Creating a Lamar Digital Billboard

Using Expression Design 2

You've probably driven by them a hundred times before; a giant LCD screen on a billboard stand.  These "digital billboards" are growing in popularity not just because they're so much more noticeable, but because they're a heck of a lot easier to design for, set up, and change.

When a long time client asked me if I could design a digital billboard for her I instantly shouted my enthusiastic agreement.  I'd just finished designing her Christmas postcard and I had a lot of high resolution art just ready to go.

Then it hit me; besides having just crashed my computer and not having any software on the new installation except Microsoft Office 2007, and Expression Studio 2, I began to think about how "big" the picture would have to be.  Thoughts of 30 feet by 60 feet by 300 dpi started to cause an anxiety attack.

A little research gave me reprieve.  The specification for a Lamar digital billboard is very "light" it's 910px wide by 260px high, with a resolution of only 72dpi, and a recommended color profile of sRGB.  That's very similar to an image you might use on the web such as for a "banner" or something along those lines.

Using Expression Design 2 I banged it out in about an hour and was able to send the client a copy in the required format.  They needed some revisions so I just went back into Expression Design 2, made the required adjustments to object placement, etc. and then re-exported the slice and that was that.

Here's a scaled down copy of the JPG file:

Here's a snapshot of the billboard I shot while driving by one night:

Resources you may want:

• The Expression Design 2 Template you can start with
  • I wish I could distribute the client's finished Design document but there are proprietary images belonging to both her and the vendor.
• A copy of the final artwork that we sent into Lamar

If you need help with this, just contact me.