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Larger than Light
Technology is ever changing and new innovations and products are entering the marketplace.
By Lucie Grys
With companies splashing out big bucks in marketing campaigns to get their message across, how they attract interest has become an indicator that sets a company apart from its competition. From attracting new customers, branding a message, helping to create impulse sales, directing drivers, enhancing the look of a community, retail environment or business, signs are integral. Regardless if they are large or small, signs – both interior and exterior – are primary marketing tools. From using the latest in LEDs, flexible tubing, projection imaging, video and digital images, the impact of lighting and signage is big business.
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Technology is ever changing and new innovations and products are entering the marketplace. Companies are competing for market share in their industry and clients want their projects delivered in record time and at affordable prices. As advances in technology grow, the products that are now available are more life-like, energy efficient and cost-effective than ever.
The outdoor signage segment of the industry is growing strong as companies shift marketing dollars to the outdoor market. In the U.S. alone, over $6.8 billion was spent on outdoor advertising in 2003. The combination of traditional media with newer forms of outdoor media like LEDs, fibre optics and video technology, can significantly increase the overall awareness of a company’s brand.
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Retail outlets are covered with messaging. Roadways boast warning messages on giant overheads. Companies cover buildings and the ground with eye-catching projected images. Signs serve as beacons to a final destination over old-fashioned directions. When designed effectively, signs can deliver time-sensitive messages and foster “top-of-mind” awareness as well as help to bolster a company’s bottom line. A recent study by the University of California at Berkley analyzed 20,000 purchases by over 4000 customers in 14 cities. The conclusion was that over two thirds of purchases during major shopping trips were unplanned – and products were bought on impulse. To draw those consumers, businesses need effective signage.
In a project by OSRAM Sylvania and LumaLogix, Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre, one of Canada’s largest malls, converted it’s marquee to LED (light emitting diodes) lighting. Visibility has been increased, maintenance has been reduced, and energy and cost savings have been achieved. In 2006, Yorkdale StormTight was honoured by the International Council of Shopping Centres with an International Design and Development Award for Sustainable Design. The use of LEDs in its signage promotes the centre's position on sound environmental practices.
LED displays offer more bang for the buck than they used to and clients are requesting more LED-type signs. LEDs have the potential to achieve more than 90 per cent conversion efficiencies as a light source compared to under 50 per cent for conventional sources. A common household light bulb, for instance, is only nine per cent efficient. As LEDs convert electricity directly into light, LEDs can produce more light than heat from the energy supplied. On a global scale, this represents a huge energy savings potential.
Another reason that LEDs are creating such a stir in the lighting and signage industries is their extremely long life, which limits the previous painstaking efforts once needed to change conventional lighting behind a sign face. With no glass to break, resistance to vibration, low temperatures, digital control capability, and the possibility to program an RGB array to produce just about any colour, LEDs are surpassing other signage illumination technologies.
With the flexibility of LEDs, fixtures and signage can be created in virtually any shape or size. They can be positioned along light plastic or glass walls to create the look of light sheets and they can also be intelligently controlled. One type of solid-state lighting that is currently being developed is OLEDs, (organic light emitting diodes). Acting as a “lighting wallpaper,” the flexible luminous sheets will bring unprecedented integration of light and signage sources with architectural interest for walls, ceilings curtains and even furniture.
Some of the improvements to LEDs include the ChromaLED StormTight and Mini-StormTight products from Allanson Lighting Electrics. The ChromaLED StormTight system has a weatherproof, stainless steel body with transparent epoxy fill. The high light output provides 18 per cent more light than the original ACLWmCW2 and provides more even light distribution in channel letter applications.
Michael Barry of Allanson remarks that, “We are the only company that has the elaborate StormTight system with two emitters on each module and one emitter for deeper signs.” The product is competitive with fluorescents and is ideal for hard to reach access because of its long life. “Clients are looking for reliable light at a fair price. Technology has had an important effect on LEDs with improved consistency and higher output power supplies. They are now more efficient and reliable with fail safe systems that flash when there are problems.”
Along with improvements to LEDs, Allanson also manufactures flexible LED border tubing. The flexible tubing provides light with uniformity and neon-like brightness. The efficient use of LEDs, operating at 24VDC, also provides low energy consumption. It is highly flexible and can be bent to a minimum radius of 4 centimetres. The tubing can also be cut to any length on the cutting mark. Unlike neon lights that have to be run on very high voltage and are susceptible to breakage, Allanson’s border tubing is shockproof and emits little heat. It’s 100 per cent waterproof, easy to install and costs little to maintain.
Daktronics is the world’s largest supplier of large-format LED display systems, including digital LED billboards, largescreen video displays, and control systems for sports and commercial venues. Having installed over 600 digital billboards in more than 140 cities, the impact of signage speak for itself. Ron Koerner, Product Manager at Daktronics for 17 years, has seen the industry evolve firsthand. With an increase in the use of LEDs, however, a major concern that he shares with others in the industry is the need for city planners and regional sign associations to help provide tools to write good codes. “There is no consistency in code planning and city planners are forced to be experts,” he notes. “Education is key and I encourage businesses to get involved with city planners to help keep messaging dynamic,” he adds.
Together with the increased widespread use of LED lighting, ProPixel technology by Daktronics is being embraced as well. The Americana At Brand in Glendale, CA is a mixed use residential and retail development featuring a vibrant blend of shopping, dining and entertainment along with housing – all within a park-like setting. The central courtyard of the development boasts a steel-beamed spire, which is covered by the inaugural use of ProPixel' stick display. ProPixel's freeform video components can be set at specific intervals along the length of a structure to enhance the architectural lines of the structure. Each pixel connects to its own individual address and each one is programmed on the spire. The ProPixel content can also be synchronized with the water fountain located below for truly stunning displays. Designed by Elkus/Manfredi Architects in Boston, MA, the project demonstrates the product’s extreme versatility to wrap structure of any shape or size.
Not only is the innovative ProPixel technology gaining in popularity, video technology is increasing in size and capability at a fast rate. On the Las Vegas strip, on the side wall of The Palazzo Las Vegas, is a video screen that measures 23 feet high by 32 feet wide. At the front of the property, a dual-faced video marquee display stands 34 feet high and 21 feet high. The installation by Daktronics dazzles onlookers with video clips, promotional advertising about upcoming events and graphics in 4.4 trillion colours. The technology, available for interior signage also, provides outstanding colour accuracy, image depth, viewing angles and brightness.
With the technology behind LEDs being the best it has ever been, the availability of colour and the fact that it is now more affordable than ever, the use of LEDs in interior and exterior signage has had an enormous impact on the industry. As digital displays become more cost-friendly, and as even newer technologies hit the marketplace, such as rear-projected displays, modified LCD screen systems that can be pieced together to make a giant screen, organic LEDs and innovations in laser signage, the industry is indeed larger than light. One message remains the same, however, and that is to always buy a reliable product from a reputable supplier and have it installed by an expert source.
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