Less Is Better, Vol. 4: Billboards
In our continuing quest for design inspirado, DLB is always pleased to present you with some of our favorite examples of doing less to get better results. In this installment: The art of less billboards.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Designing a restrained billboard might be rare, and even culturally antonymic, but when it’s done right, it’s incredibly effective.
Here, the Denver Water Public Utility takes the Eskom strategy one step further, actually chopping their billboard down to about 20% of its allotted size. This is not only highly effective because it capitalizes negatively on our perceptual fluency for billboards, but it’s also quite apropos to the content. Nicely done.
Secondly, this incredible billboard for BIC razors makes excellent use of many of the principles we at DLB hold dear. Specifically, (1) the aforementioned confounding of perceptually fluent expectations, (2) the Power of Profiles (here, capitalizing on the unique and recognizable shape of the BIC disposable razor), (3) the judicious use of the context/environment of the design, and finally (4) a very interesting (sculptural) complication of the figure-ground relationship.*
All these excellent factors add up to an almost completely blank billboard. Chew on that.
* Please note also my near-giddiness that this billboard allows me a second occasion to use the Claes Oldenberg tag.
