You are presented with a great idea for an upcoming billboard campaign. The layout looks great and you are thrilled to approve it. After weeks of waiting for the outdoor company to post the vinyl the big day arrives. But, before you have a chance to drive out to see your new boards, you pick up an email from the CEO, "Can't read outdoor! Can this be fixed?!"

The best "fix" is to avoid this situation in the first place. But how can you tell if an outdoor layout that looks great in the office will perform when it's posted on the side of the road? Well, forget the fancy app. Here's an old school trick that I picked up from an art director on my first job twenty years ago. All you need are scissors, tape and a file folder.

1. Take a piece of stiff board — file folder, cover of an old notebook, etc. 
2. Mark a small rectangle shape in the middle of the board that is the exact proportion of your billboard layout*
3. Cut out the rectangle to create a window in the center of your board
4. Now tape your billboard layout onto the wall 
5. While facing the layout, hold your window board at arms length in front of your face and pear through window
6. Carefully step backward until all four edges of the window line up with the edges of your billboard layout

Now you have a reasonable facsimile of the distance at which the billboard will be viewed on the side of the road. Glance at the layout for 3 -4 seconds then look away. What do you see first? Is the text legible? Is the prominence of the logo acceptable? Assuming you are already familiar with the layout, give this test to a handful of people in the office who are unfamiliar with the artwork and ask for their objective feedback. 

Taking a few minutes for this exercise might spare you that dreadful moment when your CEO complains to you that they can't read your hospital's new billboard.

*Listed here are some standard billboard dimensions with the corresponding size of window:
- If your billboard is a "bulletin", 48 feet x 14 feet, cut your window to 6 inches wide x 1.75 inches high. 
- If your billboard is a "junior bulletin", 36 feet wide x 10 feet high, cut your window to 6 inches wide x 1.5 inches high. 
- If your billboard is a "poster", 25 feet wide by 12 feet high, cut your window to 4.25 inches wide x 2 inches high.