To design a billboard ad, a graphic designer has to consider countless variables. Between the client’s visual style, legibility and the use of space, it’s a delicate balancing act.
One of the hardest elements to anticipate is what the billboard will look like in a real-world environment. Designs that read perfectly on a computer screen can fall victim to environmental factors like weather, lighting and the speed of traffic.
At Drive Your Art, we use state-of-the-art simulations to provide in-depth ad campaign visualization. With our 3D simulation, you can test billboard ad designs before printing them, potentially avoiding costly design errors. We are proud to offer the only 3D ad visualization tool on the market — a first-of-its-kind technology for commercial use.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of using the virtual billboard preview tool to ensure your billboard design accounts for every real-world variable.
Why You Need to Visualize Your Ad Before It Goes to Print
For a billboard to be effective as an advertising medium, drivers need to be able to read it easily from the road. Trusting that the billboard will look as good in real life as it does on the monitor opens you up to unexpected design problems.
These are some of the environmental conditions that can lead to a billboard failing:
- Inclement weather: Not only are drivers less likely to look away from the road in rain, fog or snow, but harsh weather also reduces the visibility of your ad.
- Poor lighting: Some designs may look great in broad daylight but become illegible at night or on cloudy days.
- Obstructions: Without seeing the location of the billboard, it’s impossible to predict trees or other structures blocking part of the ad.
- Angle: Billboards are generally placed at an optimal angle for visibility, but it’s important to visualize how the angle affects the legibility of your design.
- Traffic speed: It’s one thing to read an ad while standing still, but another thing to try to absorb it while driving at highway speed.
Complete Control Over Simulation Conditions
Here are some important ways visualizing billboard ads before launch can make the difference between an effective ad and an expensive reprint:
- Customize conditions: Our 3D simulation lets you see what your billboard will look like in any lighting, weather or traffic speed.
- Pitch different design options: You can use ad campaign visualization to present your design options to clients exactly how they’ll look in the real world.
- Playback controls: Within the simulation, you can see your billboard design from every angle, as well as pausing, zooming in and recording.
How to Use Drive Your Art to Preview and Tweak Your Designs
Once you have your billboard design options drafted, it’s time to upload them into the Drive Your Art and set up your virtual billboard preview tool. Drive Your Art offers two options for your ad design preview: Virtual and Real World environments.
Setting Up Your Billboard In the Virtual World
The Virtual environment option uses computer-generated graphics to show your billboard in any environment. You can set the virtual simulation up for anything from rural highways to busy city streets. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a virtual simulation using your billboard design:
- Under the option for “Billboard,” select “Virtual” for your simulation.
- Choose from the five “Environment” options:
- Select the type of billboard and enter the dimensions (height and width).
- Upload the billboard design you want to see in the simulation from your computer and confirm your selection.
- Set the configuration of the road in your simulation (number of lanes, direction, elevation, etc.).
- Choose what type of vehicle you want to view the simulation from (compact, midsize, SUV/van).
Setting Up Your Billboard in the Real World
With the Real-World simulation tool, you can insert your billboard design into a specific location in the real world. We use street-level photography to create a realistic rendering of the location of your billboard. This option allows you to anticipate the surrounding structures, colors and light sources around your billboard.
Here’s how to set up a real-world simulation:
- Under the option for “Billboard,” select “Real World” for your simulation.
- Enter the coordinates of the billboard (this will give you a more exact location than a street address).
- Use the zoom tool to find your billboard and select the area where you want your design displayed.
- Upload your design file and confirm your use of one of your remaining uploads.
How to Use Simulations In the Design Process
Here are some tips to get the most out of your simulation and design a billboard that’s effective:
- Adjust conditions: In the virtual simulation, experiment with different conditions like poor lighting and harsh weather to make sure your design is still readable.
- Test different speeds: In both the Virtual and Real World simulations, you can visualize how drivers will see your billboard at high and low speeds, which will help you decide on readability factors like word count and font size.
- Get granular data: Unlike driving in the real world, you can pause the simulation and zoom in to inspect every element of your billboard design.
- Record simulation videos: The Drive Your Art virtual billboard preview tool also allows you to export videos of the simulation to pitch designs to clients and get feedback from the marketing team.
Drive Your Art: Test Your Billboard Design Before Going to Print
The Drive Your Art ad campaign visualization tool is the first simulation technology of its kind. We’re revolutionizing billboard advertising by creating hyper-realistic simulations of the real-world environment. Experience the confidence and peace of mind that comes with testing your billboard in any condition before spending money on going to print. Contact the experts at Drive Your Art to schedule a virtual test drive.
