Digital Signage Templates Speed Up Your Content Creation!

Digital signage software is all about accelerating your content creation and management process. The main goal is to get the desired outcome in the fastest timeframe possible. To achieve that, there are plenty of templates in place ready for use. More so, you should feel encouraged to create your own templates to operate by, based on your unique requirements. In this post, we’ll cover the basic ways to pre-plan your display layout, and then have content automatically click into place as you need it to. We’ll also talk about using tags with content and players to make management much smoother!

Campaigns

A powerful yet simple way to build a consistent screen layout is through campaigns. They allow you to strictly divide your display into different sections, creating a template which is easy to update. Consider sample layouts as well as create custom ones which fit your content types best. Then it’s a simple matter to drag content into the timelines of each section.

Place your main content in the biggest part of the display. Think promotions, sales, menu items, class schedules, or weekly offers. Also be mindful that some content operates better in full-screen mode, such as highly engaging ads and offers which pop up for a few seconds. To switch between a campaign with multiple regions and full-screen layout, create a second campaign with only a single timeline or create a playlist. 

Coming back to the multi-region campaign, build sections with secondary elements and smaller screen sections, such as news, social media posts, or even time apps. These can loop continuously, while you update only the main section of your content. 

As you build different campaigns and create unique layouts which fit your use case, deploying content will become very fast and effortless!

Dynamic Compositions

Campaigns are awesome for quick and easy division of the display. However, they have their limitations, as each section is sliced up with strict rectangular borders. Meanwhile, the Dynamic Composition allows you to truly treat the display as a canvas where content can overlap and move wherever on the display you wish, giving more creative freedom.

For example, overlay a transparent visual of snowfall across the entire screen for the holiday season. Adjust custom border design and thickness, or purposefully overlay content elements for that layered design, especially if you like working with transparent elements. 

OnSign offers a ton of easy-to-use apps which deploy content in a pleasing way. Your next Dynamic Composition can also contain apps! The best part is that apps adapt to the surface area you give them, so they’re a great way to fill in gaps in your digital signage templates.

Data Feeds

Apps and Dynamic Compositions can utilize Data Feeds as a source for their content. They contain lists of data similar to the way a Google Sheet does. In essence, data feeds are a database behind the template. You can connect a single data feed to a variety of apps and compositions which deploy the data in a visually pleasing format. The best part is when you update the Data Feed in question all apps and compositions tied to it will be updated as well.

This encapsulates the true meaning of working smarter not harder. Thus, avoid creating individual content elements which use data for one-time use. A menu board, for instance, will need tweaks from time to time, unless it truly is a one-time menu or promotion. Meanwhile, if you have ten different displays in your restaurant, gym, or waiting area, you won’t need to update each individually if you update the data feed.

In terms of content design, relying on Data Feeds frees you up to be more creative. You don’t even need to wait for data to become available to start designing content. For example, begin planning out the visual elements in your Dynamic Composition ahead of time. Section up the screen, sort pricing, and include placeholders for visuals. Yes, images can also be loaded from Data Feeds. They’re really a must-have!

Make the template-building process easier

As you upload content and build your digital signage templates, be consistent with management! Name items appropriately, and make sure you utilize tags, as they can be a true lifesaver in a sea of content. You can attach player tags to players as well as content tags to content elements. This way, the next time you’re working on designing a template or tweaking it, you can pull up content based on their tags.

For seasonal promotions, tag your images/videos/apps with holiday labels, like black-friday, thanksgiving, or new-year. Also consider tags based on use (promotion, event, wayfinding, announcement), based on layout (landscape, portrait, 16x9), based on language or region, or even based on duration of the element in question. The tags should be based on what is important to your content design. For instance, resolution tags on your players can be a life-saver if they vary greatly. This will ensure you easily publish content to the right place!