A billboard is not a brochure. The person reading it is driving, often stuck in Pindi traffic, sometimes doing 80 on the Expressway. You get three seconds at most. Great billboard design in Pakistan is the art of saying one thing so clearly that it's remembered after the car has passed.
Below are the seven rules our in-house Creative Studio follows on every hoarding. After them, we explain how one idea becomes a complete outdoor advertising campaign across billboards, SMD screens, streamers and LED trucks.
7 rules of billboard design
1. One message per billboard
Decide the single thing people must remember: the new branch, the sale or the product. If you have three messages, use three sites, or rotate them on an SMD screen.
2. About seven words
Your headline must read in one glance. Write it, count the words, and cut until you reach about seven.
3. Bold fonts, in Urdu or English
Heavy sans-serif fonts read best from a distance. Thin and decorative fonts disappear. Urdu headlines work very well in Pakistan. Keep the Nastaliq large and the words simple and conversational.
4. Strong contrast
Use dark on light or light on dark. Avoid similar shades side by side, like red on orange or grey on blue. Check your design in black and white. If it still reads, the contrast is right.
5. One hero image
Use one large photo of the product, the building or a face. A collage of six small photos blurs into nothing at road distance.
6. Make the brand unmissable
Your logo should be large and placed where the eye ends up. People who remember the ad but not the brand mean wasted money.
7. One contact detail
Give one short number, a WhatsApp number or a website. Never all three, and no QR codes on roadside hoardings, because nobody can scan one while driving.
Design for the exact hoarding size
Every site has its own shape: 60 × 20 ft is wide, 20 × 40 ft is tall, and 90 × 30 ft is massive. Artwork stretched to fit the wrong ratio looks cheap. We design each hoarding to the exact site dimensions and deliver print-ready files for panaflex printing.
How to plan an outdoor advertising campaign
Campaign design means carrying one big idea across every format, so your brand looks the same wherever it's seen:
| Format | How the idea is adapted |
|---|---|
| Hoardings and sky signs | The main visual, at its biggest and simplest |
| SMD screens | The same visual with motion, as a 10–15 second loop |
| Digital streamers | Logo plus headline, sized for small portrait panels |
| LED trucks | A longer video loop for markets and events |
Our campaign design process
- Brief. Tell us your product, audience, cities and goal.
- Concept. We create the big idea and the headline.
- Design. We make artwork for every site and videos for every screen.
- Live. We print, install or put your campaign on screen, on time, with weekly tracking.
The three-second test
Print your design about the size of a postcard and put it on the far side of a room. Can you read the headline and spot the brand in three seconds? If not, simplify it.
Frequently asked questions
How many words should a billboard have?
Around seven words for the headline. Drivers have only a few seconds, so one message, one image and a clear logo work best.
Should billboards in Pakistan be in Urdu or English?
Both work. Urdu headlines connect strongly with a mass audience, and English suits premium and corporate brands. Many campaigns use an Urdu headline with English branding.
Do you design billboards if I don't have artwork?
Yes. The GillANi’s Creative Studio designs billboards, plans campaigns and produces SMD videos in-house, sized for the exact sites you book.
What file format is needed for billboard printing?
Print-ready files at the exact site size, with vector logos and text (AI, EPS or PDF). The GillANi’s studio prepares these for every booking.
Get your billboard designed
No artwork? No problem. Our studio handles billboard design in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, full campaign planning and SMD animation, from idea to installation. Start your campaign or call 0333-5444975.
