Content expert Michael Tutton speaks with the creative and technical people behind interesting digital signage projects.
Episodes
Thursday May 18, 2017
Thursday May 18, 2017
This episode we talk to Vlad Edelman, CEO of HEROFI Website, who won a Gold medal Apex Award in the Food & Beverages category at DSE 2017 for their work with Buffalo Wild Wings.
Although Buffalo Wild Wings is the largest sports bar chain in the world, operating over 1,200 restaurants, they were facing some challenges relating to identity, uniqueness and differentiating themselves in their communities.
They worked with HEROFI to create BDUBS-TV, a private network that features user generated content broadcast to assigned stores based on location via the Hometown Highlights program.
BDUBS-TV also has a broad range of locally targeted content, events and micro-streaming that expand the depth of relevant programming.
They combine all this content with some extra data visualizations, original programming, and carefully curated licensed media.
I spoke with Vlad on the floor of DSE about engaging customers via digital signage and why good content may be all about 'rules'.
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Friday May 05, 2017
Friday May 05, 2017
Movilok won the DSE 2017 Silver APEX Award in the Event Venues & Hospitality category for their work at the hotel La Fonda Barranco.
The traditional hotel, in the heart of the very old city of Jerez, is the first certified hotel for the hearing impaired in Spain.
Even though the installation is just a single screen, it's the functionality and interactivity of this "Bidirectional Interaction Information Point" that make it so interesting.
Using a Chromebox with the Movilok App allows visitors to connect to the display with their mobile browser in their native language 24/7.
When the display and the smartphone are linked, the mobile detects touch gestures, acting as a remote-control for the display.
Information can be also downloaded to the phone for use by guests while they are out being tourists. This info includes maps (with points of interest), train timetables and coupons.
I spoke, first to Luis del Ser, from Movilok and then to Alejandro Abrio, from La Fonda Barranco hotel, on the floor of DSE, just hours before they won their award.
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Friday Apr 21, 2017
Friday Apr 21, 2017
This episode we feature Dan Hagen, CEO of 10net, based in Vancouver and Seattle.
10net won a Bronze Medal for their work for with cosmetic company Lush, during the Vancouver Ted Talks in 2016.
"The Dream Lounge" was a temporary installation to expose Ted Talk attendees to the Lush brand and provide a sanctuary away from the hectic pace of the show.
The highlight of the project was a hanging canopy of living greenery and moss, within which was a suspended a six foot square transparent LED screen playing ambient “Bath Art' content, which was also mirrored on a vertical LED video wall.
The project required a custom built structure that allowed rapid deployment by two people, as well as a few other nice little touches.
Dan and I grabbed a quiet(ish) corner at the back of the DSE floor to discuss the project.
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Thursday Apr 06, 2017
Thursday Apr 06, 2017
If you like ambient content that is generated by data, then the lobby of 2 Queen St. East in Toronto is your kind of place.
The original 1910 bank branch facade is backed with the conveniences of a modern office and unique lobby content that builds on the notion of past and present.
Forge Media created the digital art installation entitled “Passage of Light” which combines constantly-shifting generative art, and the requisite tenant branding and event information, all displayed on two 12-foot-tall columns.
Created using Unity, the 3D gaming engine, the content is never the same twice because isn't video, it's actually being created live.
One really subtle aspect is a colour matching element outside the building that connects those passing with what's happening inside.
I spoke with Laurence Roberts, partner of Forge Media, about how the project came together and how they turned windspeed at the airport into content downtown.
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Friday Mar 24, 2017
Friday Mar 24, 2017
This episode of Projects is about The Jacksonville International Airport, in northern Florida, which serves 5.5 million passengers a year.
While their digital overhaul isn't as "spectacular" as some of our previous episodes, it is a complex and well thought out project, who's content is likely more relevant to its audience.
Projects of this size are becoming more commonplace, so I asked Colleen Hamilton, Principle at Art of Context and Steven Shultz, Director of Information Technology for JAX, about some of the details involved in delivering a project like this, including engaging stakeholders, effective emergency messaging and avoiding scope-creep.
People at airports rely on data a lot, and can get very cranky when things aren't correct, so it's interesting to hear how they got it right.
I spoke with Colleen and Steven via Skype.
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Friday Mar 10, 2017
Friday Mar 10, 2017
AT&T's West Coast Flagship retail space at 1 Powell Street in San Francisco was built in 1921. The lobby of the historical building hosts “coded art” being generated live on a 48 foot long curved LED.
Jeff Doud is Executive Creative Director at MaxMedia and a three-time Emmy winner, with a background in broadcast and graphics.
He spoke with me about putting new technology into very old (historically registered) buildings, getting along with the locals, and how instead of saying "Don't mess with the brand" AT&T said "Show us what you think could happen."
I spoke with Jeff via Skype.
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Friday Feb 24, 2017
Friday Feb 24, 2017
This episode we're looking at Dubai's City Walk, a new outdoor retail shopping concept that FLOAT4, based in Montreal and New York, has brought to life.
City Walk incorporates over 100 million pixels of digital content spread across 30 areas, making it one of the largest retail digital deployments in the world.
This is architecture, technology and content design on a massive scale.
The final product is a multimedia show that merges sound, a digital canopy, LED, video mapping and water-screen projection into one experience.
City Walk is made up of three main interconnected zones, each one a major project on its own:
The Gateway, which is City Walk's main entrance, has two 85 metre LED screens and a digital canopy covering the space in cool content.
The Showstreet is almost 100 metres long and connects the Gateway to the Place des Lumières. It includes ground projection that allows for an interactive experience, making it one of the largest interactive surfaces in the world.
The Place des Lumières, with an artificial pond that contains four hydraulic arms that emerge to create a projection screen made of water. The circular space has over 20 projectors and 100 lighting features working together to create an centrepiece for all of City Walk.
I spoke with Alexandre Simionescu, Co-Founder of FLOAT4 about entertainment, architecture and advertising within the City Walk shopping experience.
You can find FLOAT4's case study here.
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Friday Feb 10, 2017
Friday Feb 10, 2017
The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) hosts an amazing digital interactive learning space featuring 9 metre-high (27 feet) projections, 48 screen multi-touch interactive panels, and motion tracking technology.
Called The Cube, it’s purpose is to engage and inspire the next generation of thinkers and doers, and provide an immersive and participatory experience for everyone to enjoy. The Cube enables people to discover, visualise and contribute to research projects and explore big questions of the 21st century.
The content is produced in-house by a dedicated team of eight and draws in students, researchers, and artists from all over the world. They’re creating content on a real-world scale, allowing 'citizen scientists' as the public is called, to experience real project scenarios and explore some of the challenges being tackled at Universities with hands-on and interactive workshops.
On this episode we’re speaking with Gavin Winter, who is the Manager of the Visualisation and eResearch team, called ViseR, at the Institute for Future Environments at QUT. Gavin was the Project Manager for The Cube during its design, engineering, and implementation - and maintains a key role in the strategic planning of The Cube and QUT’s on-going technology research and development initiatives.
He has some insight into this unique space and some advice about how to deal with networks in a large university setting...
@GavinWinterBNE @QUTTheCube @IFE_QUT
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Thursday Jan 19, 2017
Thursday Jan 19, 2017
The lobby of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, in Las Vegas, is dominated by its eight columns covered in 384 screens, which appear even larger due to the reflective floors and mirrored ceilings. It is one of the most beautiful digital signage spaces around.
The best part is the content doesn’t sell a thing, other than brand experience. Its artistic, often ambient, content is custom designed for the space. This provides a great User Experience but just as compelling for the hotel it creates User Presence with guests taking their faces out of their phones and realizing they have entered a hotel unlike any in the world.
Katrina Crawford and Mark Bashore are partners in life and work. They've been involved in the creation of content for the Cosmopolitan Hotel since it's inception, while working for Digital Kitchen. Now on their own, as co-owners of Plains of Yonder, their latest commission combines a mixture of physical, traditional elements and animations and can be viewed here.
I spoke with them, via Skype, about the early days getting the installation up and running, their latest installation, as well as their thoughts on content creation for digital signage in general
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