- EXTON, PA-Part of the Indianapolis Museum of Art's $220 million expansion program included the vision for a dynamic visual greeting system for visitors and guests as they entered the new glass rotunda at the front of the museum. The problem was the beautiful open area left visitors without a focal point of direction and, considering potential visitor counts in thousands for key events, IMA staff knew they had to pull the minds eye of the visitors to a central point of key information.
The main admissions desk at the Indianapolis Museum of Art features a new digital signage system with LG Commercial LCD screens. Scala InfoChannel software enables show information about the latest museum exhibits to be shown, with options to grow the network available.
Enter Mike Prusa, manager of IMA Ticketing and Visitors Division, who had seen digital signage used in other large museums throughout the country and knew it was what the entrance needed to help guide their guests to the wide range of museum locations. A call to Tom Johnson, president of Digital AV, brought the museum in closer to their quest for a signage system that would do more than one thing at the same time. Johnson recommended three large digital displays, positioned together on a custom designed steel floor stand from Premier Mounts, with special mounting brackets for flexible positioning.
The Scala InfoChannel software recommended was able to drive the three independent monitors with Scala's robust InfoChannel platform. The computer driven images would be playing in constant rotation but independently controlled by an external server in a remote location.
Information displayed includes museum ticket prices, upcoming museum events and exhibits, various museum attractions, and other important location information.
Johnson noted the esthetic and ambient light challenge within the large rotunda.
"With all the light and space challenges it turned out very well, easy to read and colorful, and the IMA content looks great on the system." Hee also spoke about the return on investment for the DS system. "The IMA's challenge was to quickly and efficiently help their guests to a destination decision and to guide them there after the ticket purchase. We think the digital signage system answers both of those challenges with a high quality, high technology solution," said Johnson. "It has had to already pay for itself with speed to destination efficiencies."
The Scala information display system now shows content that can be updated remotely to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Content is changed by periodic or exact schedule, so the museum staff can easily adjust to the expected audience depending on the season or even the time of day. The screens can also be tied into the same Scala InfoChannel electronic signage system and administered centrally by InfoChannel Network Manager in the museum's control room. Creative work and textual updates are also conceived in the same room via Scala's InfoChannel Designer. When published, changes can either be seen instantly or scheduled to appear later throughout the building.
The high-resolution images are transmitted over the IMA Local Area Network (LAN) and can be dispatched anywhere in the buildings. The changing exhibits area was designed with the future in mind for transmitting computer graphics, video and audio to produce a truly interactive exhibit space.
