Research into Orientation and Screen Size

Despite the growth of digital signage over the last decade, very little research has been conducted into the effectiveness of different sizes of screen, and how different screen orientations effect content recall.

This is quite surprising as there are many industry assumptions made about how orientation and screen size can affect recall and boost the success of a digital signage display. Portrait displays, for instance, has always been considered more effective, perhaps being similar to traditional poster orientation is the reason for this assumption.

Secondly, larger screen sizes have always presumed to be more effective sales tools than smaller displays. Presumably, this is because the bigger a screen the more visible it is.

However, presumptions aside, finally somebody has conducted some actual research into orientation and screen size that has dispelled many of these assumptions. Wirespring, digital signage providers, and a leading blog resource for the industry, have posted some fascinating research on their website.

Testing Orientation

Wirespring tested the effectiveness of screen orientation by tailoring content to have identical sized fonts and imagery in both a landscape and portrait orientation, and surveyed an audience and asked about lasting impressions of the content.

Surprisingly, the results of Wirespring’s survey indicated that landscape orientation was far more effective on recall than portrait which goes against the grain of the common presumption.

Several theories are discussed as to why this might be the case on Wirespring’s blog, but without further study the reasons are still illusive.

Testing Impact of Screen Size

Wirespring also tested the effect of screen size on noticeability, as it the presumption that a larger a screen is the more effective is fairly common. However, as the difference between, say a 42” screen and a 36” screen can be quite significant, so the survey attempted to establish if this is wasted money, or if the difference is minimal.

The results of the survey, were hardly conclusive but suggests that smaller difference in screen size like this makes very little different to recall, although Wirespring admit their findings may be unreliable.

For more information about Wirepsring’s research, you can visit their blog, here: