Back when all billboards were hand-painted


You really won't see any hand-painted billboards anymore, but there was a time when all billboards were hand-painted. And in order for me to explain it to you, you have to bear with me a bit, and look at things through the eyes of a graphic designer.

For practical purposes, anything that sits by the side of the road and is a big sign that is advertising something I call a billboard. It's the term I use when I'm talking to people, when I'm writing blog posts, and even I even use the word "billboard" in my filenames for my collection of these things. And we have to start with doing something that comes easily to graphic designers, and is just about impossible for everyone else: separating content from structure. Let's see if you can do it, and if you can, you'll understand.

Take a look at the billboard at the top of this post and try not to read it at all. Just look at it as a picture of a man, some lettering, some colors. That's the structure. Note the ratio of the rectangle. If you're already discussing that you don't like Fords, I've lost you, and I understand. I taught graphic design for years and I recognize that some people simply can't see structure. If you can, then the rest of this blog post will make sense. Because this is what the true definition of a billboard is: this particular shape, and always hand-painted.


Here, I'll zoom into the man's face, and you can see better that it's painted. Yes, companies like Eller would have had these carefully hand-painted, then moved to the site. It was very expensive! Top advertisers wouldn't dream of going the cheaper route, which was called a poster, but eventually it caught on. I'll go find a poster. Here ya go:


A poster had a different ratio (not as wide), and it wasn't hand-painted, it was done with a regular printing process, and put up in strips. Compare the poster (the Chevy ad) with the billboard (the Ford ad). And never mind the people who can't see structure, they're off arguing about whether Chevrolets are better than Fords. And to be fair, if most people didn't see it that way (which thankfully they do!), the advertising money would all be wasted. Graphic designers admiring the use of a particular font, or some element of design, are really missing the point. The point of advertising is to inspire sales.

I hope that you found this glimpse into my esoteric little world of graphic design interesting. If not, that's fine, too. And that's because the very best graphic design becomes invisible, and only the message remains.

Billboards being painted. From the Duke Universities Digital Libraries site.

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