Interactive Digital Signage
Why isn’t this display a touch screen?
Posted on Wed, October 21, 2009
I attended a trade show in San Francisco a few weeks back at a Marriott. Upon entering I saw a handful of digital displays in free standing enclosures that looked very inviting showing the events for the week. While checking in (no more than 2 minutes) I observed at least 5 people walk up and try to touch them - and nothing happened. You could see the frustration on their face as they wanted more information from the display and they didn’t want to wait for the whole list to cycle through.
With the advancements of personal devices such as iPhones our expectations have evolved to expect all displays to be touch screens and when they aren’t we are disappointed. Even my flat screen TV at home is full of fingerprints because my 6 year old expects everything to work like an ipod. When he sees a show he wants on the guide he walks up and touches the screen.
If you are considering digital signage consider going the next step and making your signage an interactive experience. It may be a little more expensive but instead of telling a story you are now creating a two-way conversation with your viewer.
Sales Rep verses Touch Screen - who wins?
Posted on Fri, October 23, 2009
While attending a small conference for universities I noticed the LCD touch screen was the more inviting options for attendees in comparison to speaking with a sales person. During a 4 hour stint in the booth I collected 8 business cards and had some nice conversations, but during the lunch break I stepped away for 30 minutes and observed our unmanned booth from a distance. During that 30 minute stretch I noticed at least 10 people that had been walking around stop and play with the technology. The display was inviting and fun to play with allowing users to look through pictures of digital signage installs, experiment with way-finding, and view celebrity profiles on our mock donor wall. With a sales person in the booth attendees were apprehensive about using the touch screen because that means they would have to answer questions, but when no sales person was present it made the booth a completely different experience. Lesson learned - send more technology and less sales people to tradeshows and make sure the content is designed to capture contact details for people that want to learn more and let it run all day including after hours - who knows what type of person may come by and engage with the technology.
Day 1
Touchscreen 10
Salesperson 8
Interactive Building Directory Content
Posted on Sun, October 25, 2009
In many of the new buildings being constructed today interactive digital signage is becoming a requirement. Instead of paying a person to sit behind a desk and direct traffic companies are using technology to efficiently allow visitors to search for the appropriate person and have it draw them a map to that department. When the display isn’t in use it provides a great source to share information such as the weather, headline news, or details about the property management firm or the “green” features of the building.
The graphic in this post illustrates an example of a design produced by our creative services team to show how live data can be integrated into the design to make the building directory interesting and engaging.
Digital Signage Example Gallery
Posted on Wed, October 28, 2009
One of the most common requests I hear from clients is for photos of installations. While they aren’t always easy to get, we push our installers and sales team hard to make sure they have cameras with them and get photos whenever possible to show digital signage in action.
We have been steadily improving our website over the past few months and we now have over 500 images of actual installations and content examples for visitors to browse through. If you have a moment visit our Examples section and send us feedback, or better yet if you are an existing Rise client and have a great picture you would allow us to share please email it to us at sales@risedisplay.com.
Digital Directory Display at Northeastern University
Posted on Thu, October 29, 2009
The new digital signage system at Northeastern University has multiple components from a 2x2 video wall, digital signage showing events, and digital directory displays. Historically printed signs or the white stick on letters were used for building directories, but as the cost of digital signage continues to drop and software advances why would any new building not go digital.
Think of the benefits:
1) unlimited flexibility to change the look and background
2) the ability to incorporate news and weather
3) if you reassign rooms no need to reprint
4) wow factor - impress visitors
5) for important events direct traffic
These are just a fraction of the reasons so if you are building a new building and you are thinking static, think again. And if you are thinking digital signage, go one step further and think interactive digital signage, because users are becoming more savvy and they are expecting your displays to be touch enabled.
Shouldn’t all Directories be Interactive?
Posted on Tue, November 17, 2009
I noticed this directory recently in the Atlanta airport. Great display, nice enclosure, sharp content BUT it wasn’t interactive. Over a 10 minute span I watched at least a dozen people try to touch it to get more information. Think of all of the missed opportunities to communicate with viewers looking for more information.
The greatest part about interactive content is you get hard data at the end of each day, week, or month. Instead of guessing if people are viewing or using your digital signage - you know because you can track what they touched. You can take this data and look for trends to help improve your content design and how you communicate with the audience.
Free advice: If you are going to put up a directory make it interactive because your audience expects it.
Interactive Way-finding
Posted on Fri, December 4, 2009
People expect highly engaging and meaningful interactions with technology. Customers demand not only ease of use but also an enjoyable experience. Creating this experience for users requires the ability to anticipate a consumer’s wants and to allow them to interact with the information intuitively.
As you look at implementing interactive digital signage remember to look beyond the hardware to ensure you get a complete package consisting of the right software with good creative designers that can humanize your message and build the best possible user experience.
Rise Creative Services Example: Benefits of Interactive Digital Signage
Posted on Fri, December 11, 2009
Interactive signage offers numerous opportunities for companies to improve their connection with visitors and customers, and to streamline their ability to provide helpful information. With hand-held devices leading the way, consumers will become more facile with touch-screen technology, and start to expect it in every environment.
Following are three ways that companies can benefit from interactive digital signage:
Interactive Wayfinding. Companies with large buildings or campuses can be difficult for visitors to navigate, leaving company receptionists and security guards to spend a majority of their day directing traffic. A touch-enabled digital sign can improve visitors’ experience, while freeing personnel to focus on other tasks.
Interactive Conciergee. While every visitor benefits from the “personal touch,” it’s challenging to provide services around the clock. A touch-screen display can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to help your visitors find what they want, when they want it, with the simple swipe of a finger.
Interactive Donor Walls. Many hospitals and universities rely on generous donors and patrons for funds; corporations like to recognize employee achievement—interactive signage is a unique way to show appreciation.
If you would like to read more please read the article Three Ways Interactive Will Change Digital Signage
Rise Creative Services Example: Interactive Donor Wall
Posted on Sat, December 26, 2009
Is your donor wall getting the response you desire? Is it encouraging people to stop and interact with it?
There are a number of great donor wall companies that can build amazing walls of etched glass, hardwoods, and brushed metal but the challenge is that wall doesn’t create a 2 way conversation with the visitor. If you are considering new ways to recognize your donors consider adding a touch enabled display to create an interactive experience for your visitors.
Interactive Donor Walls
Posted on Mon, February 15, 2010
Hospitals, universities, and non profit organizations are combining traditional donor recognition with new touch enabled LCD screens. The traditional donor recognition uses static elements like glass, wood, and metal to elegantly highlight contributors while interactive digital signage lets the organization tell a story as to why they gave and where the money went.
With each new donor it is important to show how much their generosity means. If you would like to learn more about interactive donor walls, we encourage you to visit the following links:
* PDF Brochure
* Video Example
Video Demo of Team Recognition
Posted on Fri, March 12, 2010
We just added a section to our website for Interactive Team Recognition to help sports teams show off donors, hall of fame members, and current rosters.
Check out the 5 minute video overview if you want to learn more.
Interactive Donor Walls
Posted on Tue, March 23, 2010
Updated video overview of our Interactive donor wall product is posted to our website. You can also download the content specifications in PDF.
Any feedback or suggestions to improve the design or content are welcome.
Digital Directory
Posted on Fri, March 26, 2010
Great example of using digital signage for a directory / way-finding within a university.
In addition to the LCD screen a LED ticker across the top acts as a barber shop pole for the School of Business & Economics to keep students abreast of the latest market activity.
Dowling College Interactive Donor Wall
Posted on Tue, March 30, 2010
Dowling College in Oakdale, NY just completed the addition of an interactive donor wall to their campus.
In addition to the ability to highlight donors the school uses it to allow students to learn more about Graduate programs, messages from the president, overview of the college, and history of the university.
A more in depth success story to follow.
Installation Photo: Dowling College
Posted on Thu, April 15, 2010
Installation photo of the two new full color LED ticker displays at Dowling College in New York. In addition to the tickers there are also 46” LCD displays inside the room running financial content as well as an interactive display highlighting the programs and donors surrounding the new finance lab.
Interactive Trading Wall at AACSB
Posted on Sun, April 18, 2010
Introductory look at our new interactive teaching wall for business school trading labs. If you are attending AACSB in Anaheim this week please stop by booth #126, take a look and give us your feedback.
If you are unable to attend and want to get a 75 second video overview on You Tube.
Case Study: Bentley University
Posted on Thu, April 22, 2010
Customer Overview
Bentley University is one of the nation’s leading business schools, dedicated to preparing a new kind of business leader and one with the deep technical skills, the broad global perspective and the high ethical standards required to make a difference in an ever-changing world. As one of the first business schools in the country to establish a trading room for its students, Bentley University has quite a reputation to maintain. That means (among other things) making sure that the 4,300 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students have fast and reliable access to the information they need to manage their financial portfolios.
The University prides itself on preparing its students “for the new realities of doing business in an information-driven, technology-rich global marketplace” and advertises “firsthand experience with the same high-tech tools that companies use every day.”
Project Summary
Among those high-tech tools are the electronic tickers, video walls and interactive LCD displays that real-world traders depend upon for real-time financial data. According to Richard Gibble, manager of the University’s Hughey Center for Financial Services, turning to digital signage to get that data is a natural choice. “We needed large amounts of varied financial data in real-time, and our previous solution relied on out-of-date LED wallboard technology.” Mr. Gibble is responsible for integrating the trading room into Bentley University’s finance curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He also develops and delivers content for the University’s nationally renowned ‘Wall Street 101’ program.
“The Hughey Center for Financial Services is a cornerstone of the Bentley University educational experience,” he explained, “and it is imperative that the Center be fully functional at all times. We can’t risk having inaccurate data— or no data at all — on our display boards. ”
Before the start of the fall 2008 semester the University decided to update their more than 10-year old LED wallboard technology with new state-of-the-art LCD video walls. Each video wall consists of eight 46” LCD displays in a 4×2 configuration and is powered by a computer utilizing two Matrox 4 output video cards to run each display at its native resolution while allowing content to stream from screen to screen.
In addition to upgrading to the video walls, the outdated single-color LED tickers were upgraded to tri-color tickers. The graphic interface ability allows logos to be shown with the stock symbols.
During the spring 2010 semester, the University added two interactive LCD screens for their Corporate Immersion program to recognize their valuable donors and business partners.
The Final Result
“The new LCD video walls get the attention of everyone who passes by the trading room,” said Mr. Gibble. “They display real-time information to our students in a manner that allows them to synthesize news and the effects of the news on various securities and markets, as the events unfold.”
Mr. Gibble says the University is happy with the final result. “We needed a fresh look and more dynamic control of the information presented on our displays. Feedback related to the displays has been very good.”
Video overview of digital signage in healthcare
Posted on Tue, April 27, 2010
A short 5 minute video highlighting 9 different uses of digital signage in health care has been posted to our website.
Interactive Video Wall
Posted on Mon, May 24, 2010
Video overview and example of the new interactive trading wall are now posted here.
If you are attending either Educomm in Las Vegas June 7th or ACBSP in Los Angeles June 25th please drop by our booth and say hello and play with the new content.
Interactive Video Wall at Educomm
Posted on Mon, May 31, 2010
If you are attending Educomm in Las Vegas June 7-9 at the Mirage please stop by booth #22 to see our interactive video wall in action.
We will also be presenting on Wed June 9th at 9am in Ballroom D on the topic of “Interactive Digital Signage for donor recognition, way-finding, and student communications” - please join us to learn more about how technology can be used on your campus.
