Abstract:
Billboards as an effective outdoor communication channel that promote products and
services also add value to their immediate surrounding. Limited were the studies on the
aesthetics of billboards. The main aim of this study is to project the aesthetic qualities of
billboards at prominent places in Accra. Precisely the study sought to: identify and
describe billboards sited in Accra; examine the aesthetic qualities of billboards in Accra;
analyse the identified cultural elements of billboards in Accra; and evaluate the contents
on billboards in Accra to ascertain their impact on the communication. The descriptive
research design under qualitative research approach was used for this study. Observation
and interview were the pivotal research instruments used for the study. A total of twentyseven
billboards and forty-five respondents were sampled from road users, advertising
agencies, marketing agents, graphic artists, and an officer from the Assembly to establish
the population for the research. The purposive and convenience sampling techniques
were used to select billboards and individuals for the study. Thematic contents analysis
and visual analysis of the various aspects of the billboards with the aid of photographs
and field notes grounded the analysis of the study. This technique gave the researcher the
opportunity to unearth and project the aesthetic qualities of billboards at prominent places
in Accra. The findings of the study show that sited billboards at prominent places in Accra
come with two and three interfaces with varied advertisements that make them
unavoidable irrespective of where the road user is coming from. The aesthetic qualities
of the billboards are embedded in the attractiveness of the illustration, slogan, colour and
the main text as well as the lighting system around them, making significant impact on
the cityscape. Identifiable Ghanaian cultural elements were encoded in the illustration,
the nature of these billboards and their immediate environment. The effectiveness of the
billboard to communicate is determined by name of product, illustration, slogan, brand
name, and trademark. The prime recommendation for this study is for the advertising
agencies and the Assembly with Ghana High Way Authority to replicate the siting of
billboards with three interfaces at Tetteh Quarshie Interchange in other interchanges to
improve their aesthetic qualities and maximise the ability billboard communicate to a
larger audience.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Music
Education, School of Creative Arts, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Arts and Culture)
in the University of Education, Winneba
OCTOBER, 2022