, select the Canvas option, and begin creating. The interface includes a variety of tools, such as a library of templates and widgets, which simplify content creation. In the below video, you’ll see how easy it truly is to create quality digital signage content with VXT Canvas.

If you have existing images or videos, you can easily import them. If not, there are pre-designed templates and drag-and-drop widgets available to help you build professional-looking content. Once finished, save your design, and it will be ready to use within your VXT CMS. For more detailed instructions, visit the VXT Services Guide.

Creating effective multimedia content for digital signage involves more than just visuals. It’s about sharing a message that connects with your audience, grabs their attention, and keeps them interested. Using dynamic motion graphics and interactive features, you can create content that inspires action and leaves a lasting impression. Let’s explore some essential tips:

• Make It Dynamic and Interactive
• Maintain Consistency
• Targeting Audience Preferences
• Using Multimedia Elements Effectively
• Leveraging Advanced Tools for Efficiency

Make It Dynamic and Interactive

Great multimedia content grabs attention and keeps people interested. VXT makes it easy to design dynamic content that captures viewers' eyes. With tools like drag-and-drop functionality, customisable templates, and integration with social media feeds, businesses can create content that resonates with their audience.

For example, using VXT, you can display Instagram posts or live TV broadcasts combined with promotional messages, offering a more interactive and engaging viewer experience. Plus, VXT allows you to create touch applications, making it even easier to design interactive, user-friendly experiences.

Maintain Consistency

A consistent visual identity across your multimedia content is important for brand recognition and professionalism. This includes aligning every piece of content with your brand’s colour palette, logos, and typography. For example, if your brand uses specific colours to evoke trust or excitement, ensure those colours are present in all your designs.

Samsung’s VXT CMS simplifies this process by allowing you to manage and display content across multiple screens. This ensures that whether your audience is in a corporate office or a retail store they have a consistent brand experience. Consistency strengthens trust, makes your content memorable, and communicates a polished, professional image.

Targeting Audience Preferences

The VXT content scheduler allows businesses to tailor their multimedia content for different audiences at specific times. For example, a restaurant can show breakfast menus in the morning and dinner promotions in the evening. By aligning the content with audience needs, businesses can deliver more relevant and engaging messages.

Using Multimedia Elements Effectively

VXT supports mixing and matching multiple types of content, such as videos, widgets, and live feeds, on a single screen. This capability ensures that your signage doesn’t feel repetitive and keeps the audience engaged with different visual elements. Additionally, the platform supports a variety of resolutions, enabling you to use stretch screens or other unique display formats for maximum visual impact.

Leveraging Advanced Tools for Efficiency

The VXT Canvas Library simplifies content creation by integrating with Pixabay, a wide-ranging stock image library. This feature allows users to access high-quality visuals directly from the VXT interface, eliminating the need to log in to external platforms or download images separately. Whether you need professional images for a menu board, promotional signage, or specific visuals, this integration ensures quick access to the right resources.

Moreover, combined with the flexibility of PIRS apps, users can seamlessly incorporate these visuals into pre-designed templates or customised layouts tailored to specific industries. This integration makes creating professional and engaging multimedia content both easy and efficient, even for those without previous design experience.

Creating engaging content is essential, but it’s equally important to ensure that your designs are accessible to everyone. When your designs are understandable, you reach more people and show that your brand values all customers. In the next section, we’ll look at simple ways to make your content accessible to your audience.

Accessibility Considerations in Content Design

In digital signage, it’s important to make content accessible to everyone. When content is easy to understand and navigate, you open up opportunities to connect with a wider audience. Let’s dive into some key considerations for designing inclusive and accessible content.

• Importance of Inclusive Design
• Optimising for Readability
• Creating Inviting Atmospheres
• Samsung VXT CMS Features

Importance of Inclusive Design

Inclusive design means making sure your digital signage can be used and understood by everyone, including people with disabilities. It's about creating an experience where everyone feels welcomed and included. By focusing on accessibility, you reach a wider audience and create a more respectful and considerate environment.

Optimising for Readability

Making your content easy to read is an important part of accessibility. Choose fonts that are large enough to read from a distance and make sure there is a strong contrast between text and background colours. Avoid distractions in the design to make sure the message is clear and easy to follow for everyone.

Creating an Inviting Atmosphere

A welcoming environment is essential for any digital signage. With Samsung VXT CMS, you can create visually appealing designs that invite people to engage with your content. Think about how your designs can make viewers feel comfortable, such as using colours and layouts that are easy on the eyes and don’t overwhelm them.

Samsung VXT CMS Features

Samsung VXT CMS provides helpful features that make content easier to read for everyone. These tools make it simple to create clear displays that all viewers can easily understand, no matter their ability. Additionally, you can schedule content to automatically update for specific times or events, ensuring the information is timely and relevant. The platform also integrates with PIRS apps, and with pre-design templates from Canvas, VXT simplifies the process of creating accessible content.

In conclusion, we can safely say that creating content that is visually captivating and strategically designed is key to maintaining viewer engagement and driving action. Samsung’s VXT platform offers tools to bring effective digital signage principles to life. By prioritising clarity, simplicity, visual hierarchy, brand consistency, and balanced use of text and visuals, businesses can craft messages that resonate with their audience in a meaningful way.

With VXT’s user-friendly templates and customisation options, even those without advanced design skills can create professional, eye-catching content that aligns perfectly with their brand identity. The integration of dynamic and interactive features enhances the viewer experience, making each interaction memorable.

By focusing on these design best practices and leveraging the power of VXT, businesses can ensure that their digital signage is seen and remembered, delivering powerful messages that inspire action and build lasting connections with their audience. For further assistance or to discuss your specific needs, schedule an online meeting with our VXT Services experts. If you want to explore more, watch all our guides to deepen your understanding of VXT’s capabilities and solutions.