Blackboards: A Dying Art?

They may be disappearing from classrooms but blackboards are starting to pop up in places people may frequent on the evenings and weekends. A novel and more personal way to advertise, establishments are placing blackboards in and outside restaurants.

Norwich (I-Newswire) February 6, 2013 - While many may consider blackboards to be a tool used last century, the blackboard may be making a return. With the ‘shabby chic’ trend really hitting the high street, restaurants and shops are embracing the trend and investing in blackboards.

The digital world may be advantageous in some way but there’s other ways in which a blackboard for a pub or restaurant can appeal. A chalkboard writer recently commented that the distinct advantage of a blackboard over computerised advertising is the unique, personal and friendly touch they can bring to the customer. Also, unlike print, a chalkboard isn’t static and it doesn’t cost anything to rub out and start all over again.

Rebecca Field, working for Moores Message boards, a UK based company producing and selling blackboards commented: “A number of pub and restaurant proprietors are purchasing blackboards for their premises. Whether it’s a wall-mounted blackboard to display the daily specials, table-top blackboards to entice punters back to various evenings or an A-frame blackboard to place outside their establishment they are proving popular.”

With increasing number of restaurants taking their advertising on the blackboard medium the profession of blackboard sign writing has also increased. Although anyone can write on a blackboard, having a professional design businesses advertisement is always likely to bring more interest – after all, it is unlikely that an unprofessional would complete the graphic design work before printing up advertising posters.

But does it really work? The answer is yes, a recent study by hospitality experts say that people are actually more likely to read a unique blackboard with a personal touch rather than a poster that could have been there for months.