4.13.2016
Is LED's Future found in bezel video walls?
Have you ever seen Rockwellian photographs & paintings of vintage downtown areas from the days of yore? Those days of three-story brick buildings with resplendent white crown molding around windows, doors, and the roof line? When the streets were brick-lined, the gaslight lamps were Victorian black and everything centered around a majestic ancient Greece-inspired courthouse?
Ahhh, yes. Those days.
In those pictures, there was typically a five & dime store on the end of the block with the side of the building facing the side street. On that wall, typically behind the kid on the corner licking a vanilla ice cream cone while walking his puppy on a leash, was often the most ornate, detailed, hand-drawn sign that covered the entire the facade. A sign so majestic, PT Barnum would stand up and take notice.
Throughout the years, ideas for such signage come & go and then leave, usually because of the retail-per-square foot issues that plague most retailers and developers anymore.
But now, using any wall, symmetrical or oblong, those majestic signs are close to becoming an animated, useful reality once again thanks to evolutions in LED technology.
LED sharpness, size, and shapes have improved
Like with any new technology, LED came out with prototypes and first generations. They looked and acted similarly to LCD technology, often to the point of confusing the two.
Recently, with innovations from companies such as Samsung have been able to take the next generation of technology and make it so incredibly sharp that they've been able to break free of the computer monitor-esque dependencies LED was once harnessed to. This means that screens can be thinner and customized to meet the shape of the surface. Now, if your location has a long, thin wall and you want to do something more than place a mirror there, you can run long, tall, animated bezel LED panel screens that highlight your offerings. Because of the improvements in the technology, you won't have to worry about how thick the screen is. Nowadays, they'll be nearly as thin as, and sometimes thinner than, the mirror you didn't want to place in that spot.
The water resistant technology is becoming better as well.
This same customization is also becoming available to outdoor signage as well. Have a gap between the windows you want to accent? Don't have as wide of a roofline as the competition? All these factors and situations are going from hindrances to unique opportunities now. They're becoming more affordable as well.
Now all you'll need is a paid child-actor to sit along the corner wall with a vanilla ice cream cone and a puppy on a leash to complete the effect.
