A digital menu board without a designer

The screen is the easy part: most shops already have a screen. The hard part has always been the design, and who does it every time something changes. Here are the four ways shops do it, honestly, and what each one costs you in money and in time.

Draw my board free → See how it works

One screen free, no card. Works on any screen with a web browser, or any screen with an HDMI socket and a streaming stick.

The board of Anatolia Grill, an example kebab and grill, with kebabs, wraps, sides — Drawn by Counterboard AI in about two minutes, from a few words and a price list. Anatolia Grill is an example shop: yours is drawn to your own description, with your name and your prices on it.

The four ways

Who designs the board, and who changes it

A printed board

A sign writer or a printer makes it once. It can look lovely. But every price rise is a reprint and a wait, so most printed boards end up with tape and marker pen on them. You pay for each reprint.

A designer, on a screen

A designer or a signage company designs the board for your screen. You explain what you want, they picture it, and it comes back not quite what you had in your head. Every change after that means asking them again, waiting, and often paying again.

Signage software you design in yourself

You pay a monthly fee and get an editor full of templates. Nobody else is guessing, but now you are the one dragging boxes around and choosing fonts, which is hours you do not have and a job you never trained for.

Say what you want, and AI designs it

This is Counterboard. You say what you want in your own words and the finished board is designed in about two minutes. Not right? Say what to change. No designer to brief, no software to learn. Prices change from your phone.

Side by side

What each way means for you

	Who designs it	When a price changes	What you pay for
Printed board	A printer or sign writer	A reprint, and a wait	Each board, and each reprint
A designer, on a screen	Somebody else, from your description	Ask them, and wait	The design, and often each change
Signage software	You, in its editor	You edit it yourself	Usually a monthly fee, plus your own hours
Counterboard	AI, from your own words	Type it on your phone	One screen free for one screen, by number of screens

Printers, designers and signage companies all set their own prices, so ask them for a quote for your shop and set it beside the figures below.

Why it matters

The board should be what was in your head

You are the designer. You say what you want in your own words: the colours, your name across the top, what goes where. AI designs the finished board in about two minutes. Not quite right? Say what to change and it is drawn again. There is no design software to learn, and nobody else trying to guess what is in your head.

That is the difference. With a designer, the board is their idea of what you described. With software, it is what you managed to build before closing time. Here, you keep saying what you want until the board on the screen is the one you pictured, and then it is on your screen.

Anatolia Grill: an example kebab and grill board, with kebabs, wraps, sides — Kebab and grill: Anatolia Grill, an example shop

Rise & Shine Bakery: an example bakery board, with bread, pastries, cakes — Bakery: Rise & Shine Bakery, an example shop

Boba Bliss: an example bubble tea board, with milk tea, fruit tea, toppings — Bubble tea: Boba Bliss, an example shop

Example boards, drawn by Counterboard AI from a few words and a price list. The shops on them are made up.

What else you need

A screen, and the internet

Any smart screen runs it in its own browser. Any other screen with an HDMI socket takes a Fire TV Stick. There is nothing to install in the shop and nobody has to come out. See how to put your menu on a screen and the Fire TV Stick guide.

What it costs

Priced by how many screens you put up

One screen free, for as long as you like, with a small counterboard.com band on the board, and no card. Without the band, so much a screen: £14 a month for one screen, and £7 for each screen after it. No VAT charged. The price list on the front page shows it in dollars and euros too.

Every screen gets the same dashboard and the same boards; what changes with the price is how many screens you put up and how many credits come with them. Each screen gets a board drawn for it, free. After that everything we draw is credits, and a credit is a pound: a price change is one, a new look or an item added, taken off or renamed is two, a whole new board is three. Each paid screen includes two credits a month, and they start again on the 1st; more can be bought inside Counterboard, ten for £9 or more in a bigger pack, with no change to your plan. No contract: cancel any time.

Draw my board free → See how it works

Questions

What people ask

Is an AI-designed board good enough for a real shop?

Look at the boards on this page and on the front page: each one was drawn from a few words and a price list, and not touched afterwards. Try it free on your own menu and judge for yourself.

What if I do not like what it draws?

Say what to change, in words, and it is drawn again. Nothing goes on your screen until you choose it.

Can I still use my own design?

Yes. If you already have artwork you like, you can put your own picture up as the board.

Is there a contract?

No. It is monthly, and you can cancel any time from inside Counterboard.

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