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H&M, wayfinding claim top spots for May 2019 digital signage stories

Spring is wrapping up and the summer heat is on the rise. Digital Signage Today readers prepared for the upcoming heat wave by reading stories on digital wayfinding, kiosks and H&M's customer engagement digital signage.

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May 31, 2019 by Bradley Cooper — Editor, ATM Marketplace & Food Truck Operator

Spring is wrapping up and the summer heat is on the rise. Digital Signage Today readers prepared for the heatwave by reading stories on digital wayfinding, kiosks and H&M's customer engagement digital signage.

The top story for May examined how retailer H&M is using a voice interactive mirror at its Times Square, New York store to allow customers to become "fashion models," by creating customized magazine covers featuring their image.

Other top stories included how wayfinding digital signage can improve tourism experiences by offering both information and advertising.

The top five most read stories for May are (in reverse order):

5. Wayfinding digital signage kiosks improve tourism experiences

Outdoor wayfinding kiosks that provide up-to-date information 24 hours a day are proving to be their own best marketing tools — especially for tourist attractions.

Tracy Brown, executive director of the Blowing Rock Tourism Development Authority in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, first noticed outdoor wayfinding kiosks while attending a conference in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

"I immediately thought that it was something we could use here," Brown said. "We were looking at the best ways to keep relevant information in front of our visitors. It (the outdoor kiosk) was a way to make sure if they were looking for information they could find it."

4. How to do digital wayfinding right

The digital world and the physical world are becoming more and more integrated, and nowhere is that clearer than with interactive wayfinding. This is more than just putting some maps up on a screen. People today interact with visual information in a number of ways, and there are some simple but effective best practices you can follow during the design process to ensure your digital wayfinding is clean, clear and easy to use.

Digital designers are experts at UX and wayfinding design, and your organization is an expert on your facility. Meshing expertise from both groups with careful planning and open communications throughout the design process will ensure you get a wayfinding design to meet your goals and your audience's expectations.

3. Kiosks, interactive displays are set to explode in restaurants

If you look at the evolution of restaurant-based digital signage, it started out very utilitarian — primarily menu boards in quick-serve restaurants and other high-traffic establishments. The ability for restaurantuers to rotate menu items more easily and change prices on the fly was a huge leap forward compared to static, legacy signage.

As software platforms became more powerful and user-friendly, rich content became more commonplace. Menu boards were no longer just informative, they were eye-catching as well. They grew in number, to the point where video walls became commonplace. The ability to synchronize content across an array of screens opened up new possibilities for restaurants to present visually striking content and for stadium concessionaires to brand their stands in different ways depending on the current live event.

Despite this proliferation of digital signage, in most cases the screens remained behind the counter. But that's changing, and changing fast.

2. How to design beautiful digital signage on a budget

While there are plenty of costs to consider when building a digital signage network, one area worth highlighting is that of creative services, which refers to the people and processes that are responsible for writing, designing and ultimately producing the onscreen messaging that is shared across your network. 

The effectiveness of your network is going to depend, in no small part, on the timeliness and effectiveness of your content so it's an area where you really don't want to be cutting corners. At the same time graphic designers tend to be expensive and you don't want to create a situation where every idea, every opportunity to message your audience, is taxed with heavy professional fees. 

So how do you execute beautiful, targeted, high-quality messaging that is tailor made for each screen in your network on a limited budget? And what are some tips and techniques you can use to deliver effective content without breaking the bank on expensive creative services? Find the answers in this article.

1. H&M enhances customer engagement with digital signage

Digital signage isn't just for pushing sales, it's also useful for crafting better customer engagement. By doing this, retailers can improve sales and create more loyal customers.

The most innovative end users understand this principle of customer engagement well, such as H&M, a clothing retailer headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

The retailer has performed a number of innovative deployments, such as an interactive voice mirror in Times Square, New York, deployed through a collaboration with digital signage provider Visual Art, digital experiences provider Ombori and Microsoft. Customers were able to use the mirror to take a selfie and download their own virtual H&M fashion magazine cover by scanning a QR code.

Digital Signage Today spoke with Alex Bilbao, business development U.S. at H&M to learn how it used digital signage to enhance customer engagement.

About Bradley Cooper

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Bradley Cooper is the editor of ATM Marketplace and Food Truck Operator. He was previously the editor of Digital Signage Today. His background is in information technology, advertising, and writing.

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