Digital signage is making its way into stores and businesses everywhere: hotels, department stores, grocery stores, universities, churches, funeral homes, you name it. As audio-visual designers, we are hired to offer digital signage design services for a wide variety of industries. One of the first questions we always ask our clients is who is this for? Who are you trying to communicate with? Without a target you will never know if your investment succeeded.

A first possible target is internal corporate communications. Examine all the possible information you would like to disseminate to your corporate employees. Then answer what will your focus be? This will help determine the locations and best use of the systems.

Here is a list of examples of internal content:

• Department performance statistics
• Employee safety tips
• Employee awards and recognition
• Life safety warnings
• Corporate earnings reports
• General weather, news and other data

Some of this content has the need for immediate viewing and other is not time critical. Department performance statistics may be viewed real time forcing the location of the displays to be in the general work area. Corporate earnings reports and safety tips may not be so time sensitive and may be limited to hallways and break rooms. Life safety information may be triggered by fire alarm systems and include forced pop-ups on video monitors and computers workstations.

Another possible target is visitor communications. There are two divisions to examine. First, how will you assist visitors in your building?

Here are some examples of digital signage for assisting visitors:

• Meeting schedules
• Meeting locations
• Way-finding maps

Locations of these monitors are critical to their usefulness. Does a visitor notice them when entering the front door? If not, another location will need to be chosen. Monitors at conference room doorways showing room schedule and occupancy will assist in way-finding and confirm for the visitor that this is the correct room.

The second division for visitor communications is to target advertising to visitors. While waiting, a visitor will be able to see a variety of hard and soft advertising. How will you advertise your company to visitors?

Content for advertising could include:

• Corporate product information
• Personnel profiles
• Project profiles
• Product Showcases
• Services you provide
• Awards you’ve won

This content may be used to impress future clients or inform current business partners. Lobbies, waiting areas, and hallways used by visitors will be the primary locations of displays. Further discussion of how long a visitor is expected to view the monitor is important, so that sales messages are paced at a reasonable speed.

Maximizing your return on investment is an important factor when deploying a digital signage system. Defining the right target will help clarify if the investment actually pays off. At Acoustics By Design, we design digital signage systems that are custom fit to present an effective message both internally and externally.

ABD Engineering and Design

ABD Engineering and Design is one of North America’s leading independent acoustical consulting and AV design firms, serving clients across the United States and Canada, as well as other international markets from offices in Grand Rapids, MI and Portland, OR. Our specialized acoustical engineering and AV design practices help architects, building owners, engineers, facility directors, and municipalities design spaces, environments, and systems for optimal acoustical and audiovisual performance. Our consulting practice areas specialize in all aspects of architectural acoustics, environmental and industrial noise and vibration control, and audiovisual systems design.

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