Vertical screens in digital signage
“A user who spends 6 hours a day at the computer averages 86 hours per year scrolling”
In the epigraph, I made an argument that is used inendless debate about the vertical orientation of monitors in work (for example, a similar discussion was developed in the comments to this post ). With so much information about the vertical and horizontal layout of the screen, I did not find information about the orientation of the screens in digital signage.
Digital signage is any signage, signs, posters that have been replaced with digital displays: advertising screens in stores, information boards at airports, LED screens, signs, etc. I have not found a correct translation of the phrase digital signage, therefore I will forgive in advance forgiveness from those who do not like the use of English in the Russian text.
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With cheaper technologies, screens are being installed more and more, and more often, out of habit, they are installed horizontally. In some cases, it is impossible to vertically place screens because there is no corresponding content or it is impossible to technically install another screen. For example: sports bars and other places that broadcast a television signal; screens in cinemas, which show trailers; LED signage. On other screens, it seems to me that the vertical orientation of the screens is more justified.
On the issue of screen orientation, I was prompted by the fact that most traditional advertising and information products have a portrait orientation. Especially surprisingly, it looks in modern supermarkets, where hundreds of vertical posters are hanging, diluted with horizontal screens. Please note: campaign posters, playbills of theaters, old advertisements were portrait orientation. The exception is billboards along the roads (billboards), but their proportions are more likely associated with design features.
So how did it come about that digital signage screens are basically different from traditional carriers.
Initially, digital signage used conventional televisions and conventional television technologists. At the dawn of development, there were two factors due to which the screens had a horizontal orientation: the technical difficulty of rotating the screen and a slight difference in height and width. Initially, CRT televisions had an almost square aspect ratio of 4: 3. And to solve the technically difficult task of flipping the CRT screen because of a slight change in proportions did not make sense. Not to mention the difficulty of preparing vertical content on the equipment of that time.
With the advent of large diagonals and wide formats, the screen manufacturing industry switched to 16: 9 aspect ratio. And here it was already possible to think about the rotation of the screens, but in digital signage, by inertia they continue to install them horizontally. Although now for turning the screen there are no technical limitations or additional costs.
I will not speak here about better readability of information in portrait mode (see, for example, books and newspapers) or aesthetic appeal, since these are subjective characteristics. I will give examples of more informative vertical screens. In order not to go through all the many types of information layout on the screen, I will analyze this using the example of pictures with captions and tables. These two layouts are used most often, and conclusions can be shifted to another type of information.
A picture with a signature (or several signatures) is the most common arrangement of information, both in ordinary advertising and in digital signage. Since you need to place the text above the picture (or to the right of it), then on the vertical screen the text and picture will be larger. I gave an example with a practically square picture, and with a picture elongated in height, the difference will be even greater. It would be logical to reproach that with a picture stretched in width (airplane, car), the picture on the vertical screen will be smaller, but horizontally stretched images, according to my observations, are less common.
Tables in digital signage are quite common: currency rates, weather, flight schedules. More often, such tables have more rows than columns, and more information will fit on a vertical screen (or the same amount of information, but the largest).
It is better to install screens in digital signage vertically if there are no good reasons for horizontal orientation.
When writing an article, I thought that news broadcasts, in which the main part of the broadcast was taken by the announcer in the studio, could also be issued in the 9:16 format. Such news, if it were not better, it would have a different shade.
In the epigraph, I made an argument that is used in
Digital signage is any signage, signs, posters that have been replaced with digital displays: advertising screens in stores, information boards at airports, LED screens, signs, etc. I have not found a correct translation of the phrase digital signage, therefore I will forgive in advance forgiveness from those who do not like the use of English in the Russian text.
')
With cheaper technologies, screens are being installed more and more, and more often, out of habit, they are installed horizontally. In some cases, it is impossible to vertically place screens because there is no corresponding content or it is impossible to technically install another screen. For example: sports bars and other places that broadcast a television signal; screens in cinemas, which show trailers; LED signage. On other screens, it seems to me that the vertical orientation of the screens is more justified.
Comparison with traditional carriers
On the issue of screen orientation, I was prompted by the fact that most traditional advertising and information products have a portrait orientation. Especially surprisingly, it looks in modern supermarkets, where hundreds of vertical posters are hanging, diluted with horizontal screens. Please note: campaign posters, playbills of theaters, old advertisements were portrait orientation. The exception is billboards along the roads (billboards), but their proportions are more likely associated with design features.
So how did it come about that digital signage screens are basically different from traditional carriers.
Format history
Initially, digital signage used conventional televisions and conventional television technologists. At the dawn of development, there were two factors due to which the screens had a horizontal orientation: the technical difficulty of rotating the screen and a slight difference in height and width. Initially, CRT televisions had an almost square aspect ratio of 4: 3. And to solve the technically difficult task of flipping the CRT screen because of a slight change in proportions did not make sense. Not to mention the difficulty of preparing vertical content on the equipment of that time.
With the advent of large diagonals and wide formats, the screen manufacturing industry switched to 16: 9 aspect ratio. And here it was already possible to think about the rotation of the screens, but in digital signage, by inertia they continue to install them horizontally. Although now for turning the screen there are no technical limitations or additional costs.
Great information
I will not speak here about better readability of information in portrait mode (see, for example, books and newspapers) or aesthetic appeal, since these are subjective characteristics. I will give examples of more informative vertical screens. In order not to go through all the many types of information layout on the screen, I will analyze this using the example of pictures with captions and tables. These two layouts are used most often, and conclusions can be shifted to another type of information.
A picture with a signature (or several signatures) is the most common arrangement of information, both in ordinary advertising and in digital signage. Since you need to place the text above the picture (or to the right of it), then on the vertical screen the text and picture will be larger. I gave an example with a practically square picture, and with a picture elongated in height, the difference will be even greater. It would be logical to reproach that with a picture stretched in width (airplane, car), the picture on the vertical screen will be smaller, but horizontally stretched images, according to my observations, are less common.
Tables in digital signage are quite common: currency rates, weather, flight schedules. More often, such tables have more rows than columns, and more information will fit on a vertical screen (or the same amount of information, but the largest).
findings
It is better to install screens in digital signage vertically if there are no good reasons for horizontal orientation.
P.S. news
When writing an article, I thought that news broadcasts, in which the main part of the broadcast was taken by the announcer in the studio, could also be issued in the 9:16 format. Such news, if it were not better, it would have a different shade.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/130932/
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