A unique digital signage installation welcomes visitors and potential students to West Virginia University

How a digital signage photo op engages campus visitors


A unique digital signage installation welcomes visitors and potential students to West Virginia University

In higher education, every day should be a learning experience. Part of that learning experience is being willing to be pushed out of our comfort zones. My day-to-day is to manage the implementation of a centralized digital signage system across the multiple campuses of West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown, WV.

Early in 2019 I was invited to a planning meeting for a new Visitors Center for prospective students, scheduled to open that fall. The meeting was about the experience the team wanted to create for the Visitors Center. Towards the end of the meeting, our vice president turned to me and said, “Chewie, what are we doing for technology?”

I was like a deer in headlights. This wouldn’t be one of our standard digital signage installations. The group had just been tasked with creating a holistic audio-visual experience to convey the emotion of what it means to be a Mountaineer.

Early in the planning process, two of us on the creative team attended a DECA Conference in Orlando, FL, to provide support for a booth for WVU’s John Chambers College of Business and Economics. We utilized our free time visiting the local theme parks with the goal of gathering ideas and inspiration. We took bits and pieces of our observations and created concepts for two separate audio-visual installations for the Visitors Center. Our first concept was to create a high-tech photo opportunity in the entryway. For the presentation area, we wanted to create a 30-foot-wide wall of “living” picture frames. Because this space also holds events, we decided to add a 120-inch motorized drop-down screen that would cover the middle third of the picture frames. After presenting our concepts, the vice president gave us the green light to develop those concepts into proofs. We also needed to create a cost analysis for both installations. We had a lot of hardware and software research to do in a short amount of time.

We started planning the high-tech photo opportunity first. We envisioned constructing a direct-view LED wall framed by a false rock wall where iconic images of WVU and the state of West Virginia would be displayed. This idea snowballed into turning the installation into a larger-than-life interactive photo booth. We planned to embed a small touch screen visitors could use to select the image they wanted as their background image. We visualized adding an additional screen next to a camera hanging from the ceiling. This screen would display a countdown to provide timing for three consecutive photos. The system would then print out the photos on a branded photobooth-like strip, add the photos to our living picture frames, and email the photos to the prospective students.

The construction team had already partnered with an AV integrator who helped us with the hardware and cost estimates and gave us other options. We knew direct-view LEDs would be expensive but hadn’t really thought about their weight, mounting, and heat distribution, or how to service them. A suggested alternative was stitching ultra-short-throw projectors together as a potential cost-effective solution, which we could also use for our living picture frames.

We researched, then purchased, an ultra-short-throw projector to test projecting onto multiple surfaces mounted within picture frames. We tried different canvases as well as cross-stitch fabrics painted with different finishes. We tested with different papers and screen materials too.  We ended up settling on white poly metal.

We reached out to our digital signage software vendor with our proposal and heard, “We’ve never done all of those things at once. It sounds cool. Theoretically it should work.” We took on the challenge, and in the span of about two weeks we had a working proof of concept working in our office. We obtained cost estimates for our fake rock wall installation and I buttoned everything up in a diorama to present to the larger group.

We presented. They loved it. Then we were given the budget. Our focus had to shift from two installations down to one. We realized we needed to turn our AV budget towards the living picture frame wall, not the interactive photo booth. Because of the work we put into our proof of concept, we were able to quickly transition the installation of the AV equipment through our AV integrator. We learned, however, that we hadn’t done enough homework with the ultra-short throw projectors. The projectors we purchased had a difference of 15 inches from the point of origin to the edge of the projected image. This caused the image to be too low on the wall when the projector was hung from the drop ceiling as planned. We also discovered two other issues with the space. An HVAC duct had been installed right in front of the screen, which made the screen sway. There were also semi-directional ceiling lights installed two feet from the wall we were projecting on. The throw from the ceiling lights put too much light onto the wall, washing out the projected images.

We had to find solutions quickly. We devised a way to install the projectors in vented housings above the drop ceiling but still in the room to get the image closer to the ceiling. We removed the swaying motorized rollup screen and installed a 120-inch fixed screen. We were able to rotate the ceiling lights 90 degrees to minimize the light spill as much as we could. Luckily, the lights were dimmable, so we set them to about 80 percent.

Despite our finished product not being what we initially envisioned, the entire team is proud of what we accomplished, almost completely in-house. We have a unique Visitors Center that provides an experience like no other we know of. With this project wrapped we will take what we learned, leave our comfort zones, and utilize our experiences to integrate technology as we update our other Visitors Center location.

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter: Innovations in K12 Education
By submitting your information, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

eSchool Media Contributors

Oops! We could not locate your form.

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter: Innovations in K12 Education
By submitting your information, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.