They're users not viewers!

They're users not viewers!
Tags: Customer Experience, Environment Planning/Integration, Installation / Integration, Trends / Statistics
February 17, 2012 - Loren Bucklin

It's been interesting watching the digital signage industry evolve. As subject matter experts are assimilated from other disciplines, like advertising, communications and broadcast, they all put their marks on the face of digital signage.

What we have today is a rapidly growing industry with a psychotic personality. Like the early days of the Web, there seems to be a lot more bad examples out there than good, but that can and probably will change over the next few years as things get a little more focused on results.

From an instructional designers viewpoint, the correct way to observe the presentation of content via digital signage systems is as a user not a viewer. Adding in user-value items like weather, new feeds, etc. is one way to change the user's impression of the message.

I recall being in a meeting with a large medical center just polishing up their first digital signage deployment. The director had the results of the suggestion box on his desk, and we were discussing the various items. More than half the suggestions requested that the lobby display have the time added to the screen. I told him this was probably a good idea. He then asked me to follow him to the brand new multimillion dollar lobby atrium. We stood in from of the reception desk and looked at the nicely framed digital display behind the desk. He then said "look up" and there mounted on the wall a few feet above the display was a beautiful $60,000 custom art clock — and it was working!

The tip here is that users are beginning to expect certain types of content as they become more familiar with digital signage in their lives. If we are not consciously meeting the user expectations, we run the risk of a less than successful deployment and a missed opportunity.

TIP:

Help your audience "use" your sign. Review the presentation with a critical eye and see if you can't add a user-value item that may change the user's experience for the positive.

Reader Comments

Don Pierson

about 3 months ago

This is a great point. I often struggle with this term when writing my own articles but I agree with Loren that the best way to think of people interacting with digital signage is as a user. Even if they are just viewing they are interacting with it and as truly 'interactive' signage becomes more pervasive the term user will be even more appropriate.