Event Media Creation Guide

ZEBRA EVENTS

LED Poster Content Guidelines

Las Vegas September 24–25, 2026 Prepared by AV Factory v1 · September 2026

About This Guide

And why it matters

Digital signage for this event runs on freestanding LED posters placed around the convention hall — tall, narrow, bright, and read by people walking past at arm's length or from across a hallway. They are not TVs turned sideways and they are not a big LED wall in miniature; they have their own rules. This guide gives you the exact pixel dimensions, the file formats the posters' onboard players accept, and — most importantly — what actually reads on a 20-inch-wide screen and what doesn't.

You create the content; AV Factory loads it onto the posters and runs it. Following these guidelines means your artwork goes up exactly as you designed it, with no last-minute resizing, re-encoding, or "can you make the text bigger?" phone calls. If anything here raises a question, please reach out early: tbaldini@avfactory.com

Contents

  1. Overview & Quick Reference
  2. The Poster — Pixel Map
  3. Designing for a Poster — Read This First
  4. Video Loops
  5. Still Images & Logos
  6. File Naming, Versions & Delivery
  7. Frequently Asked Questions

Overview & Quick Reference

One destination, many locations
3 ft 15 ft TYPICAL VIEWING ZONE walk-up to across-the-hallway · 3–15 ft 256 × 1024 LED POSTER T-Pro P1.9 · SAFE 16 / 32 px 2140 mm · 7'-0¼" overall 2000 mm · 6'-6¾" active 518 mm · 1'-8⅜" base 588 mm · 1'-11" deep 6-ft person, for scale ZEBRA EVENTS — LED POSTER OVERVIEW FREESTANDING DIGITAL SIGNAGE · ISOMETRIC VIEW · NOT TO SCALE · LAS VEGAS · SEPT 24–25 2026 LED POSTER FACE — 256 × 1024 px, content 1:1, no scaling SAFE AREA — 16 px sides · 32 px top & bottom (224 × 960 px) VIEWING ZONE — 3 to 15 ft; design for the 15-ft reader Fabulux T-Pro P1.9 · 1.95 mm pixel pitch · 500 × 2000 mm active Each poster is its own destination — the same file plays on every poster, or each poster gets its own file. Both are fine; see Naming. Onboard player · stills + H.264 MP4 loops · no audio · no PowerPoint.
A single LED poster with a person for scale. Every poster in the hall is identical, so there is exactly one file size to design for. Stylized view — not to scale.
DestinationResolution (W×H)AspectPhysical SizeContent Sources
LED Poster (each)256 × 1024 (portrait)1:4 500 × 2000 mm active (19.7" × 78.7") · 7'-0" tall overall Onboard player — still images (PNG/JPG) and H.264 video loops (MP4)

The System

Each poster is a Fabulux T-Pro P1.9 (1.95 mm pixel pitch), 256 pixels wide by 1024 tall, playing from its own built-in media player. There are no live inputs, no slide computer, and no speakers — the posters simply cycle through the stills and loops we load onto them. One file can play on every poster, or each poster can carry its own content. You don't need to think about the hardware; just hit the pixel count above and we'll do the rest.

Three Rules That Cover 90% of It

  • Build to exactly 256 × 1024 — never a 9:16 phone video, never 16:9 letterboxed.
  • Keep text and logos inside the safe margin (16 px sides, 32 px top and bottom).
  • Big type, few words, dark backgrounds. If it wouldn't read on a poster taped to a wall from 15 feet, it won't read here either.

The Poster — Pixel Map

256 × 1024 px · build to this exact raster

The poster's active screen is 2 modules wide × 8 modules tall, each module 128 × 128 px (250 mm square), giving 256 × 1024 px at 1.95 mm pixel pitch. That works out to 1 px ≈ 1.95 mm, or about 13 px per inch — a useful number to keep in your head: a 26-px-tall capital letter is 2 inches tall on the poster; a 130-px logo is 10 inches wide.

256 × 1024 256 px 1024 px 500 mm / 19.7" 2000 mm / 78.7" 16 16 32 32 FABULUX T-PRO P1.9 LED POSTER ONE DESTINATION · PORTRAIT · 1:4 Raster: 256 × 1024 px Exact file size for every still and video — no letterboxing, no scaling. 2 modules wide × 8 modules tall; each module is 128 × 128 px (250 mm). Scale: 1 px = 1.953 mm · ≈13 px per inch A 26 px tall letter is 2 inches tall on the poster. 100 px of artwork is about 7¾ inches. Safe margin: 16 px sides · 32 px top & bottom Safe area is 224 × 960 px. Text, logos and anything that must be read live inside the dashed cyan line. Backgrounds and washes still run full bleed. Viewing distance: 3–15 ft People walk right up to these, then read them from across a hallway. Design for the 15-ft reader; the 3-ft reader gets it for free. Playback: onboard player Stills (PNG/JPG) and H.264 MP4 loops, loaded by AV Factory. No live inputs, no PowerPoint, no audio. Color: Rec.709 video levels (motion) · sRGB (stills) NOT TO SCALE — actual-size map available for download
The single destination, annotated. Cyan dashed line is the safe area (224 × 960 px); gray grid shows the physical LED module seams, which are invisible in playback but handy for aligning layouts.

Actual-Size Templates

The pixel map is available as a full-resolution PNG (drop into your Photoshop / After Effects project as an underlay and design on top of it) or as an editable vector SVG. It is exactly 256 × 1024 — if your document matches it edge for edge, your document is the right size.

  • LED Poster — 256 × 1024  PNG · SVG
  • Set overview (isometric)  PNG · SVG

⬇  Download all maps (PNG + SVG, .zip)

The following template files are delivered alongside this document:

  • ZebraEvents_PixelMap_LEDPoster_256x1024.png / .svg
  • ZebraEvents_SetOverview_Isometric.png / .svg

Safe Margin

EdgeMarginOn the posterWhy
Left & right16 px≈ 1¼" The cabinet frame sits right at the edge of the pixels, and people view these from off-axis as they walk by. Anything that must be read lives inside the dashed line; backgrounds, washes and photography still run full bleed to the edge.
Top & bottom32 px≈ 2½"
Safe area224 × 960 px17¼" × 73¾"The box your design really has to work in.
Same file, every poster — or one file per poster. Because every poster is identical, you can deliver a single set of content that plays everywhere, or a different set per location (wayfinding at the entrance, sponsor rotation by the lounge). Both are welcome; the naming convention tells us which is which.

Designing for a Poster — Read This First

A 20-inch-wide screen plays by different rules

The poster is tall, narrow, and bright, and its audience is moving. Nobody stands still and reads a poster; they glance at it from 3 to 15 feet while walking to somewhere else. That single fact drives every recommendation below: one idea per poster, big enough to catch at a glance, dark enough not to glare. Content designed like a web page or a slide will look busy and unreadable. Content designed like a street poster will look fantastic.

READS BEAUTIFULLY
  • Short stacked words — three to nine characters per line
  • Large numerals: times, room numbers, hall letters, booth numbers
  • Bold sans-serif type, light on a dark or deep-colored background
  • Big logos (mark only), arrows and simple icons
  • Full-bleed color washes, gradients, and abstract textures
  • Slow vertical drifts, gentle fades, "breathing" loops
  • Tall photography with one large subject (a face, a product) filling the frame
  • QR codes at 160 px or larger — see the FAQ
WILL NOT READ
  • Paragraphs, bullet lists, agendas, sentences — any body copy
  • Type under 34 px — it renders, but only the person standing in front of it can read it
  • Thin or light-weight fonts, serifs with hairline strokes, script fonts
  • 1–2 px lines, fine patterns, halftones, small drop shadows
  • Wide photos or landscape video squeezed or letterboxed into portrait
  • Group photos, small faces, detailed diagrams, charts
  • Fast cuts, scrolling tickers, horizontal crawls, strobing
  • Full-white backgrounds at 3 feet — glare, visible pixel structure, and washed-out type

Minimum Type Sizes (in your 256 × 1024 file)

ElementAbsolute minimumRecommendedReal-world size on poster
Must-read text (times, rooms, calls to action)34 px font · 24 px cap height 48–72 px font2" / 2¾–4" tall letters
Headline / hero word72 px100–160 px5½" / 7¾–12" tall
Supporting text (a subtitle, a sponsor line)34 px40 px2¾" / 3"
Line / stroke weight3 px6 px +¼" / ½"+ thick
Logo width (mark)120 px160–224 px9" / 12–17" wide
Icon / arrow80 px120 px +6" / 9"+

Rule of thumb behind the numbers: comfortable reading needs roughly 1 inch of letter height for every 10 feet of distance. Your farthest reader is 15 feet away, so 1½"–2" letters (about 24–26 px cap height, i.e. a 34–36 px font) are the floor. Anything smaller is decoration, not information.

TOO SMALL Registration opens 8:00 AM Hall C 16 px type (≈1.2" tall) reads at 3 ft and is gone at 10 ft. Body copy doesn't belong here. MINIMUM REG OPENS 8:00 AM HALL C 34 px type (cap height ≈24 px ≈1.85") is the floor for anything that must be read at 15 ft. RECOMMENDED REG 8 AM HALL C 48–100 px+ type. Short words, stacked, one idea per poster. This is what wins. All three posters drawn at the same scale — type is in true proportion to the 256 × 1024 raster. NOT TO SCALE for print.
The same message three ways. Left: the way it arrives from a slide deck. Middle: the legal minimum. Right: what actually stops someone in a hallway.

Fitting Words on 224 Pixels

At the recommended 48–72 px, a bold sans-serif fits roughly 5–8 characters per line inside the safe area. Design for that: "REGISTRATION" doesn't fit at 48 px; "REG" or "CHECK-IN" does. Stack words vertically instead of shrinking them, and let one idea occupy the whole poster — a schedule of six sessions is six posters (or a six-slide still rotation), not one crowded one.

Think of each poster as a lightbox street ad you happen to control, not as a skinny screen. Its job is to be the brightest, clearest object in someone's peripheral vision for two seconds. Big wins; busy loses.
Brightness & color: the poster puts out roughly ten times the light of a printed poster, and people stand two feet from it. Favor dark or richly colored backgrounds with light type; use pure white for accents, not fields. Avoid small text in saturated pure red or pure blue — at this pixel pitch, single-color LEDs make fine edges look fringed. Skip very dark, subtle gradients (black to near-black) — the low end of an LED's range is where gradients get steppy.
Motion: keep it slow and mostly vertical (the poster is four times taller than it is wide — horizontal moves have nowhere to go). No scrolling text: a crawl that reads fine on a TV becomes an unreadable smear on a 20-inch-wide screen with people walking past it. Cross-fades, slow pushes, and ambient "living background" loops work best. If you're unsure, send a 10-second test render — we'll preview it on a poster and tell you straight.

Video Loops

H.264 MP4 · plays from the poster's onboard player

Because playback comes from each poster's built-in player rather than a media server, the spec is deliberately simple: a standard, well-encoded H.264 .mp4 at exactly 256 × 1024. No ProRes, no HAP, no 4K masters — just the file the player wants, and nothing else.

Video Export Settings

Container.mp4
CodecH.264 (AVC), High profile, 8-bit 4:2:0 required
Resolution256 × 1024, portrait — no letterboxing, no scaling, no rotation metadata
Frame rate30 fps progressive, constant preferred · 60 fps accepted
Do not render 23.98/24 or 29.97/59.94 — the players run a flat 30/60 Hz clock, and fractional rates cause a visible skipped frame every 30-odd seconds.
Bitrate6 Mbps VBR (2-pass) target for most loops; 3–4 Mbps is still excellent at this small raster. Max 8 Mbps.
KeyframesEvery 1–2 seconds (30–60 frames); no open GOPs
ColorRec.709, video (legal) levels
AudioNone — strip the audio track entirely. The posters have no speakers, and a silent track is wasted bytes against your file-size cap.
LoopsSeamless first-to-last frame; put _LOOP in the filename

File Size & Loop Length

Max file size100 MB per file
Max loop length4:00 per file
Sweet spot30 s – 2 min loops. Signage audiences are transient; nobody watches minute three.

Those two caps meet in the middle: at the 4-minute maximum you have to encode at about 3.3 Mbps to stay under 100 MB — which is still more than three times the bits-per-pixel of a typical 1080p web stream, so it looks great for graphic content. Rough guide:

Loop lengthBitrate≈ File size
0:308 Mbps30 MB
1:008 Mbps60 MB
2:006 Mbps90 MB
4:003.3 Mbps100 MB

Why H.264 and not a "mastering" codec?

The poster's player is a compact signage device, not a GPU media server — it decodes H.264 in hardware and stalls on anything heavier. At 256 × 1024 the file is tiny anyway; there is nothing to gain from a 2 GB ProRes render except a slower upload. Export straight from your editor and skip the middle step.

Setting Up Your Edit

The number-one failure is a file that is almost 256 × 1024 — a 1080 × 1920 phone-vertical render, a 270 × 1080 crop, a landscape file with a rotation flag. Set the timeline size explicitly, at the start:

Adobe Premiere Pro
File → New → Sequence → Settings tab → Editing Mode: Custom → Timebase 30.00 fps → Frame Size 256 horizontal × 1024 vertical → Pixel Aspect Ratio Square Pixels. Export: H.264, Match Source, VBR 2-pass, target 6 Mbps, audio off.
Adobe: create a custom sequence preset

DaVinci Resolve
Project Settings (gear) → Master Settings → Timeline Format → Timeline Resolution Custom → 256 × 1024 → Timeline Frame Rate 30. Deliver page: MP4 / H.264, restrict bitrate to 6,000 kb/s, uncheck Export Audio.
Blackmagic: DaVinci Resolve support & reference manual

Final Cut Pro
File → New → Project → Use Custom Settings → Video Format Custom → Resolution 256 × 1024 → Rate 30p. Share → Export File → Computer / H.264 (Better Quality), audio none.
Apple: create a new project in Final Cut Pro

After Effects / Photoshop / Illustrator / Figma
New comp or document at 256 × 1024 px, square pixels, 30 fps, sRGB. Drop the pixel-map PNG in as a bottom layer, lock it, and design on top. Export stills as PNG at 100% — never "Save for Web" at a scaled size.

Tip: view your design at 100% zoom on a monitor, then step back 15 feet. If you can't read it there, neither can the audience.

Still Images & Logos

Technical specifications

Full-Screen Stills

Resolution256 × 1024 px exactly, portrait
Format.png (preferred) · .jpg at quality 90+ is fine for photography
ColorsRGB, 8-bit; no embedded CMYK or printer profiles; no transparency (it renders black)
Safe margin16 px sides · 32 px top & bottom
Dwell timeStills rotate at 10 seconds each unless you tell us otherwise. Send a playlist order with your delivery (see Delivery).
Not acceptedPDF, PowerPoint/Keynote files, animated GIF, TIFF, PSD — export a PNG

Logos & Graphic Elements

Vector (preferred).svg, .ai, or .eps
Raster.png with transparency, 24-bit, largest size available
Brand kitSend your brand guide (colors, clear-space, don'ts) so anything we build on site stays on-brand

Stills and loops can be mixed freely in a poster's playlist — a 10-second still sponsor card between two 45-second loops is a very normal signage rotation.

Why we push for vectors: if we need to build a "doors open at 9" card on site at 7 a.m., a vector logo drops in clean at 200 px wide in a minute. A 300-px JPEG from a website footer does not. We never distribute client content outside this event.

File Naming, Versions & Delivery

Small habits, big time savings
Naming pattern ZebraEvents_[Content]_[PosterTag]_v[#].[ext]
e.g. ZebraEvents_Welcome_LOOP_AllPosters_v2.mp4 · ZebraEvents_Wayfinding_Poster03_v1.png
Poster tags AllPosters — the file plays on every poster · Poster01, Poster02 … — the file plays on one specific poster. If you're doing per-location content, include a one-page placement list with your delivery (which tag goes where — "Poster01 = main entrance, Poster02 = registration") so we hang the right content in the right spot.
Playlist orderA simple text list per poster tag: file name, and dwell time for stills (default 10 s). We build the rotation exactly as listed.
VersioningIncrement v1 → v2 → v3 with every change. Please never use "FINAL", "FINAL2", or "FINALfinal" — we've all been there, and it never ends well.
DeadlineAll poster content due one week before the event — Thursday, September 17, 2026. Anything after that lands in the on-site change queue and is handled as time allows.
DeliveryWeTransfer to tbaldini@avfactory.com, or a shared drive folder link — either is fine; at these file sizes a hard drive is overkill. No email attachments over 20 MB, please.

Frequently Asked Questions

You can always ask more — we like questions
Can I just send a PowerPoint?
No — the posters have no computer attached; they play image and video files from an onboard player. Design your slides at a 1:4 slide size (PowerPoint: Design → Slide Size → Custom, e.g. 2.667" × 10.667") if you like the tool, then export each slide as a PNG and check that the exported image is exactly 256 × 1024 — PowerPoint's export resolution varies by platform, so resize in an image editor if it isn't. Send us the PNGs. Fair warning: a slide's worth of bullet points will not read on a poster — see Designing for a Poster.
Why not 1080 × 1920? That's the standard vertical video size.
It's the standard phone size, and it's 9:16. The poster is 1:4 — much taller and narrower. A 9:16 file has to be cropped by a third or squashed to fit, and either way you've lost your layout. Build at 256 × 1024 and what you see is what plays. (If you already have 9:16 material, treat it as source footage and re-frame it in a 256 × 1024 timeline.)
256 pixels seems tiny. Should I deliver at 2× or 4× so it's sharper?
Please don't. 256 × 1024 is the native pixel count of the screen — there is no more detail to show. Larger files get scaled down by the player, which softens type and can introduce shimmer on fine edges. Design at 1:1 and it will be pixel-perfect.
Why 30 fps and not 29.97?
The posters' players run at a flat 30/60 Hz. A 29.97 file (or 23.98/24) drifts against that clock and drops or repeats a frame periodically — subtle on a talking head, obvious on a slow gradient drift. Render true 30.00.
Why no audio?
These are signage posters in a hallway; they have no speakers, and even if they did, a hallway full of them playing audio in a convention hall is nobody's idea of a good time. Strip the track so it doesn't eat into your 100 MB.
Can I put a QR code on a poster?
Yes, and they work well if sized generously. Make the code at least 160 px wide (about 12"), use high error correction, keep the built-in white quiet zone, and put black modules on a white tile (LED white on black codes scan poorly). Keep the URL short so the code has fewer, bigger modules. That scans comfortably from 2–4 feet — which is exactly where a QR reader is standing anyway. Keep it on screen at least 15 seconds.
Can the posters be joined together into a wider screen?
Not for this event — every poster stands on its own. If a future show calls for spliced posters we'll issue a separate pixel map for it.
What if I need to change content during the show?
Send the replacement file, correctly named with a bumped version number, to tbaldini@avfactory.com and flag which poster tag it replaces. On-site changes are handled as time allows between sessions; anything urgent, find the AV Factory lead in the hall.
Can I submit other formats?
Possibly — but ask first (tbaldini@avfactory.com) so we can confirm the player handles it before you render a show's worth of finished animation. H.264 MP4 and PNG are guaranteed; everything else is a conversation.