speaking of displays

If you are going to use displays [what you might commonly call TVs] for menus or to display other forms of dynamic information in a retail, theme park, public transportation center, theater or other publicly accessible area you need to choose the right type of display. If you don’t, it looks sloppy. Plus you’ll make me grouchy…and that’s never magical.

Here are my rules for using off the shelf displays for information signage:

1. Choose LCD, not Plasma.

This is likely the biggest mistake you can make. While it is true that plasma displays have great contrast ratios, deep blacks and provide a more ‘cinematic’ viewing experience, they are not suited to display static information. Why? The evil screen burn, which is when static or repetitive graphics literally become ‘stuck’ on the display [as seen below]. Thankfully, well manufactured LCD displays are unlikely to experience this issue.  Also, LCD displays have the added benefits of using less energy and being lighter than comparable plasma models.

plasma display with screen burn

by Ivana Bosnic

2. Choose a display with a uniformly sized bezel. [Preferably without a large brand logo]

This is a personal pet peeve of mine, especially with displays mounted in ‘themed’ areas. Choosing a display with a bezel that is thicker on one side is distracting and detracts from the goal of making the actual device ‘invisible’ to the reader. One shouldn’t be reviewing the brand of the display but instead the content.

test track display

You can see in this example from the queue of Test Track at Epcot that the bottom portion of the bezel is thicker than the other three sides. Also, the model and brand of the display are clearly visible at both the upper left corner and bottom center of the display, these should be covered or removed. Visible logos detract from the themed space. In fact, you could buy this television at your local Best Buy and likely format the content better than has been done by these ‘professionals’. [the original source was a 4:3 image and it is incorrectly formatted for this 16:9 display as you can see the text is chopped off at the upper left]

I hate to admit it, but Universal Studios Hollywood picked great displays for the queue of The Simpsons Ride. universal made the correct choice for displaysUltra low cost refurb

As you can see, both of these displays have uniformly sized bezels and minmal branding. [The second NEC display does display the model but the color is not as distracting as the Toshiba at Test Track]

Keep these guidelines in mind and you will be on your way to good show…and making me happy!

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