I’m driving on route 80 here in congested Northern New Jersey.  I’ve been driving in New Jersey for many years so though the speed and agility needed are not a problem for me, however it does take a lot of concentration and I am well aware that one small error on my part (or on the part of another driver) could be very bad.  As I’m moving along I see something in my peripheral vision that I’m unsure how to process.  The image on a huge billboard just changed, completely changed.  That was a digital sign.

Although this first happened a few years ago, that feeling still occurs for me whenever I pass a digital sign on a highway.  For me I wonder if that is an appropriate placement for a digital sign and if any people have been injured (or worse) by the existence of these signs on our highways.

Digital signage is popping up everywhere.  And for every questionable placement there are maybe hundreds of valuable uses for this quickly growing media tool.  Used properly, digital signage can definitely enhance a viewer’s experience in a particular venue.  So what about in exhibits and museums?

Museums across the country and across the world are adding or considering adding digital signage in their buildings.  As a graphic designer and provider of multimedia solutions to corporate and museum clients for many years, we have invested much time into researching the best solutions and processes to provide the best service to our clients.

Our company has been designing and developing digital signage content for corporate clients for many years.  We found a niche in the museum market with our product line of customizable touch screen, educational games and programs.  Over the years we’ve found that many of our museum clients prefer “one stop shopping” for computer software and kiosk hardware so in our desire to provide our digital signage creative design services to our museum clients we were faced with offering a hardware platform that would be affordable, easy to use, and high quality (like our software solutions).  So the hunt began.

Having worked with large companies on providing digital signage content, we have many great connections with end users and hardware providers.  That became a blessing and a curse in our research.  There are many great options as far as digital signage hardware goes.  There are also many great software solutions that provide easy timeline set up, scheduling and much more.  And respected clients and vendors all have their own favorites.  So with our three objectives in mind (reliable, affordable, easy to use) we began to gather information, attend trade shows, and demo products.  This process took us almost a year because our very busy production schedule kept it on a back burner for a while.

When all was said and done, we decided to go with BrightSign.  BrightSign offers a variety of players that are designed to be very reliable.  There are a number of options as far as updating the players and the BrightAuthor software is easy to use.  On top of that, the value for the price of the digital signage hardware is great.  We’ve set up players on a number of different displays and used them both internally and externally.  We’ve tested the remote updating capabilities and the SD card updates without any problems at all.  On top of all that, BrightSign offers a ton of online tutorial videos and documentation and their support has been responsive and efficient.

So now, with the hardware chosen, we are completing development of our unique content offerings for museums and other exhibit driven industries.  We have planned several pre-packaged content offerings pre-installed on BrightSign players.  The idea being to jump start “do it yourselfers” and offer the non “do it yourselfers” a complete package.  From beautiful background imagery to professionally designed “standard” screen layouts, to implementation of social media and event information, our point2explore digital signage offerings will be an affordable and valuable solution for museum professionals and exhibit designers in all types of venues. 

As development of our digital signage content products and services are completed our web sites will be updated.  For more information on our point2explore digital signage solutions for museums and exhibits, visit museumdigitalsignage.com or point2explore.com. 

If you have interest in our digital signage content solutions, let us know.  If you have comments or questions please comment here or give us a call or send us an email.

Chris Meyer

President

CD Meyer, Inc./point2explore

point2explore is product line of customizable touch screen kiosk programs including interactive games and informational programs.  point2explore products are currently running in over 100 museums and have been used in corporate events across the country. Visit our web site at http://www.point2explore.com.