Advertisers seek your attention, and one of the most cost-effective platforms for targeting their messages to specific communities is digital signage, also called digital out-of-home advertising. Unless you are visually impaired or reside in one of the four U.S. states or among the eight cities worldwide that have outright banned or severely restricted outdoor advertising, you cannot escape the increasingly vibrant display technologies that power some of the most spectacular digital signage applications. However, the flexible scaling provided by some display systems has brought their bright, eye-catching imagery indoors, giving businesses an affordable and easily customizable platform to communicate information with their customers while sometimes blurring the line between art and commerce.
A Sign of Scale
Extreme scalability is a hallmark of modern digital signage. The most prominent examples transform the exteriors of sometimes mundane structures into landmarks with stunning video imagery that can seamlessly shift between delivering advertisements for goods and services, encouraging viewers to reflect on an opinion, or showcasing more artistic content designed to capture the public’s attention and imagination.
Digital signage also scales well with more personal interactions. Businesses can utilize a customizable digital canvas to raise awareness, showcase promotions, or make quick and efficient updates based on supply and demand. Scaled to smaller, more practical sizes, digital signage provides product pricing and other information on store shelves that enables remote updates without requiring physical interaction or consumables like uniquely printed stickers or signs.
The Tools of Choice
Almost any display technology is suitable for digital signage, and several have emerged as favorites because of specific attributes that make them ideal for efficient, long-term operation with minimal maintenance. Among the most common display technologies driving digital signage today are direct-view LED (DVLED), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and electronic paper (e-paper).
DVLED displays are the ultimate expression of digital signage. Their dazzling brightness and color purity make them perfect for creating eye-catching, high-resolution imagery. The LEDs in these signage applications are typically rated to 100,000 hours of operation until half-brightness (much longer if not operated at maximum brightness). DVLED signage also features high-speed refresh rates measured in the 1000s of hertz, enabling it to deliver flicker-free imagery when captured with digital cameras.
The scale of DVLED installations is limited only by local zoning restrictions and one’s budget – the largest of these types of digital signage are appropriately referred to as “spectaculars.” The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, is an extreme example of DVLEDs covering the exterior surface of the building’s namesake structure, transforming it into a unified, instantly iconic video display visible from miles away.
The Sphere’s DVLEDs are packaged in evenly spaced circular pucks (48 LEDs per puck), offering protection and thermal management. The DVLED systems in the brightly lit electronic billboards along roadsides and in front of major establishments are also modular, utilizing rectangular panels that connect seamlessly to form a continuous active surface. While planar signage is the most common, some DVLED module designs allow for curved surfaces that create a wrap-around effect, or the modules can be positioned at angles to form corners.
DVLED signage designs can also provide front or rear (or both) access options for simplified module maintenance. In the case of the DVLED installation at the 900 North Michigan Shops in Chicago, Illinois, ESI Design worked with Mitsubishi Electric to deliver its transformation of the retail outlet’s interior by creating virtual skylights that feature artistic and advertising content. The display system features Mitsubishi Electric’s direct-view LED display technology, including nine 19.32′ x 19.32′ displays and one 19.32′ x 10.08′ display, all featuring a 4.00mm pixel pitch of LEDs sourced from a single bin to provide uniform lighting and color characteristics. A custom hoist system allows the displays to be lowered 85′ to floor level for maintenance and module access.
Wrapping a building or other large structures in DVLEDs is made possible through flexible mesh systems that can more easily conform to curved surfaces and unique geometries without completely covering the surface beneath. LG Electronics offers a mesh DVLED product capable of delivering up to 7,500 nits of calibrated light output in a package that can be curved, folded, or rolled.
The 100-story KK100 skyscraper in Shenzhen, China, features a nearly transparent mesh DVLED system that transforms its exterior into a massive display after dark. This display showcases a blend of visually captivating, Matrix-like waterfall effects and slogans to encourage visitors and prospective tenants.
LCD FTW
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are a reliable display technology that offers numerous advantages to businesses. LCDs are cost-effective and come in various screen sizes, most aligning with consumer televisions’ standard 16:9 aspect ratio. Although consumer LCD televisions can serve as digital signage, business-grade LCDs typically feature integrated media players designed to launch automatically upon startup, and some LCD designs minimize bezel widths for more seamless tiling applications. Additionally, some signage-optimized LCDs provide high brightness, enhanced cooling, and UV degradation protection, ensuring dependable long-term use in challenging conditions.
LCDs have taken over the customer-facing menus at fast-casual restaurants, including drive-throughs. LCD signage has proven to be a cost-effective platform that offers excellent readability at close distances. When combined with the various hardware media players and cloud-based content delivery options available for digital signage, LCD signage has enabled more personalization and customization of business messaging, including content that updates based on the time of day or more easily empowers shoppers with additional product information.
The membership-only retail store known as Costco is an example of a business that blends digital signage into the shopping experience as a cost-effective means to deliver in-store advertising and assistance with self-checkout purchasing. The warehouse store is known for its database-derived, printed pricing signs, which staff affix next to individual items. However, the company leverages its offering of consumer televisions, typically located near the entrance, by incorporating offers for upgraded membership benefits, credit card-related bonuses, and website promotions into the looped video feed of the otherwise eye-catching imagery.
For Costco’s self-checkout and food court kiosks, color touchscreen LCDs guide customers to complete purchases with minimal staff involvement. These interactive LCDs incorporate product imagery and color coding to assist and accelerate the purchase process.
e-Paper
Electronic paper (e-paper) is a display technology popularized by e-readers like the Amazon Kindle. The primary advantages of e-paper display systems include exceptional energy efficiency and superb readability in bright lighting or direct sunlight. The pixels in e-paper displays consist of particle-filled structures influenced by an applied electrical field. By altering the charged state of the particles, they move closer or further away from the pixel structure’s surface, reflecting the particles’ color, including black or white, in a grayscale e-paper display.
Once an e-paper display has established an image, it maintains the displayed state with little to no additional power usage. Unlike LCDs, which update the screen sixty or more times per second, e-paper displays update only when the content changes. Historically, the e-paper’s update process produced a distracting flashing artifact that appears to be a malfunction until it is complete. Earlier this year, E Ink introduced an update for its Spectra product line that features a wave-like transition effect the company has dubbed “E Ink Ripple.” While Ripple-enabled E Ink displays still require several seconds to update, the transitions I observed on the new Spectra 6 – Vivid Color models were more eye-catching and less likely to make me wonder if something had gone wrong.
The recently renamed Solis 32 from Agile Display Solutions aims to be the most sustainable digital signage ever created. This 32-inch electronic sign features an E Ink Spectra 6 display module with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. The Solis 32’s integrated lithium-ion battery recharges through a slim solar module located along the top edge of the display’s bezel. Adequate ambient light is enough to keep it running indefinitely. Its Wi-Fi connectivity and cloud-based content support further facilitate simple installation and operation.
The main challenges to the widespread adoption of e-paper displays in digital signage are scaling and cost. Professionally printed paper can deliver a static, daylight-readable display at a small fraction of the price of a similarly sized e-paper display. E-paper signage presents an appealing option that allows for remote updates with virtually no limits on frequency or schedule aside from increased power consumption. However, the initial investment in e-paper may restrict its broad application in retail.
Final Thoughts
Digital signage can capture attention and effectively convey messages to the audience, whether for promotion, information, or transforming an unused space into something visually appealing. I am pleased to see premium commercial display technologies like DVLED at the core of some of the most spectacular signage installations, gradually making their way into more affordable consumer products. I’m also encouraged whenever I see a local small business incorporate commodity display technologies like LCDs (and, hopefully, a growing amount of e-paper) into something that offers customers a highly customizable, timely, and easily readable signage option.
Robert is a technologist with over 20 years of experience testing and evaluating consumer electronics devices, primarily focusing on commercial and home theater equipment.
Robert's expertise as an audio-visual professional derives from testing and reviewing hundreds of related products, managing a successful AV test lab, and maintaining continuous education and certifications through organizations such as CEDIA, the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), and THX.
More recently, Robert has specialized in analyzing audio and video display systems, offering comprehensive feedback, and implementing corrective measures per industry standards. He aims to deliver an experience that reflects the artists' intent and provides coworkers and the public with clear, insightful product information.
- Robert Heronhttps://www.avnation.tv/author/robert-heron/
- Robert Heronhttps://www.avnation.tv/author/robert-heron/
- Robert Heronhttps://www.avnation.tv/author/robert-heron/
- Robert Heronhttps://www.avnation.tv/author/robert-heron/
