Are you starting a sign business, or considering starting one? If so, this new book will introduce you to many of the important facets involved in running a sign shop. Getting Started in the Sign Business ...
Reuters' Times Square masterpiece sets the standard for LED technology.
Each new generation of electronic signage features one installation that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Such is the case with the new multi-screen installation of the worldwide news and information provider Reuter's sign at its North American headquarters on 3 Times Square in Manhattan.
Taking more than 2.5 years from concept to implementation, the project features perhaps the most intricate and noteworthy technology in the storied history of Times Square. Gideon d'Arcangelo, interactive design manager of New York City-based Edwin Schlossberg Inc. (ESI), creators of this masterpiece, considers the technology to be so far advanced that he refers to it as "bleeding edge."
ESI contributed to all three aspects of the display design: system designer Matthew Moore oversaw physical design; Dean Markosian, system design; and d'Arcangelo, content design.
Comprising 11 giant, full-color LED video screens, the system serves as a spectacular communications vehicle for Reuters and its subsidiary, agency broker Instinet Corp., to establish brand awareness.
Reuters wanted a visual vehicle that could choreograph the huge array of news videos, photos, financial data, graphical databases and real-time financial data the company receives, stores and disseminates daily. Reuters recognized that the billion-person audience, passing daily through Times Square, coupled with the dynamic power of LED video, offered a landmark synergy.
Four screens reside inside the Reuters lobby, while seven are configured outdoors into an integrated matrix. David Caruthers, technical operations manager of Mitsubishi (Atlanta), which manufactured the screens, suggested that the outdoor screens must be viewed as one.
From the top of the largest, 304-ft. screen, to the bottom of the smaller screens, the 7,000 sq. ft. of video image comprise an integrated matrix. Due to a 25mm pitch in the uppermost screens and 20mm pitch in the bottom screens, the image appears seamless from a distance, rather than as seven independent elements.
In some applications, photos appear first at the top of the uppermost screen, then slide down to ground level. The wider pitch at the upper levels accommodates greater viewing distance. As the image slides down near the audience, the pitch becomes tighter to enhance the image.
The total face area comprises 3,643 x 2,500 pixels. The resolution of 9,107,500 pixels, which spans 28 floors, crowns the Reuters installation as the world's largest screen.
