Zoning is where a digital signage display is divided into multiple  sections all showing different types of content. This could be a weather  display in one corner of the screen, a news feed in another, with a  Twitter feed running as ticker tape along the bottom. 

It’s likely that you’ve seen this type of screen setup running  multiple times. It’s a highly popular choice as it allows multiple  information to show at once, increasing the opportunity for branding and  advertising.

In this post we want to discuss what you need to know to make your  zoned displays look great. As we all know, there are plenty of bad  examples of how-not-to-do-digital-signage in the world. Zoning can make  bad displays horribly easily, as they give content control outside of  tried and tested formats. But our aim at ScreenCloud is to empower, so  we’re reluctant to refuse our customers anything they think they can  utilize for better digital signage displays. We just want to make sure  you have the right education and knowledge at hand to make really great  looking displays - zoned or otherwise :-)

Designing a great looking digital signage zoned screen

The reason why many digital signage software companies don’t offer  zoning is because it ends up leaving the user with hundreds of different  options. You may think that more choice can only be a good thing but  actually, setting up an interface that looks and feels good is  time-consuming. Without a background in graphic design and UI, it can be  hard to understand what should go where and how the overall visual  appearance looks to the user. 

Our clever designers are experts in putting together visual  hierarchies that work, ensuring that the information isn’t too dense for  a user to understand and that it maximizes on layout. 

With zoning, these important decisions are placed in your hands! We give you the template and it’s down to you to ensure it looks great and  that the content is balanced. Here are some examples of what  the dimensions look like on a standard Full HD screen:

With that in mind, here are our top three tips for ensuring your  digital signage display looks as awesome as possible when split into  zones. 

As with all design, less is usually more. The last thing you want is  to bombard your viewer with five different zones which all have  in-depth, noisy information in. This type of design is very  newsroom-esque and can overwhelm in most environments - let alone within  a busy store, office or reception. If you think of it as a journey, you  want to draw attention to your hero zone, captivate for a moment or two  then let them take in the information around it (perhaps a weather feed  or traffic update in the sidebar), then read along to find your Twitter  feed or news update running in the ticker tape along the bottom or top  of the screen. 

In our ScreenCloud template (as shown below) we create this for you!

Using a ready-made content template such as this gives you the  flexibility to choose which content to show but takes away some of the  issues when thinking about spacing and layout. Leaving you to focus on  what you show, rather than where you show it.

With three zones of content it can be quite a lot to take in so it’s  important to ensure that your content zones compliment each other. As  you can see from the image above, a video plus a static newsfeed, along  with Twitter updates, works well together. There’s something visual,  something occurring in real time and static information that’s truly  useful.

In the ScreenCloud App Store  you’ll find a wealth of apps that you can use for one, or both sections  of the screen. From social media hubs, through to world clocks, social  media follow dashboards, news feeds and more. 

3. Check your sizing, spacing and schedules

Regardless of the size of your screen, zoning reduces the surface  area that your content can show in. Now while we’ll take care of the  hard work (resizing content from fullscreen to the area of the specific  zone) you do have to consider how this will affect visibility and  spacing. 

For example, a website with teeny-tiny writing might look okay when  shown on your full 46” screen but when you take this down into just the  sidebar, some of the effect may be lost. 

Similarly, if you have two types of content playing at the same time  (perhaps a video on one side and a presentation on the other) the viewer  is going to be flicking between both, not really taking in the  messaging of either.

One of the technical constraints of any zonal digital signage  platform is that some devices won’t support multiple videos playing at  once on screen. Although, this is undoubtedly a good thing as two videos  playing at once = noisy and distracting. 

You’ll also find that some apps won’t be compatible with your  ticker tape (which works best with social media, news and RSS) or with  the sidebar format. But with social media apps, news, video and images  just some of the options available, they’ll still be plenty to choose  from.

Lastly, zoning won’t work on old Chromecast 2013 models as it isn’t powerful enough to support it. Instead, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and the new Chromecast with Google TV are great alternatives. 

These devices are good options for basic digital signage use cases, but if you’re looking to expand your digital signage fleet and/or are in need of a device that has additional security and commercial grade components making it built to last after extensive use, we suggest taking a look at our ScreenCloud OS device, the Station P1 Pro. We think the extra investment is worth it in the long run.

Use our simple guide to learn how to supercharge your screen from normal to zoning within ScreenCloud Signage.

Choose 'screens' from the sidebar and you'll see a list of all of the  screens you have added. Find the screen you want to add zoning to and  hit 'screen options'. 

Once you're in screen options you'll be able to see which layout your  screen is set to using the right-hand panel (landscape or portrait) and  also change the layout by choosing the 'Change Layout' button  underneath.

Once you've hit 'Change Layout' you'll see a selection of options.  Choose which one you want to go for and you can begin adding content to  each individual section.

Now you can dedicate specific content to each section of the screen.  If you went for the three-part zonal display, you'll see that by  clicking on each area it gives you a list of options available. These  options will be pulled from the content you have already uploaded and  the apps you have already set up. If you haven't uploaded any content or  you want to create a new app or piece of content, you can select the  blue text that says 'Click me if you would prefer to create a new app.' 

In terms of the content you can choose, in the sidebar you can add apps  such as Tripadvisor, Yelp, BBC News, currency, weather or social media  feeds such as Twitter and Facebook. In the ticker tape, you can add your  own content or apps such as news feeds, RSS and Twitter. Once you've  set up your content for each section, hit 'Preview screen' to get a  taste of what your zoned display may look like. Then, once you're happy,  you're ready to begin showing it on the big screen!

Will you give digital signage zoning a go?

In conclusion, there’s nothing wrong with zoning a screen per se.  Even on our personal computers we’re used to seeing content ‘zoned’ and  split up into sections. The difficulty is creating zoned screen content  that looks just as good as full screen content. Considering the look,  feel, user journey and ultimately, how easy it communicates your  messaging.

But if we can keep educating our users in how to create digital  signage displays that use zoning AND look great they’ll be more awesome  zoned displays out in the world. Hopefully encouraging more providers  and users to feel empowered enough to use them. 

Sign up for your free trial of ScreenCloud today and give it a try. 

How to create zones across your digital screens using ScreenCloud’s digital signage software and our new zoning tool including apps, RSS and social media.

Zoning is here! With it comes this super useful post on how to create zoned screens that still provide an awesome experience.

Things To Know Before Zoning Your Digital Signage

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Things To Know Before Zoning Your Digital Signage

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