Design for 40" LCD?

[clintonG]

Public deployment LCD is a whole new device platform to learn about.
Putting a 40" LCD into a hotel lobby or an airport for example has let us
say 'issues' ;-)
Preventing backlight burn-in, determining maximum readable font size at
1280, maximun lines of text at 1280 and so on.
Are there any 'Best Practice' documents you may know of?

<%= Clinton Gallagher

[darrel]

> Public deployment LCD is a whole new device platform to learn about.

> Putting a 40" LCD into a hotel lobby or an airport for example has let us
> say 'issues' ;-)
> Preventing backlight burn-in, determining maximum readable font size at
> 1280, maximun lines of text at 1280 and so on.
> Are there any 'Best Practice' documents you may know of?

If it's LCD, it won't get burn-in. If it's plasma, it may, though the newer
ones supposedly don't suffer from that.

For type size, there are several factors...contrast, typeface itself, and,
most importantly, the distance from the display to the eyeballs you are
targetting. The best way to test this is to simply print out type on paper,
and then mount it on the wall at the same height as the display, and walk
around to see what size type is needed.

Maximum lines of type is really will be contigent on the type size,
resolution, etc, but rule of thumb with signage...less is more.

For best practice documentation, I'd google things like 'environmental
design', 'signage', and 'wayfinding design'.

Again, like a lot of visual design, trial and error is often the best way to
determine specifics. ;o)

-Darrel

[Matthew David]

Check out FRED Systems. They have a lot of information on these size
monitors.
"clintonG" <csgallagher@REMOVETHISTEXTmetromilwaukee.com> wrote in message
news:d36oa6$3md$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> Public deployment LCD is a whole new device platform to learn about.
> Putting a 40" LCD into a hotel lobby or an airport for example has let us
> say 'issues' ;-)
> Preventing backlight burn-in, determining maximum readable font size at
> 1280, maximun lines of text at 1280 and so on.
> Are there any 'Best Practice' documents you may know of?
>
> <%= Clinton Gallagher
>
>

[clintonG]

Oh? You must know more than the NEC hardware engineers I just spoke to this
afternoon.
They told me LCD burn-in is real and I was advised to change the display at
least every 1-2 hours.

So far Microsoft's ClearType seems to be optimal.
I'm also going to paint a 20"x33" demo (viewable area on 40" display) to
determine how many lines of text I may be able to use using 12 points as the
preferred size of the font which can not be modified by the user. These are
static read-only displays. I may even be compelled to go with 14 points
which seems like a good idea now that I think about it.

So far Google does not have many documents on this emerging platform.

<%= Clinton Gallagher



"darrel" <notreal@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:d36pmo$5h4$1@forums.macromedia.com...

>> Public deployment LCD is a whole new device platform to learn about.
>> Putting a 40" LCD into a hotel lobby or an airport for example has let us
>> say 'issues' ;-)
>> Preventing backlight burn-in, determining maximum readable font size at
>> 1280, maximun lines of text at 1280 and so on.
>> Are there any 'Best Practice' documents you may know of?

>
> If it's LCD, it won't get burn-in. If it's plasma, it may, though the
> newer
> ones supposedly don't suffer from that.
>
> For type size, there are several factors...contrast, typeface itself, and,
> most importantly, the distance from the display to the eyeballs you are
> targetting. The best way to test this is to simply print out type on
> paper,
> and then mount it on the wall at the same height as the display, and walk
> around to see what size type is needed.
>
> Maximum lines of type is really will be contigent on the type size,
> resolution, etc, but rule of thumb with signage...less is more.
>
> For best practice documentation, I'd google things like 'environmental
> design', 'signage', and 'wayfinding design'.
>
> Again, like a lot of visual design, trial and error is often the best way
> to
> determine specifics. ;o)
>
> -Darrel
>
>

[clintonG]

Thanks for the lead.

<%= Clinton Gallagher

"Matthew David" <mdavid@matthewdavid.ws> wrote in message
news:d36po5$5im$1@forums.macromedia.com...

> Check out FRED Systems. They have a lot of information on these size
> monitors.
> "clintonG" <csgallagher@REMOVETHISTEXTmetromilwaukee.com> wrote in message
> news:d36oa6$3md$1@forums.macromedia.com...

>> Public deployment LCD is a whole new device platform to learn about.
>> Putting a 40" LCD into a hotel lobby or an airport for example has let us
>> say 'issues' ;-)
>> Preventing backlight burn-in, determining maximum readable font size at
>> 1280, maximun lines of text at 1280 and so on.
>> Are there any 'Best Practice' documents you may know of?
>>
>> <%= Clinton Gallagher
>>
>>

>
>

[darrel]

> Oh? You must know more than the NEC hardware engineers I just spoke to
this

> afternoon.

I dunno. Every salesperson I've spoken too (and google tends to agree) says
it's not an issue. I can't even imagine how it could be, because LCDs are a
passive technology. There are no phosphors to actually 'burn in'.

Are you sure these NEC guys are talking about LCD and not another
technology?

Or maybe they are referring to a condition that looks like burn-in, but is
based on stuck pixels or something.

> So far Microsoft's ClearType seems to be optimal.

Cleartype technology is nice.

> I'm also going to paint a 20"x33" demo (viewable area on 40" display) to
> determine how many lines of text I may be able to use using 12 points as

the

> preferred size of the font which can not be modified by the user. These

are

> static read-only displays. I may even be compelled to go with 14 points
> which seems like a good idea now that I think about it.

What kind of data are you showing? 10-12pt size type is about the minimum
for basic printed brochures. At that size, it seems like you're going to
have a lot of type on this screen.

> So far Google does not have many documents on this emerging platform.

Well, I guess it depends on what specifically this is. Is it signage? New
tickers? Kiosks?

-Darrel

[clintonG]

All I know is that I don't know the facts yet and the NEC guy brought the
issue to my attention about the need to refresj an LCD that is always on.
They are aware of the shortcomings in these emerging applications and so far
no elegant solution has been developed. At the moment I plan to use meta
refresh to an intermediary page explaining the need to refresh and then
another meta refresh to a page that displays the same content using a
different layout. I'll have to use two different layouts for the page.

This project is a static read-only hotel lobby application with list data
such as:

* Hokey Pokey Dance Club
10:00 am Willow Brook Room C

Using terms such as "digital signage" produces lots of search results.
Offhand I estimate 14 point fonts because the users will range in age and
vision ability. Better to err on the side of readability. In any event I
need to determine an optimal number of lines that can be displayed in a
static field of display. The more I think about this the more complex the UI
is becoming as the staff need to update the content on demand and who is to
say they won't just be typing their merry little fingers off adding more
lines of content that the design can contain?

Thanks for your comments Darrel. Got to go for now. Its Fish Fry Friday :-)

<%= Clinton Gallagher






"darrel" <notreal@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:d36tug$atr$1@forums.macromedia.com...

>> Oh? You must know more than the NEC hardware engineers I just spoke to

> this

>> afternoon.

>
> I dunno. Every salesperson I've spoken too (and google tends to agree)
> says
> it's not an issue. I can't even imagine how it could be, because LCDs are
> a
> passive technology. There are no phosphors to actually 'burn in'.
>
> Are you sure these NEC guys are talking about LCD and not another
> technology?
>
> Or maybe they are referring to a condition that looks like burn-in, but is
> based on stuck pixels or something.
>

>> So far Microsoft's ClearType seems to be optimal.

>
> Cleartype technology is nice.
>

>> I'm also going to paint a 20"x33" demo (viewable area on 40" display) to
>> determine how many lines of text I may be able to use using 12 points as

> the

>> preferred size of the font which can not be modified by the user. These

> are

>> static read-only displays. I may even be compelled to go with 14 points
>> which seems like a good idea now that I think about it.

>
> What kind of data are you showing? 10-12pt size type is about the minimum
> for basic printed brochures. At that size, it seems like you're going to
> have a lot of type on this screen.
>

>> So far Google does not have many documents on this emerging platform.

>
> Well, I guess it depends on what specifically this is. Is it signage? New
> tickers? Kiosks?
>
> -Darrel
>
>

[darrel]

> All I know is that I don't know the facts yet and the NEC guy brought the

> issue to my attention about the need to refresj an LCD that is always on.
> They are aware of the shortcomings in these emerging applications and so

far

> no elegant solution has been developed. At the moment I plan to use meta
> refresh to an intermediary page explaining the need to refresh and then
> another meta refresh to a page that displays the same content using a
> different layout. I'll have to use two different layouts for the page.

Yea, I guess I'd get more details on what they mean by burn-in. If you
research the actual technology, there isn't anything that can actually burn
in on LCDs. But I imagine that if pixels aren't turned off/on regularly that
they could get 'stuck' which could produce the same effect. If that's the
case, perhaps you could keep the layout exactly the same, but shift all the
colors every so often.

> This project is a static read-only hotel lobby application with list data
> such as:
>
> * Hokey Pokey Dance Club
> 10:00 am Willow Brook Room C

if that's the case, 12pt type would be miniscule. You'd have to be only a
foot or two in front to read the type. If you compare it to your standard
easel board with the plastic type that you stick into the felt, those are
typically a minimum of 72pt in size (about an inch high).

All that said, points aren't a unit of measurement for screen ;o) So, what
you're likely going to have to do is simply figure out a nice physical size
(say, an inch) and then convert that to pixels based on the pixel density of
the display/resolution settings.

> Thanks for your comments Darrel. Got to go for now. Its Fish Fry Friday

:-)

I miss Wisconsin. Order a side of cheese-curds and a Leinie's for me! ;o)

-Darrel