- The J.R. Simplot Company utilized design and technology experts to turn an obstruction into a high-tech interactive learning center with a curved NanoLumens Nixel Series display and connected iPads.
“Novel projects and technologies get us excited,” said Michael Fornander, founder and President of Boise technology firm Neurilink. “And Simplot’s customer experience center required some real creative thinking and research. For a public-facing room that employees and visitors pass through every day, this obstruction just wouldn’t do. The marketing team originally planned to install a basic LED display like a bank sign with red lettering, so we showed them how new flexible display technologies could turn it into a centerpiece of the experience center instead. After they saw how the NanoLumens Nixel Series display could support full color, 360-degree video, we all agreed it was the best choice.”
With a history of successful implementation, a uniquely convenient design that features front-accessibility for maintenance and a six-year warranty, they determined that NanoLumens was the ideal solution partner to work with on the project. Paired with three pedestal-mounted iPads, the display became the center of the experience center, where guests can browse photos and agricultural information on the iPads, which is then shown directly on the curved NanoLumens Nixel Series display the iPads are connected to.
“We realized that we could make this one small area into a multi-person educational tool,” Fornander added. “Once the idea was agreed to, we set out to build a system that allows Simplot to split the single display into three distinct sections, each covering 120 degrees of the column and corresponding to one of the three iPads. In the design phase we considered building mounts to have three displays swing out of the column for servicing, but with NanoLumens displays that’s unnecessary — they are comprised of easily fixed or replaced Nixels™, small squares of LEDs that piece together seamlessly to form the full display. Each Nixel™ can be pulled out of the display individually, so the whole display does not need to be removed, altered or replaced if a single Nixel™ needs servicing!”
The 360-degree display is three feet tall and would be approximately 12 feet long if laid out flat. A single computer with three discrete video cards delivers signal to the display sections, and each video feed is controlled by the section’s corresponding iPad. Simplot decided to make the entire column agriculture related, so above and below the display are multiple sections showing different types of minerals and soil in a glass case that encircles the concrete column. The display was awarded a 2017 NanoLumens Crystal Nixel Award for outstanding creativity in the design and implementation of an LED visualization solution.
