Recently, we saw a request for proposals from a very prestigious art institute. It called for, amongst all of the other details necessary for a multimillion dollar expansion, digital signage. Someone or some group within the organization saw a need for the technology, but details did not make it to the RFP.
This is very common. The need and implementation for heating, air conditioning and fire safety systems is well established, as are the various methods of implementing them. Reading those sections of an RFP results in an experienced contractor looking for the key elements and skimming the portions he’s read a thousand times. We’re not yet there with digital signage. Every system is new and nobody seems sure on how to plan for one.
Planning for a digital signage system can mean different things to various stakeholders, but there is a process. It starts with identifying the uses for the system, the users of the system and then the audience and their environment. Once you have a clear picture of these elements, you can match the requirements to the location and size of your monitors, methods of video distribution and the abilities of your digital signage system. There are a lot of details hidden in these ideas, so let’s drill down…
Why do I want digital signage?
Many times, we walk into an environment with digital signage and we say, “I want that for my facility!” It looks cool. Once we get past the fascination and into the
utility, we need to decide what is going on the monitors.
Is your system being used primarily for information purposes or for advertising? Information signage needs to be read to be effective and people need to see it in a prominent spot. If they don’t see what they are looking for or they don’t get a sense that what they are looking for is “just around the corner,” they may assume that it’s not on the sign and then seek out a staff member to point them in the right direction. It is for this reason that information signage is typically packed with more information than retail signage.
For information signage, you will typically see more than one information area, often called a zone, on the screen. These zones have information that share a common purpose, such as meeting room schedules or general building announcements. If you put the meeting room schedule in a loop of bulletins that are about the blood drive, last month’s sales and policy changes, chances are that people won’t assume that the schedule for the meeting room will eventually show up. They’ll just ask your staff and that might be what you’re trying to avoid by getting digital signage! If you put the meetings in their own zone, they are always visible.
On many systems, zones can be shared across multiple channels of digital signage. If you have a campus of buildings in the same geographical area, it makes sense to have just one zone for local news, weather and traffic cameras. An update to one bulletin on this zone shows up on all of the channels on which it is displayed! If you decide to go this route, keep in mind that the zone needs to be the same proportions on every channel it is displayed. Most systems let you re-size the zone if the channel is a bit different from another one on which it is displayed. They should be similar, however, to avoid any perceived loss in quality. The bottom line is, if you share zones between channels, careful thought must go into the design of those channels so that the shared zone looks good.
If you are planning a retail digital signage system, zones are poison. Here, you are trying to catch the eye of someone who is passing by and just happens to glance at the display. You need every bit of that 52 inch monitor to grab their attention. Small text crammed into tiny blocks on the screen is not going to do it. Sometimes, retail signage is mixed in with information signage. In this case, you’ve got their attention as they are looking at another part of the screen and zones make sense. Still, it’s best to put the advertisements in the biggest section of the screen.
In short, use zones to segment information between uses and keep advertisements as big as you can. Also, be aware that sharing a zone across multiple channels requires extra care.
Who is going to use the system?
Long before you buy a digital signage system, you need to ask this question. With a retail signage system, you want something that is going to speak the language of a graphic designer, or better yet, take the files that the software they are using creates. These people want power, speed and accuracy. They want the flexibility to adjust the kerning of text, to fly it in at the right moment or otherwise dazzle the audience into buying what they’re selling. You want a system with graphic and animation power.
With information signage systems, your job is much more difficult. Information signage systems are best used by people who have the information, as opposed to some gate keeper in charge of posting bulletins. The problem is, these poor users aren’t the ones shopping for or buying the system. Nobody asked them if they would use the system and once you dump it in their lap, you had better hope they’ll use it or you have got the most expensive digital signage system in the world: the one that nobody is using. You need to keep this person at the front of your brain when you are choosing your signage system, because success depends on them more than any other factor. In short, “easy to use” is going to be your focus.
When planing for your information signage system, make sure that you factor deployment and user seat licenses. For systems that operate from a web browser, there is no problem. For systems that require software, all users have to have compatible computers, a method to push updates to them and a license to run the software. Even systems that you can operate from a web browser often have various licensing schemes. Be careful; you don’t want to discover that if you add an eleventh user that your licensing will go up thousands of dollars per year. The cost and management of these details is very important.
Also, make sure that all of the features that you have been shown are actually currently available in the software. More importantly, understand if there are extra charges for software plug-ins that allow you to all of the things you would expect to see in your system. Also understand if there are subscription charges for RSS feeds, weather reports or streaming video. Some manufacturers have many hidden charges in what should be a standard signage system.
Who is watching and where are they watching it?
Are you talking to shoppers? Students? Staff? Why would they look up at your monitor? Where are they? What are they doing when they’re around your monitor? How big is the space? Is there direct sunlight into the area or is it fairly dark? How many different channels do you need? How many monitors are showing the same channel? How are you getting video to those monitors?
These are examples of questions that need to be asked. They’ll affect the size of your monitors, their placement and their required brightness. If people are passing by from a distance, you’ll need very large monitors that are in their line of site. You may also need supporting static signage that guides them to the digital sign. If they are right in the entryway at eye level, you can get away with a smaller display, provided that the design of your graphics gives them a clue as to why they should pay attention.
You need to plan for the environment in several ways. First, do you need to worry about security? If it is on a college campus or a bus terminal, then yes! A corporate lobby? Not so much. Second, what about sunlight? If your area is very bright or sunlight is cast on the front of the display, you’ll need to get high-bright LCD displays that are designed for outdoor use.
If you want the same content displayed on multiple monitors, a video distribution system can be used to utilize a single output of a digital signage player. Companies like Extron and Hall Research make excellent active ballun devices that can extend high definition signals to 1,000 feet on a single CAT-5 cable and split the signal multiple ways to accommodate multiple monitors.
Also, the location of your players is very important from a networking perspective. Make sure that you have the network drops available or the ability to reach the server using a wireless connection.
Get Everyone Involved!
Digital signage installations go smoothly when all of the stakeholders are involved. If you have a branding manager or a graphic design department, they’ll want to make sure that you’re complimenting the web site and any printed material that they are handing out.
IT will have more than a little bit to say about all of these players on their network, not to mention the new server in their closet. They’ll want information on bandwidth, outside network access requirements, LDAP integration, virtualization and virus protection.
Human Resources or other business managers will want their say. What is going on these screens? What does the workflow look like and who has final approval? For information signage systems, they will help shape what goes on the displays.
For retail signage systems, traffic and billing will be extremely important to your business development and account managers. Take a close look at the reporting and logging functions of the system and decide if they meet your needs. Scheduling of content based on market factors will also be something they’ll want to know about.
Most important, invite your “typical user.” For information signage systems, this should be someone that isn’t especially technical, but would likely benefit from the system. Keep them involved at every step of the way because when the system is deployed, you’ll have two benefits. First, you’ll have picked the right system. Second, you’ll have an advocate that understands why this system was picked and how it works.
Good Luck
If you outline a plan based on these suggestions and pick a consulting partner to help you select the right products, you’ll do fine. I’ve seen extremely successful digital signage systems pop up all over the country; systems where there biggest problem was expanding it fast enough to meet demand. These people either had systems that didn’t meet their needs and tried again with new wisdom, or planned it carefully from the start.
Take a guess at which method was least expensive. 
Planning for Digital Signage
Recently, we saw a request for proposals from a very prestigious art institute. It called for, amongst all of the other details necessary for a multimillion dollar expansion, digital signage. Someone or some group within the organization saw a need for the technology, but details did not make it to the RFP.
This is very common. The need and implementation for heating, air conditioning and fire safety systems is well established, as are the various methods of implementing them. Reading those sections of an RFP results in an experienced contractor looking for the key elements and skimming the portions he’s read a thousand times. We’re not yet there with digital signage. Every system is new and nobody seems sure on how to plan for one.
Planning for a digital signage system can mean different things to various stakeholders, but there is a process. It starts with identifying the uses for the system, the users of the system and then the audience and their environment. Once you have a clear picture of these elements, you can match the requirements to the location and size of your monitors, methods of video distribution and the abilities of your digital signage system. There are a lot of details hidden in these ideas, so let’s drill down…
Why do I want digital signage?
Many times, we walk into an environment with digital signage and we say, “I want that for my facility!” It looks cool. Once we get past the fascination and into the
utility, we need to decide what is going on the monitors.
Is your system being used primarily for information purposes or for advertising? Information signage needs to be read to be effective and people need to see it in a prominent spot. If they don’t see what they are looking for or they don’t get a sense that what they are looking for is “just around the corner,” they may assume that it’s not on the sign and then seek out a staff member to point them in the right direction. It is for this reason that information signage is typically packed with more information than retail signage.
For information signage, you will typically see more than one information area, often called a zone, on the screen. These zones have information that share a common purpose, such as meeting room schedules or general building announcements. If you put the meeting room schedule in a loop of bulletins that are about the blood drive, last month’s sales and policy changes, chances are that people won’t assume that the schedule for the meeting room will eventually show up. They’ll just ask your staff and that might be what you’re trying to avoid by getting digital signage! If you put the meetings in their own zone, they are always visible.
On many systems, zones can be shared across multiple channels of digital signage. If you have a campus of buildings in the same geographical area, it makes sense to have just one zone for local news, weather and traffic cameras. An update to one bulletin on this zone shows up on all of the channels on which it is displayed! If you decide to go this route, keep in mind that the zone needs to be the same proportions on every channel it is displayed. Most systems let you re-size the zone if the channel is a bit different from another one on which it is displayed. They should be similar, however, to avoid any perceived loss in quality. The bottom line is, if you share zones between channels, careful thought must go into the design of those channels so that the shared zone looks good.
If you are planning a retail digital signage system, zones are poison. Here, you are trying to catch the eye of someone who is passing by and just happens to glance at the display. You need every bit of that 52 inch monitor to grab their attention. Small text crammed into tiny blocks on the screen is not going to do it. Sometimes, retail signage is mixed in with information signage. In this case, you’ve got their attention as they are looking at another part of the screen and zones make sense. Still, it’s best to put the advertisements in the biggest section of the screen.
In short, use zones to segment information between uses and keep advertisements as big as you can. Also, be aware that sharing a zone across multiple channels requires extra care.
Who is going to use the system?
Long before you buy a digital signage system, you need to ask this question. With a retail signage system, you want something that is going to speak the language of a graphic designer, or better yet, take the files that the software they are using creates. These people want power, speed and accuracy. They want the flexibility to adjust the kerning of text, to fly it in at the right moment or otherwise dazzle the audience into buying what they’re selling. You want a system with graphic and animation power.
With information signage systems, your job is much more difficult. Information signage systems are best used by people who have the information, as opposed to some gate keeper in charge of posting bulletins. The problem is, these poor users aren’t the ones shopping for or buying the system. Nobody asked them if they would use the system and once you dump it in their lap, you had better hope they’ll use it or you have got the most expensive digital signage system in the world: the one that nobody is using. You need to keep this person at the front of your brain when you are choosing your signage system, because success depends on them more than any other factor. In short, “easy to use” is going to be your focus.
When planing for your information signage system, make sure that you factor deployment and user seat licenses. For systems that operate from a web browser, there is no problem. For systems that require software, all users have to have compatible computers, a method to push updates to them and a license to run the software. Even systems that you can operate from a web browser often have various licensing schemes. Be careful; you don’t want to discover that if you add an eleventh user that your licensing will go up thousands of dollars per year. The cost and management of these details is very important.
Also, make sure that all of the features that you have been shown are actually currently available in the software. More importantly, understand if there are extra charges for software plug-ins that allow you to all of the things you would expect to see in your system. Also understand if there are subscription charges for RSS feeds, weather reports or streaming video. Some manufacturers have many hidden charges in what should be a standard signage system.
Who is watching and where are they watching it?
Are you talking to shoppers? Students? Staff? Why would they look up at your monitor? Where are they? What are they doing when they’re around your monitor? How big is the space? Is there direct sunlight into the area or is it fairly dark? How many different channels do you need? How many monitors are showing the same channel? How are you getting video to those monitors?
These are examples of questions that need to be asked. They’ll affect the size of your monitors, their placement and their required brightness. If people are passing by from a distance, you’ll need very large monitors that are in their line of site. You may also need supporting static signage that guides them to the digital sign. If they are right in the entryway at eye level, you can get away with a smaller display, provided that the design of your graphics gives them a clue as to why they should pay attention.
You need to plan for the environment in several ways. First, do you need to worry about security? If it is on a college campus or a bus terminal, then yes! A corporate lobby? Not so much. Second, what about sunlight? If your area is very bright or sunlight is cast on the front of the display, you’ll need to get high-bright LCD displays that are designed for outdoor use.
If you want the same content displayed on multiple monitors, a video distribution system can be used to utilize a single output of a digital signage player. Companies like Extron and Hall Research make excellent active ballun devices that can extend high definition signals to 1,000 feet on a single CAT-5 cable and split the signal multiple ways to accommodate multiple monitors.
Also, the location of your players is very important from a networking perspective. Make sure that you have the network drops available or the ability to reach the server using a wireless connection.
Get Everyone Involved!
Digital signage installations go smoothly when all of the stakeholders are involved. If you have a branding manager or a graphic design department, they’ll want to make sure that you’re complimenting the web site and any printed material that they are handing out.
IT will have more than a little bit to say about all of these players on their network, not to mention the new server in their closet. They’ll want information on bandwidth, outside network access requirements, LDAP integration, virtualization and virus protection.
Human Resources or other business managers will want their say. What is going on these screens? What does the workflow look like and who has final approval? For information signage systems, they will help shape what goes on the displays.
For retail signage systems, traffic and billing will be extremely important to your business development and account managers. Take a close look at the reporting and logging functions of the system and decide if they meet your needs. Scheduling of content based on market factors will also be something they’ll want to know about.
Most important, invite your “typical user.” For information signage systems, this should be someone that isn’t especially technical, but would likely benefit from the system. Keep them involved at every step of the way because when the system is deployed, you’ll have two benefits. First, you’ll have picked the right system. Second, you’ll have an advocate that understands why this system was picked and how it works.
Good Luck
If you outline a plan based on these suggestions and pick a consulting partner to help you select the right products, you’ll do fine. I’ve seen extremely successful digital signage systems pop up all over the country; systems where there biggest problem was expanding it fast enough to meet demand. These people either had systems that didn’t meet their needs and tried again with new wisdom, or planned it carefully from the start.
Take a guess at which method was least expensive.