Designer specifications
For businesses supplying their own artwork. Taken from the Watchfire design specifications for this sign.
The board
| Physical size | 8 ft tall × 18 ft wide active display |
| Pixel pitch | 10mm |
| Native matrix | 240 tall × 540 wide |
| Aspect ratio | 2.25 : 1 |
| Read time | About three seconds, from a moving vehicle |
Still artwork
| Artboard | 1080 wide × 480 tall px (2× the native matrix) |
| File formats | JPG, PNG, BMP or GIF at 100% quality |
| Color | RGB / sRGB. Never CMYK. |
| Resolution | 72 dpi. The pixel dimensions are what matter. |
| File size | 1 MB or smaller |
| Type scale | 60 px equals 1 foot of physical character height at this artboard size |
| Minimum character height | 12 inches, so a 60 px minimum cap height |
| Safe margin | 40 px from every edge for headline, strapline and decoration |
Motion artwork
| Artboard | 540 wide × 240 tall px. Native matrix, not 2×. |
| Format | MP4, H.264 |
| Frame rate | 30 fps maximum |
| Length | 30 seconds maximum by hardware. A Marquee Showtime slot is 7.5 seconds, so author to 7.5s unless told otherwise. |
| Maximum media size | 11.664 MB |
| Type scale | 30 px equals 1 foot; 12-inch minimum character is a 30 px minimum cap height |
| Audio | None. The marquee is silent. |
Note the asymmetry: stills are authored at 2× (1080 × 480, 1 MB or smaller), motion at 1× (540 × 240, 11.664 MB or smaller). Do not normalise the two. That is how the hardware wants them.
Legibility rules
- Seven words maximum across headline and strapline combined. Don't use eight words when four will do.
- One idea per message. One clear focal read in about three seconds.
- Bold or black weights only. No hairline serif, no script, no outlined or shadowed type.
- No text stroke or outline thinner than 4 px at export scale.
- High contrast only: bright on dark or dark on bright. Never mid-tone on mid-tone.
- No long smooth gradients. They band visibly on a 10mm panel and stripe instead of blending. A short hard-edged two-tone transition is fine.
- No fine detail, feather-level linework or delicate texture. It turns to mush at this pixel density.
- Bold flat vector illustration, vintage travel-poster or silkscreen. Large simple shapes, clean outlines, confident color blocking. No photorealistic rendering, no soft photographic backgrounds.
- Full saturated color matching the occasion's emotional tone, not locked to brand colors.
- Decoration supports the headline; it never competes with it.
Reserved areas
Two areas are filled by the customer later. No text, no placeholder icon, no stock photo, no label: background and frame art only.
- Photo area. Shape varies per template on purpose: round, oval, square, rectangle, hexagon or curved-top arch. That variation is not a mistake to normalise.
- Name area. The name needs a plain rectangular safe zone. The decorative shape behind it may match the theme (ribbon, plaque, banner, arch, starburst) as long as it gives strong contrast.
Headline sits in the upper portion, strapline in the lower, both shrinking to fit rather than running wide or small. Neither may overlap either reserved area.
Customer name type and color
Heavy Arial, uppercase, always one of these four. Whatever sits directly behind the name area must give strong contrast against at least one of them.
Quieter occasions
Memorial, In Loving Memory, Rainbow Bridge and Get Well follow the same structural rules with a softer desaturated palette, a gentler single motif, and no exclamation marks.