Artistic Signs & Graphics

Research firm iSuppli boldly proclaimed last month that 2008 will be known as the year flexible active matrix displays coalesced into a global market.

According to the El Segundo, CA, -based market research group, market for flexible displays worldwide will climb from $80 million last year to $2.8 billion by 2013 –a whopping 35-times increase.

Applications for the flexible displays will range from the way-out-there clothes made out of wearable displays to more conventional display applications like digital signs, electronic display cards and digital shelf labels and end caps.

If you’re not familiar with flexible active matrix technology, here’s what they are in a nutshell. After much research and development, electronics giant Philips developed a technique for producing super-thin, rollable active matrix (i.e. pixel addressable) display that can be wrapped around objects –-for example, a pillar in an airport concourse or a human body in a shirt.

Just this month, a paper in a nanotechnology journal laid out work of researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, Northwestern University in Chicago and the University of Southern California who had successfully developed the first nanowire transistor-based active matrix display. The organic light emitting diode (OLED) display reportedly is every bit as bright as a flat LCD screen or CRT but has the added benefit of flexibility.

Think for a moment of the countless new applications there will be for digital signage based on this sort of flexible display. Architectural structures, such as pillars, supports and hand rails and even entire buildings; vehicles, such as tractor trailers and automobiles; personal items, such as apparel and umbrellas, all become potential homes for new flexible digital signage. While some surely will fail as appropriate homes form digital signage along the way, these sorts of applications are sure to contribute to the 35-fold growth iSuppli envisions.

As this technology matures so to will its performance characteristics. Tighter curves and smaller bends surely will follow with successive generations of these flexible displays. That in turn will lead to a whole new class of objects upon which the displays can be mounted. Eventually, it might even be possible to wrap a flexible active matrix display around a sphere to transform a ball into a globe displaying a computer graphic representation of the Earth –complete with landmasses and oceans. Or, 21st century equivalents of sandwich-board men, could don head-to-toe body wear to display unique promotions and ads. Imagine how that approach could be used to advertise the popular, traveling museum exhibit of plasticized human bodies.

As these applications unfold, there will be a need to address the problem of mapping a two-dimensional image onto a 3-D surface. Here too technology can conquer the challenge. Software applications, such as X-WARP, exist today to correct for such geometric distortions. In fact, such software is being used today to correct geometric distortions created by projecting an image with a video projector onto oddly shaped objects.

However, for the time being it’s enough to know that 2008 will be the year flexible active-matrix displays make it out of the lab and into the mainstream. If iSuppli is right, it’s entirely possible that before the end of this year we all will have wrapped our heads around the notion that video, graphics and text no longer must be confined to a flat display technology. Where that leads will only be limited by our imaginations.

About the Author:

David Little is a digital signage enthusiast with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to expand their marketing messages with alternative media. Visit http://www.keywesttechnology.com and find how you can expand your marketing horizons. For further insight, download my free white paper Six Basic Applications for Digital Signage. This paper focuses on applications for the hospitality industry, which are applicable to every industry. And while you are browsing our web site, sign up and take advantage of our free weekly Webinars that give you hands-on experience with our digital signage software.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Digital Signage: Wrap Your Head Around This – Flexible Displays!

Sign Design

2 UNITS L Stand Display Trade Show Banner Stands 32*73" Signage Graphic Systems $24.99

Signage Systems and Information Graphics: A Profess... $40.88

1,000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everyt $9.19

1,000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everyt $14.00

Signage Systems & Information Graphics by Andreas Uebele (2010, Paperback) $39.94

1,000 Restaurant Bar and Cafe Graphics: From Signage to $12.80

VINTAGE 7-UP UN-COLA ADVERTISING GLASS BOTTLE CARDBOARD CARTON SIGNAGE GRAPHICS $6.99

1000 Restaurant, Bar, & Cafe Graphics: From Signage to $18.95

1000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everyth $27.82

1000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everything In-Store by JGA... $1.00

Marquee Signage Graphics and Decals $8.00

HP Large 24 x 36 Signage Custom Art & Graphic Banner Poster Print Services USA $11.99

Signage Systems and Information Graphics NEW $34.59

NEW Oakley Women's SIGNAGE TEE Graphic T Shirt PINK WHITE SHIP WORLDWIDE for $8 $15.20

NEW Oakley Women's SIGNAGE TEE Graphic T Shirt PINK WHITE SHIP WORLDWIDE for $8 $15.20

NEW Oakley Women's SIGNAGE TEE Graphic T Shirt PINK WHITE SHIP WORLDWIDE for $8 $15.20

NEW Oakley Women's SIGNAGE TEE Graphic T Shirt PINK WHITE SHIP WORLDWIDE for $8 $15.20

SIGNAGE SYSTEMS & INFORMATION GRAPHICS - ANDREAS UEBELE (PAPERBACK) NEW $39.92

1,000 Restaurant Bar and Cafe Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everything in $8.90

1000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Ever... $22.95

1000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everyth $11.78

1,000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everything for In-Store (1000 S $13.99

1000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everything In-store Sutzer, Crai $60.90

1,000 Restaurant, Bar & Cafe Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everything in B $60.90

1000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everything In-Store JGA (Corpora $28.20

1,000 Restaurant Bar and Cafe Graphics: From Signage to $50.73

1000 Restaurant, Bar, and Cafe Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everything In $28.20

Sticker White 8" Angels Baby Angel Wings Halo ADA Signage Style A220 $3.95

Signage Systems And Information Graphics: A Professional Sourcebook Uebele, Andr $59.18

1000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everything In-Store (1000 Series $8.75

ChyTV Video Graphics Information Digital Signage $350.00

Signage: Graphic Communication in the Built World $4.39

36" PRO TELESCOPIC L Banner Graphic Display Stand Portable Signage + FREE PRINT $149.00

1000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everyth $58.33

1939 TYPOGRAPHY 8 Modernist Graphic Design DECO Architecture Signage COMICS $49.99

1,000 Restaurant Bar and Cafe Graphics: From Signage to $38.29

1000 Retail Graphics: From Signage to Logos and Everyth $19.24

---