Networks in the cloud

When planning a digital signage deployment, today’s system planners are faced with the increasingly difficult decision of whether or not to host the network on-site. With the growing trend of moving data to the ‘cloud,’ the concept of Software as a Service (SaaS) has been gaining traction as a basis for digital signage platforms.

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Recommendations to prevent structural failure

The International Sign Association (ISA) recently released the results from a three-year study of single-pole ‘high-rise’ sign structures. The study involved researching the causes of sporadic failures of high-rising sign structures that incorporate ‘telescoping’ poles composed of multiple sections.

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Wrapping a parade float

For Montreal’s 2011 Pride Parade, Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank Financial Group turned to the Bob communications agency to design its float, combining the bank’s existing corporate branding with the parade’s new ‘3011: Odyssey of the Future’ theme. Groupe BO Concept (GBC), based in Anjou, Que., used a transit poster material to transform this unusual design into reality.

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Making a big impression

Wide-format printing technology continues to see significant changes driven by innovation, market demands and signmakers’ needs. Trends that are redefining the sign industry today include growing environmental requirements and the role of printing in a ‘digital age.’

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Expanding adhesive products and practices

With both advances in new technology and constant innovation in the use of existing materials and techniques, the sign industry has seen rapid change in the implementation of adhesives, including structural adhesives as an alternative to welding and mechanical fasteners in fabrication processes.

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Creating a dynamic social information system

Recently, a group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab designed and deployed an ‘intelligent’ signage system, referred to as Glass Infrastructure (GI), to enable groups of users to more easily interact with data and explore connections between people, projects and ideas.

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Reviving Maple Leaf Gardens

Toronto’s fabled Maple Leaf Gardens—previously home to major-league hockey, big-name concerts, boxing and other sporting events—recently emerged from a decade of disuse. Its new anchor tenant was not a sports team or event management company, but instead Loblaws, a grocery retail chain with stores across Ontario and Quebec.

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In-store signs for wayfinding and branding

Point-of-purchase (POP) or point-of-sale (POS) signage is, by definition, posted in places where shoppers make decisions about goods and services offered for sale, such as supermarket aisles, or where their transactions occur, such as cashier counters. In these locations, displays can be used to advertise regular items or special promotions.

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