The best billboard designs in 2025 blend sharp messaging with bold, high-impact visuals to stand out in a fast-moving world. Effective billboards are clean, direct, and anchored by a clear call to action. The secret? Start with a focused subject and a defined goal that instantly connects with your audience.
Think it’s challenging to grab attention in just seven words or fewer? It is. Designing a great billboard requires simplicity in form and depth in strategy. With only five seconds—or less—to make an impression, your message needs to be fast, memorable, and on point. Few ad formats demand this level of clarity under such tight constraints.
As seasoned billboard experts, we’ve created and analyzed hundreds of campaigns. Our experience has uncovered the core tactics that consistently drive results. Here are our top 10 tips to help you design a bold, effective, and unforgettable billboard in 2025.
1. Include a Clear, Singular Call to Action
Let’s start with the most essential element of your billboard: what you want people to do. This is your call to action (CTA), and it should be singular and unmistakable. Including multiple CTAs—like a phone number and a website—can dilute the message and confuse viewers. In most cases, a URL is far easier to remember than a phone number, especially when someone’s driving by.
Your CTA should be short, direct, and action-oriented. Phrases like “Shop Now,” “Buy Tickets,” or “Visit Us” work well because they clearly tell people what to do next. If your objective is foot traffic, include a street address instead of a website. That keeps your message focused and clarifies whether your offering is physical or digital.
Hello Yello
2. Limit Your Words
Driving is a serious responsibility, which means attention spans are short—even for passengers. Research shows the average viewer spends just six seconds reading a billboard. That’s not a lot of time, so your message needs to be short, sharp, and immediately impactful.
The long-standing rule is to stick to around seven words total—we sometimes flex that slightly, but less is definitely more. Here are a few key tips to help your copy land fast:
- Use strong, action-oriented verbs and commanding language.
- Speak directly to the viewer—make it personal and engaging.
- Eliminate filler words like “very,” “really,” or “many.”
- Choose short, punchy words that are quick to read and remember.
3. Focus on One Bold Image
Billboards may be physically large, but that doesn’t mean you should fill them with visual noise. The most effective designs rely on simplicity—starting with a single, dominant image. Adding multiple graphics or competing visuals can create clutter and dilute your message. Instead, choose one strong image that instantly grabs attention and supports your core message.
Your text can help reinforce the idea or provide context, but your visual should do the heavy lifting. A clean, high-impact image improves recall and makes your billboard more striking and memorable to viewers in motion.
Varo
4. Be Bold
What works in a TV spot or magazine ad—subtlety, nuance, slow reveals—simply doesn’t translate to billboards. To make an impact in 2025, boldness is everything. Your billboard should pop with striking colors, large type, powerful visuals, and a confident message that leaves no room for confusion.
This principle extends beyond the design itself. Choose bold, high-traffic locations and set ambitious campaign goals. Billboards typically run for about four weeks, making them perfect for experimentation. If one concept underperforms, treat it as a testing opportunity and go bolder in your next round.
5. Use High-Contrast Colors
Bold design doesn’t stop with the visuals or copy—it extends to your color palette. Using high-contrast color combinations is essential for both visibility and readability, especially at a distance or in fast-moving traffic. Think white text on black, black on yellow, or bold red against white—anything that pops.
Strong contrast helps your message stand out instantly and ensures that viewers can read your billboard quickly and clearly. Avoid low-contrast pairings or colors that blend together, especially under bright sunlight or nighttime lighting conditions.
6. Pick and Size Your Fonts Carefully
Font choice can make or break your billboard design. On a standard 14×48-foot board, your text must be large enough to be read at a glance—typically, at least 24 inches tall. Anything smaller risks being overlooked entirely, especially by fast-moving traffic.
Opt for clean, bold typefaces that maximize legibility. Avoid script fonts or anything overly decorative. Your goal is clarity, not style points. When in doubt, test your design at scale or simulate viewing distance to ensure your message is readable from afar.
7. Stick With One Vibe
If you’ve picked up anything from these tips so far, it’s this: consistency is critical in billboard advertising. A billboard is a single-frame message—you’ve got six seconds or less to connect. There’s no room for mixed signals or layered nuance. Trying to be too many things at once only weakens the impact.
Choose a tone—whether it’s bold, clever, playful, or direct—and commit to it. You can be whimsical or straightforward or cheeky—but not all three at once. The strongest billboards deliver a clear vibe and leave a lasting impression. Mixed messaging confuses your audience and makes your campaign forgettable.
Branded Cities
8. Think Creatively
Your billboard doesn’t have to stick to the basics. That’s one of the most exciting aspects of out-of-home advertising—it’s a creative playground. While the standard size is 14×48 feet, you can break the mold by adding extensions, edging, or custom panels to give your design a truly eye-catching twist.
Don’t limit yourself to static formats. Explore other options like 3D installations, animated digital billboards, or even a hybrid campaign that combines multiple billboard types for added impact. When done right, thinking creatively not only boosts visibility—it makes your campaign unforgettable.
9. Don’t Forget to Think Local
People love seeing references to their city, neighborhood, or region in advertising—it creates an instant sense of connection. If you can localize your billboard in any way, do it. Whether that means using imagery of a recognizable local landmark or incorporating a phrase or slang only locals would understand, these small touches go a long way.
Localized billboards feel more personal and relevant, making them more likely to grab attention and spark engagement. It’s a great strategy for both national brands wanting to connect regionally and local businesses trying to build community awareness.
10. Follow These Key Steps When Designing a Billboard
To ensure your billboard looks professional and performs effectively, follow these essential design steps:
- Get full submission specs from your vendor. They’ll provide the exact billboard dimensions, preferred file formats, scaling ratios, and other technical requirements.
- Always account for bleed. Leave adequate space around the edges of your design to ensure nothing gets cropped during installation.
- Preview your design from a distance. Step several feet back from your screen to simulate how it will appear to drivers or pedestrians viewing it on the street.
- If your creative includes terms and conditions, check with your vendor for minimum font size guidelines. Many vendors have strict rules to ensure legibility.
- Use a scalable vector file format to avoid pixelation. This keeps your design crisp and clear when printed at large scale.
Design the Best Billboard for Your Needs
Still uncertain about the best way to approach your billboard campaign? Let us help. We can offer suggestions, walk you through the process, do everything for you — we offer whatever level of support you need. Contact us today.