cool things to do with lcd displays pricelist

Unused electronics are the bane of the modern life. Perfectly functional gadgets sit quietly in a corner of the store room, doing nothing. If you"re wondering what to do with old computer monitors, here are a few easy ideas to repurpose unused screens.

In this guide, it doesn"t matter if your old monitor is still working or not. Even if it isn"t, you can use its parts to make a great new gadget. From turning it into a super-tiny computer or dashboard to refashioning into a smart mirror, here are some of the most productive ways to repurpose a computer monitor.

The Raspberry Pi 4 is an incredible device. While it has a wide range of uses, at its core, it is a tiny, low-cost, full-fledged computer. And that means your old monitor can be turned into a PC for less than $60.

Perhaps the best thing to do with an old flat-screen monitor is a DIY DAKboard. The DAKboard is a LCD wall display that shows the current time, weather forecast, calendar events, stock quotes, fitness data, and news headlines. It"s all displayed on a soothing photo. You could buy an official DAKboard, but the makers themselves have shown how to build your own wall display with a Raspberry Pi. when you can build one for far less money and a little geeky fun, the choice is obvious.

Attach your old monitor to a Pi and it can be put in your kitchen as a recipe and video source. Make a Pi-based retro video game console as a treat for your kid (or the kid in you).

Sometimes, you"re working on something private in an open office, or browsing certain *cough* sites *cough* at home. You can"t have your colleagues or kids see what"s on the screen. To keep snooping eyes at bay, make a "your-eyes-only" monitor from an old one.

To anyone else, it is going to look like a blank white monitor with nothing on it. But wearing a special pair of spectacles, you"ll be able to see things on it like a regular monitor. It"s magic! It"s a tough process, but dimovi"s guide at Instructables is thorough and precise.

Basically, you will be cutting out the polarizing film of the old LCD monitor. This film will then be put on a simple pair of glasses. Now your screen appears white, but the glasses can "see" the content. It"s one of the best ways to keep prying eyes out of your PC.

The reason you should use an old computer monitor is that things can go wrong. You will be disassembling and then reassembling the monitor, along with cutting out the anti-glare and polarizing films. You"ll also need to separate the polarizing film from the anti-glare one.

If you have a broken old LCD monitor, it can be re-purposed into a usable mirror; but if you have a working old LCD monitor, adding a Raspberry Pi can turn it into a smart magic mirror!

You can choose from different Raspberry Pi smart magic mirror projects, but for our money, go with the MagicMirror². It"s the original, most popular, and perhaps now the easiest way to build a smart mirror. It comes with a clock, calendar, weather forecast, and news feed.

If you"re on a tight budget for a first-time DIY project, consider the $100 smart mirror. It"s not the best version of turning an LCD monitor into a smart mirror, but you"ll get the basic features and not spend a bomb.

If you have the space available, the best thing you can do with an extra monitor is to boost your productivity with a dual-monitor setup. A second monitor has many potential purposes, such as extended screen space, a dashboard for your social media or news updates, or a dedicated video conferencing screen.

All desktop operating systems support the ability to use dual monitors. It"s pretty easy to setup dual monitors on Windows, and you can then customize how you use the two spaces. To connect two monitors, you will likely need a graphics card with multiple HDMI ports, or use an HDMI and a VGA port on desktops.

Make it a dedicated screen for Nintendo Wii:The Nintendo Wii can connect to a VGA monitor, so if you don"t have a Wii, buy one. In fact, buy a used one, they"re pretty cheap on Craigslist.

Like any gadget, monitors have a limited shelf life. If you"re looking to upgrade, you now have a few ideas of what to do with your old monitor. And that age should influence which project you chose. For example, given the effort involved in building a smart mirror, don"t go with a screen that"s already shown signs of trouble. The Raspberry Pi-based projects are usually the easiest to keep changing.

In fact, if you have an old monitor and old PC parts, you can repurpose the whole PC. You can turn it into a home security system, a home server or media center, or try other unique creative projects.

Hobbyist PCs like the Raspberry Pi are powerful enough to emulate a wide variety of older games. Emulation of early 2D game consoles and arcade machines, and early 3D consoles is possible on a hobbyist computer.

You may prefer to sit the old computer monitor in a den and use a gamepad to play. Still, dedicated arcade gamers can go the extra mile and use the old computer monitor to build an arcade cabinet. You can buy an arcade cabinet kit, repurpose an old cabinet, or design and build a new one from scratch.

Want the arcade feel with less work? Wall-mount the old computer monitor at eye level, then mount a shelf at a comfortable height below it. You can place a hobbyist PC and arcade stick on the shelf. This setup requires minimal space.

Looking for unique ways to setup your craft fair display? Make it easy (and fun) for people to find your product prices with these 9 creative ideas! #display #craftfair #etsy #e…

I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated when I browse a booth at a craft show (or anywhere), find an item I like and then search endlessly for a price tag. As a customer, I’d like to pick up an item and immediately know the price without having to wait in line to ask the seller how much it is.

“All of our items are individually priced on the back. However, that doesn’t stop customers from asking how much things are. Constantly. We designed a single poster listing of all our items with pricing, framed it and displayed it on a decorative easel at the entrance of our booth. Now customers can easily see the range of prices and products we offer, all in one place,”explains Kristen and Lindsey Archer, who successfully sell their handmade wood art and home decor online and at craft shows.

“We designed the pricing sheets in Adobe Illustrator with our brand colors, printed them on cardstock at a FedEx Office. Then we stuck it in a white frame we got on clearance at T.J. Maxx.”

Price tags or signs can do more than just state an item’s value. They are a crucial part of your booth display and can help to showcase your creativity and attract buyers.

These handmade wooden price disks are a beautiful addition to any nature-inspired product display. Other useful products in the Melbourne-based Etsy shop include custom wooden stamps, business card holders, and a square reader dock.

This has to be one of the cutest product tags I’ve seen. Made with shrink film and a home printer, these price tags are affordable, quick, and super unique.

We’ve seen them, we loved them and we’re still not tired of hand-lettered chalkboards. These trendy displays are a perfect addition to any market stall or booth. These little beauties were designed by @whorthwhilepaper.

There’s an abundance of retail product display options for today’s store owners. Knowing what they are and when to use each type can impact your retail sales revenue.

In this article, we’ll take a look at what retail product displays are, how to display products in your store, and the most popular types of product displays.

The look of retail product displays relies heavily on your visual merchandising strategy. Generally, the first interaction customers have with your products in-store is via your displays.

If you have a brick-and-mortar store, retail product displays are a must. You or your visual merchandiser can create a planogram and arrange displays to showcase your products and increase sales.

It’s also a visual merchandiser’s responsibility to manage and maintain your retail product displays over time. Fixtures may break or become worn down.

Use Shopify’s analytics and reporting to make the right merchandising decisions at each of your store locations. Spot seasonal trends, see which products require promotion, measure your display"s impact on product sales, and more.

There’s an endless list of ways you can display products in your store. It depends on what types of products you have, who your customers are, and how creative you want to get.

Strategic placement of each retail product display can impact your sales. It’s key to keep your visual merchandising strategy in mind when choosing how to display your products.

Think outside the box.Creative signage like “Insta worthy” wall art can get the attention of your shoppers. It can encourage people to engage with your products (and share a picture on their Instagram feed).

Use cross merchandising.You can merchandise by color, product type, or theme. Cross merchandising complementary products on the same retail display is one way to use secondary product placement to increase sales.

Location, location, location.You can place displays that house new products and bestsellers in high-traffic areas. Smaller, impulse buy or add-on items can get displayed near the checkout counter.

Change displays on a weekly basis.Changing retail product displays on a regular basis keeps your retail store looking fresh. It can also help your regular customers discover new products with each visit.

Add decorations. Go above and beyond to improve the shopping experience by adding decorative items that suit your customer’s lifestyle. For example, if you sell yoga clothing and mats, add plants, candles, and lighting on or near your displays to set the mood.

Maintain your retail displays. It’s important to always keep retail product displays clean, spaced, and organized so customers can easily find (and buy) products without feeling overwhelmed.

Every retailer’s visual merchandising strategy is different. Take a look at other stores to see how they set up their displays. We don’t suggest copying directly, but pulling different elements from displays you like is a great way to get started.

Retail product displays can be broken down into three categories: standalone and point of purchase (POP) displays, store shelving displays, and clothing and furniture displays.

Trying to decide which layout is right for your store? Download these free templates to learn which types of layouts work best for different industries and draw inspiration for your own design.

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Clothing and furniture can be displayed using standalone POP displays and store shelving, but there are also retail product displays that are perfect for these types of products. Creating product displays for apparel and furniture is distinctly different from grocery store merchandising.

Racks are a good way to display clothing. They come in several configurations, including circular, multi-level, and with shelves. Garment racks also come in a range of materials like metal, wood, and plastic.

You can create a clothing display that showcases items grouped to create an outfit along with accessories. Or display home products that can be purchased together to complete a set.

Use mannequins to give shoppers a visual presentation of your products and how they go together. This is a great opportunity to promote add-on purchases and impulse buys.

Make a lasting impression by immersing your customers in the environment or experience where they’d use your products. The example above of an apartment setting is simple and cozy.

Both examples are simple, but follow a unifying theme that makes the overall effect powerful and persuasive. Immersive product displays pull people in and help them visualize using the products.

You don’t need to build something extravagant. Use themes and simple fixtures to display products and personalize the customer experience. Tell a story your customers relate to and they’ll be compelled to stop and take a look.

For example, a furniture store may have various material options for the same sofa. Shoppers can test the product by sitting on it, and alternative fabric swatches can be placed nearby for people to touch and feel.

A point-of-purchase display (POP) is an in-store display that is used to attract customers to a special offer or particular brand in your store. In some cases, the displays are made of cardboard and printed with advertisements. It’s more common to see printed POP displays in grocery or box stores.

Unlike wall shelving, a more permanent retail display fixture. You can change POP displays completely—from the display itself to the merchandise it holds.

Standalone displays are a type of POP display that stand independently of common aisle shelves. These displays are usually seen in the middle of large store aisles, also known as “action alleys.”

You can use standalone displays anywhere there is open space. They play a vital role in your visual merchandising strategy and require thoughtful design to make an impact.

Dump bins are stocked with small impulse buy items. Consider using bins when you need to show a lot of low-price merchandise quickly. Bins can be accessed from all sides and are easy to move throughout the store.

Freestanding displays are also simple to set up and can be made of cardboard or other materials. They are usually filled with larger items than dump bins and are more organized.

With a freestanding display, you can showcase products on hooks or shelves. They’re accessible from all sides and give you the opportunity to cross merchandise similar items.

Display cases are usually encased on all sides in glass, plastic, or Plexiglas. They are standalone displays, sometimes accessible from one side, sometimes from all around.

Customers usually can only access products in the case with the help of a store employee. These cases are used to securely display high-end merchandise.

You can also use these cases to entice shoppers with a beautiful product display and then store the products for purchase on a shelf or in a separate storage case nearby.

Window displays are found in the front window of a brick-and-mortar store. This is a way to make a first impression with your shoppers. Make sure your display showcases your store’s merchandise in a visually appealing way to draw customers in.

They can be used at your checkout counter to encourage customers to buy impulsively. Or you can place countertop displays throughout your boutique on tables or shelves to showcase small products and add-on accessories.

Retail shelving is fixed and sturdy and can display a variety of different goods. Shelving is the core of many grocery and big-box stores. However, they are also a great option for boutiques of all sizes.

Shelving helps to direct the flow of traffic and display items in an orderly fashion. It can be single-sided and placed along walls or double-sided to create aisles.

Think of these displays as little islands of merchandise in the sea of your store. They are freestanding and accessible from all sides. In some cases, they rotate.

A shelf stopper is signage that highlights an item on a retail shelf. The signage sticks out perpendicular to the shelves and gives the item increased brand recognition and stopping power.

A small pop-up display is called a sidekick or power wing. Like freestanding displays, they are an effective merchandising tool to increase basket size.

These displays set products apart from other items on the same shelf. You can use additional branding, trays, or other items that break the visual monotony of shelves.

The shelving on end caps is sturdy so that you can display heavier merchandise on them. Use them to highlight specials or new inventory and cross merchandise complementary products.

A glorifier is a small glass or plastic box that stands out from a standard shelf and highlights an item. This is a unique and non-traditional way to showcase your products.

For example, if you’re selling perfume, you can use a glorifier to make each scent stand out from the shelf. Think of it as a podium for your products.

Developing your visual merchandising and retail product display strategy takes time, creativity, and testing. The results can mean the difference between great sell-through rates and dead stock that you need to markdown.

Deciding which retail displays are best for your boutique gives you a chance to roll up your sleeves and have fun. Use retail product displays to tell a story and help your customer discover new items.

Whether you use garment racks, display tables, or shelving, the return on investment makes spending time and money on retail product displays a no-brainer.

The effectiveness of retail product displays is not dependent on how flashy they are. Keep it simple. As long as you keep your visual merchandising strategy and your customers in mind, the right product displays can increase sales.

Use Shopify’s analytics and reporting to make the right merchandising decisions at each of your store locations. Spot seasonal trends, see which products require promotion, measure your promotions’ impact on product sales, and more.

A retail display is a physical structure or space used to promote and sell merchandise in a retail environment. Retail displays can be found in both physical stores and digital stores. They are typically used to showcase products in an appealing way, to attract customers and encourage them to make a purchase.

Product display is the way in which a product is presented to potential customers. This can include factors such as packaging, color schemes, and labeling.

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All anime characters are not made equal. If a character’s sense of style or cool demeanor hit a fan just right, they might celebrate their love through purchases like figurines or plushies. More recently, gamers have found a more novel way to show off their beloved picks: by trapping anime characters in PC cases.

Rigs showing off people’s favorite characters via tiny LCD screens visible through a PC case with clear side panels often go viral on social media, because it’s a spectacle. While small, these LCDs often show a looped animation of a character while other parts of the PC pulse with RBG lights. Usually, the moments depicted here have anime characters looking powerful or sweet, depending on the tone of the franchise. One popular design, for example, sees fans capturing Kakashi, a ninja and beloved teacher from Naruto, winding up for a powerful attack.

While a number of companies produce PC hardware with this functionality, clips posted on social media often feature components sold by a business called NZXT. NZXT makes what it calls an “AIO liquid cooler with LCD display,” a high-end component that helps keep a computer at an optimal temperature. The accompanying screens are meant to help the user gauge their heat levels, but since you can customize these LCDs to display anything you’d like, fans like to get creative. You can, for instance, show off any gif or image on the LCD — so it wasn’t long before people used the feature to display favorite anime characters.

With prices ranging from $229.99 to $279.99, the AIO liquid coolers with LCDs aren’t cheap. But rather than inducing sticker shock, the hardware has “been amongst the top-selling CPU coolers on the market,” NZXT CEO Johnny Hou told Polygon over email. Hou added that, while initially people seemed skeptical about the tiny screen and its usefulness, seeing it in action on social media helped show people the appeal and depth of personalization possible.

People have been showing off the coolers on social media since the parts were released in fall 2020, though video platform TikTok has pushed the LCD screens in front of millions of viewers. Trends involving the coolers often have anime girls swaying their hips in time to a song called 2 Phút Hơn. That phenomenon then grew to incorporate a wider variety of franchises ranging from anime like Darling in the Franxx to lesser known picks, like characters from a rhythm game called Muse Dash.

For some, like Twitch streamer Emmesux, the LCD screen was simply another way to customize a PC set-up. She told Polygon via Instagram chat that she “bought the Kraken for visual purposes only.” Her character of choice? Killua Zodyck from the anime Hunter x Hunter.

Like a rotating wallpaper, Emmesux will change Killua’s depiction on the LCD screen from time to time, to keep her setup fresh. Sometimes, she’ll pick darker moments, like when Killua appears intense and powerful during the anime. But other times, Killua is displayed in a softer light, like when he’s smiling and giggling with friends. Based on popular picks on TikTok, characters trapped in PC cases like this usually exhibit a similar range of tones and emotions.

The cool thing about this PC hardware sensation is that it goes beyond the aesthetics of “hardcore” RGB gamers, and has also been embraced by those who like cleaner, pastel ambiances too. Everyone, regardless of fandom or gender, has a favorite character they love to celebrate, and these LCD screens provide a new avenue for exactly that. As it turns out, we all like to simp for a well-designed character.

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Sharp NEC Display Solutions incorporates both Sharp and NEC brands of display products. Including desktop, 4K and 8K UHD large format, video wall, dvLED, collaboration and interactive products, Sharp/NEC offers the widest portfolio of displays available. Understanding that every market and environment has unique requirements, Sharp/NEC prides itself on being your partner, delivering customized solutions to match your needs.

Our comprehensive feature sets, best in class warranties and upstanding product reliability along with our industry expertise, is paramount to our commitment to bring you the ultimate immersive visual experience. Because we value our relationships with our customers, we constantly strive to provide the level of service and support that is expected of an industry leader.

In-store retail displays play a crucial role indriving conversions. Window displays alone influence 24% of purchases,according to NPD Group. And that’sbeforeshoppers walk into your store: Imagine the impact of displays once they’re inside?

Despite the opportunity that retail displays provide, many stores are still overlooking this important selling tool. Below, we’ll dive into nine reasons why your in-store retail displays aren’t working and what to do instead.

One common mistake that retailers make is creating a one-dimensional display that lacks depth and height, a couple of the most important characteristics for appealing visuals. Whether it’s monochromatic or features products of the same height, this in-store display mistake could make your products and your store appear dull and boring.

It was a great concept, but the main challenge was that the products on display were pennants. These items were flat, and posed unique challenges, especially when it comes to physical displays. Dan Taylor, omni-channel merchandiser at United By Blue, was up for the challenge.

“I really focused on giving the setup 360-degree shopability and building in enough visual drama to keep customers engaged,” Taylor says. They nested a 4-foot table into a 7.5-foot live-edge walnut slab table to hold the display, along with a “vintage industrial platform.”

“Along with the table cluster, I added a matte black metal hang rack that allowed me to add more height but also show some of the same product in a different way, and be shopped from the back,” Taylor describes. “Above that rack, I hung product from the ceiling, effectively giving the cluster five different levels.”

“All of this culminated in one of the most unique setups and successful retail activations in our flagship store.” – Dan Taylor, omni-channel merchandiser at United By Blue

With 250 pop-up attendees, the in-store display saw more engagement than most of the store’s previous pop-ups and regular store displays. The display contributed to a 155% month-over-month increase in sales.

Sometimes, less is more. But it’s easy to overdo it with your in-store displays. “Simple is best,” says Greg Corey, founder and principal at retail design agencyPorchlight. “Oftentimes there is so much information that the space becomes cluttered and overwhelming.”

Whether it’s because of various team members’ conflicting input, lack of clear vision, or something else altogether, adding too much to a display can distract from its ultimate purpose: to drive sales.

Establish a focal point for your display: If there’s one thing in your display that you want every passerby to see, what is it? Then design your display around that. “It’s best to narrow your focus and pull out key attributes that consumers can pick up on from at least six feet away and be drawn to learn more,” says Corey.

Check out this display at Elevator, an accessories and jewelry store in Toronto. Notice how they put the focal point principle to good use by choosing to highlight just one item (their scarves) and laying out the rest beneath it.

It’s important to remember that shopping trends shift based on the time of year, current events, or even the general sentiment of consumers. Your retail displays must mirror these trends in order to feel relevant to your shoppers.

For instance, if your customers are starting feel festive because of the upcoming holiday season, but your windows are looking too bland, then you’re not going to compel people to walk through your doors.

Keep your eyes and ears open and stay in touch with upcoming trends. Are there any shopping events or holidays that your customers really care about? What seasonal elements can you incorporate in your current displays?

You can answer these questions by interfacing with your customers and observing them. It also helps to tap into retail data. Use a tool like Google Shopping Trends to identify what people are searching for, and then use those insights to craft your displays.

Linda Cahan,retail visual merchandising and design consultantsays one major miss for retailers is not respecting price point designing your displays. “Space equals cost,” she says. “If you have expensive merchandise, people will understand that if there’s actually some space between the items.”

“People don’t want to feel like they’re bargain basement shopping and then see a price tag for $400.” – Linda Cahan, retail visual merchandising and design consultant

Cahan recalls a shoe store that disregarded price point in relation to visual merchandising. They had the shoes spaced apart, one at a time, similar to an art gallery. “The shoes were spread out and very elegant,” says Cahan. It was great, until you got to the price point: a surprisingly and relatively inexpensive $90.

Mind the space for your merchandise; the amount of space a product occupies should be proportionate to the price point. This sets expectations. “Itimproves the shopping experience,” Cahan says.

“Customers instinctively understand that retailers are paying per square foot. The more stuff retailers cram into it, the more affordable the merchandise will be,” Cahan explains. “When there’s space, then the feeling is, ‘Wow, this stuff is more expensive.’ Customers just get it. And you can’t trick customers. You can’t make something be perceived to be less or more.”

If your in-store retail displays look beautiful but serve no purpose, you’re missing out on sales opportunities. Many times, retailers will use products that aren’t for sale, hide pricing information, or make it difficult to find the displayed merchandise elsewhere in the store. Your display could also be blocking pathways or the overall flow of your store.

Cater to your customer. Think about if you were shopping the display: Which information would you like to see? Perhaps there’s a sign that lists product details and prices, or a map of the store that shows you where to browse more size and color options. Better yet, bring a rack over or have a small section of the display dedicated to shoppable products.

Customers also want to see your product in action. It’s one of the main advantages a physical retailer has over ecommerce sellers. Creating displays that show your products in use or allow shoppers to try them out will help with engagement and conversions.

Brandless executed this really well in theirPop-Up with a Purpose in Los Angeles. Their displays effectively the different products they carried along with their uses. For example, they had a display that showcased the different pizza ingredients they were selling. To make it more effective, they merchandised it with pizza utensils and even had an iPad with video showing how people could use the various ingredients.

“The whole purpose of visual merchandising, other than selling merchandise, is to teach the customer what they should buy and how to put it together,” says Cahan. “That’s why you accessorize a mannequin. Essentially, an unaccessorized mannequin is an untapped opportunity to upsell.”

Immersive retailis creating more opportunities for retailers to stand out than ever before. But when it comes to in-store displays, it’s easy to forget to incorporate that interactivity. After all, displays are meant to be visual, right?

In today’s retail world, you’d be remiss to exclude interactivity with your in-store displays. Consumers want to experience your product, not just look at it.

Your in-store retail displays are no longer for simply showcasing products; they should be interactive elements of your store that allows customers to have deeper engagements with your merchandiseandyour brand.

London’sSipsmithis a gin distillery and shop. Theycreated a retail displaythat allowed customers to experience their product on the spot with a sipping station.

Another example comes from Brandless, which gave guests that ability to test their products at their pop-up. Here’s a tasting station where people could test different olive oils and sauces.

Taste-testing is a surefire way to create an immersive experience in the food and beverage industry, but there are other ways you can get creative.Anthropologieis one major retailer that creates an immersive experience through in-store displays of their home goods, clothing and accessory products. “When you go into Anthropologie, you’re entering their world and you know it,” Cahan says. “Each area is designed and displayed and decorated uniquely.”

“Anthropologie does a lot of visual layering; it’s not just one prop on a wall. They create texture and movement through their displays,” Cahan says. “They know their customer, and they gear everything towards that customer.”

Many times, retailers lack basic standards or guidelines. That makes it easier for smaller details to go unnoticed during the design process. “Standards matter,” Cahan says. “Messy means cheap, that everything’s on sale.”

Consider documenting brand guidelines for in-store displays. This becomes increasingly important for retailers with multiple locations, as it will help ensure both stores create a synonymous customer experience.

“It also sets a tone,” Cahan says. “One of the best ways a manual works is if you explain why you have this rule. When people understand why, then they’re more inclined to go along with it.”

“One of the things retailers do that is a mistake is that they basically just stay in their stores,” Cahan says. “They don’t shop competitors.” It’s easy to be “heads down” in your business and fall into a routine, doing the same displays you’ve always done.

First thing’s first: Take a walk. Look at the other shops near your store, home or favorite store to shop as a consumer. Which in-store displays catch your eye? What do you like about them? Take pictures so you can recall and recreate later.

“Getting inspired by other types of retail can be a wonderful way to freshen and invigorate their own displays.” – Linda Cahan, retail visual merchandising and design consultant

“For instance, if you have a clothing store and you look at the displays of a gift shop or an antique store or an arts and crafts store, you can creatively borrow ideas,” Cahan says. “It’s a wonderful way to get a lot of fresh ideas. There are no rules about what you can or cannot do.”

Here’s an inspiring window display to get you started: One clothing retailer on New York City’s Madison Avenue used inexpensive paint brushes to create an artistic and eye catching display. “It was unexpected and pretty and not expensive, but it was very creative,” says Cahan. “When you see creativity in a window, then you feel that you’re creative by buying from this store.”

Luxury brands may turn to Saks Fifth Avenue as a source of inspiration. Consider thesewindow displays for Dior: The innovative, industrial approach appealed to the quality of the product and style of their target market.

Portland-based Tilde, an accessories and home goods shop, is conveniently located across the street from a popular restaurant. The retailer lures customers in with their creative window displays, which are complemented by the textures and playfulness of the in-store merchandising. “She’s never spent more than $40 per window,” Cahan says.

One common mistake among retailers is failing to update the in-store displays frequently enough.One survey from PricewaterhouseCoopersfound that 40% of consumers make weekly purchases at brick-and-mortar retail stores. Whether they visit your store weekly or not, you’ll want to make sure each visit reveals new products to discover.

“Every couple of weeks, move displays around to keep them from getting stale – and certainly move them when new merchandise comes in. Since the fairly new products will still be selling, switch your displays two weeks after their arrival. Move one display from the front to the middle of the store and another display from the middle to the back.”

You can also use holidays, events and seasonal changes to inspire changes in your in-store retail displays. That’s what one San Francisco-basedCore Hardwarestore did for Halloween.

Hanging brooms in the windows, along with a “Witch broom?” tagline, drew attention and foot traffic, thanks to an unlikely but creative parallel between Halloween and hardware. “A little cleverness goes a long way. Window displays are on-street entertainment and on-street advertising,” Cahan says of the example. “It’s one of the less expensive ways to advertise and it lasts a long time, especially if you’re in an area where there’s walk-by traffic.”

While we may have grand, creative ideas, they’re not always realistic. There are logistics that every retailer must account for, including but not limited to budget, staffing, and timelines. “Displays are on and off the floor in a matter of weeks to make room for new products,” says Corey.

“Another challenge is electrical. Electrical doesn’t always run to the middle of the store,” Corey points out. “So when you have displays that are in the dead-zone, there’s no way to incorporate video displays or backlit displays.”

It’s best to anticipate logistical challenges and design your displays around those circumstances. “As designers, we have to build the displays with low cost, non-permanent features because they will likely be shuffled around or damaged during relocation,” Corey advises.

You can also get creative around those challenges. In small storefronts especially, space is extremely valuable. And retail displays take up that valuable space. Denver’sBouzy Wine & Spiritsdesigned its displays to allow for better functionality and use of space. Theircustom-made floor fixtures have wheels and a curved designthat makes it easy for the retailer to reposition them to make more room on the floor.

Chocolate brandjcocoalsomade their retail displays multi-functional. They hosted a pop-up shop in Washington’s The Bellevue Square shopping center and needed to find a way to maximize the space but also keep the pop-up fresh (as is the nature forpop-ups). Everything was easy to disassemble and reassemble, plus it offered additional storage for merchandise.

You don’t need to be an overly creative or experienced designer to create effective in-store retail displays. The most successful displays are created with a specific goal and the customer in mind.

Photo: A trick of the polarized light: rotate one pair of polarizing sunglasses past another and you can block out virtually all the light that normally passes through.

Photo: A less well known trick of polarized light: it makes crystals gleam with amazing spectral colors due to a phenomenon called pleochroism. Photo of protein and virus crystals, many of which were grown in space. Credit: Dr. Alex McPherson, University of California, Irvine. Photo courtesy of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA-MSFC).

Photo: Prove to yourself that an LCD display uses polarized light. Simply put on a pair of polarizing sunglasses and rotate your head (or the display). You"ll see the display at its brightest at one angle and at its darkest at exactly 90 degrees to that angle.

Photo: How liquid crystals switch light on and off. In one orientation, polarized light cannot pass through the crystals so they appear dark (left side photo). In a different orientation, polarized light passes through okay so the crystals appear bright (right side photo). We can make the crystals change orientation—and switch their pixels on and off—simply by applying an electric field. Photo from liquid crystal research by David Weitz courtesy of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA-MSFC).

Glass substrate with ITO electrodes. The shapes of these electrodes will determine the shapes that will appear when the LCD is switched ON. Vertical ridges etched on the surface are smooth.

A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directlybacklight or reflector to produce images in color or monochrome.seven-segment displays, as in a digital clock, are all good examples of devices with these displays. They use the same basic technology, except that arbitrary images are made from a matrix of small pixels, while other displays have larger elements. LCDs can either be normally on (positive) or off (negative), depending on the polarizer arrangement. For example, a character positive LCD with a backlight will have black lettering on a background that is the color of the backlight, and a character negative LCD will have a black background with the letters being of the same color as the backlight. Optical filters are added to white on blue LCDs to give them their characteristic appearance.

LCDs are used in a wide range of applications, including LCD televisions, computer monitors, instrument panels, aircraft cockpit displays, and indoor and outdoor signage. Small LCD screens are common in LCD projectors and portable consumer devices such as digital cameras, watches, calculators, and mobile telephones, including smartphones. LCD screens have replaced heavy, bulky and less energy-efficient cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays in nearly all applications. The phosphors used in CRTs make them vulnerable to image burn-in when a static image is displayed on a screen for a long time, e.g., the table frame for an airline flight schedule on an indoor sign. LCDs do not have this weakness, but are still susceptible to image persistence.

Each pixel of an LCD typically consists of a layer of molecules aligned between two transparent electrodes, often made of Indium-Tin oxide (ITO) and two polarizing filters (parallel and perpendicular polarizers), the axes of transmission of which are (in most of the cases) perpendicular to each other. Without the liquid crystal between the polarizing filters, light passing through the first filter would be blocked by the second (crossed) polarizer. Before an electric field is applied, the orientation of the liquid-crystal molecules is determined by the alignment at the surfaces of electrodes. In a twisted nematic (TN) device, the surface alignment directions at the two electrodes are perpendicular to each other, and so the molecules arrange themselves in a helical structure, or twist. This induces the rotation of the polarization of the incident light, and the device appears gray. If the applied voltage is large enough, the liquid crystal molecules in the center of the layer are almost completely untwisted and the polarization of the incident light is not rotated as it passes through the liquid crystal layer. This light will then be mainly polarized perpendicular to the second filter, and thus be blocked and the pixel will appear black. By controlling the voltage applied across the liquid crystal layer in each pixel, light can be allowed to pass through in varying amounts thus constituting different levels of gray.

The chemical formula of the liquid crystals used in LCDs may vary. Formulas may be patented.Sharp Corporation. The patent that covered that specific mixture expired.

Most color LCD systems use the same technique, with color filters used to generate red, green, and blue subpixels. The LCD color filters are made with a photolithography process on large glass sheets that are later glued with other glass sheets containing a TFT array, spacers and liquid crystal, creating several color LCDs that are then cut from one another and laminated with polarizer sheets. Red, green, blue and black photoresists (resists) are used. All resists contain a finely ground powdered pigment, with particles being just 40 nanometers across. The black resist is the first to be applied; this will create a black grid (known in the industry as a black matrix) that will separate red, green and blue subpixels from one another, increasing contrast ratios and preventing light from leaking from one subpixel onto other surrounding subpixels.Super-twisted nematic LCD, where the variable twist between tighter-spaced plates causes a varying double refraction birefringence, thus changing the hue.

LCD in a Texas Instruments calculator with top polarizer removed from device and placed on top, such that the top and bottom polarizers are perpendicular. As a result, the colors are inverted.

The optical effect of a TN device in the voltage-on state is far less dependent on variations in the device thickness than that in the voltage-off state. Because of this, TN displays with low information content and no backlighting are usually operated between crossed polarizers such that they appear bright with no voltage (the eye is much more sensitive to variations in the dark state than the bright state). As most of 2010-era LCDs are used in television sets, monitors and smartphones, they have high-resolution matrix arrays of pixels to display arbitrary images using backlighting with a dark background. When no image is displayed, different arrangements are used. For this purpose, TN LCDs are operated between parallel polarizers, whereas IPS LCDs feature crossed polarizers. In many applications IPS LCDs have replaced TN LCDs, particularly in smartphones. Both the liquid crystal material and the alignment layer material contain ionic compounds. If an electric field of one particular polarity is applied for a long period of time, this ionic material is attracted to the surfaces and degrades the device performance. This is avoided either by applying an alternating current or by reversing the polarity of the electric field as the device is addressed (the response of the liquid crystal layer is identical, regardless of the polarity of the applied field).

Displays for a small number of individual digits or fixed symbols (as in digital watches and pocket calculators) can be implemented with independent electrodes for each segment.alphanumeric or variable graphics displays are usually implemented with pixels arranged as a matrix consisting of electrically connected rows on one side of the LC layer and columns on the other side, which makes it possible to address each pixel at the intersections. The general method of matrix addressing consists of sequentially addressing one side of the matrix, for example by selecting the rows one-by-one and applying the picture information on the other side at the columns row-by-row. For details on the various matrix addressing schemes see passive-matrix and active-matrix addressed LCDs.

LCDs are manufactured in cleanrooms borrowing techniques from semiconductor manufacturing and using large sheets of glass whose size has increased over time. Several displays are manufactured at the same time, and then cut from the sheet of glass, also known as the mother glass or LCD glass substrate. The increase in size allows more displays or larger displays to be made, just like with increasing wafer sizes in semiconductor manufacturing. The glass sizes are as follows:

Until Gen 8, manufacturers would not agree on a single mother glass size and as a result, different manufacturers would use slightly different glass sizes for the same generation. Some manufacturers have adopted Gen 8.6 mother glass sheets which are only slightly larger than Gen 8.5, allowing for more 50 and 58 inch LCDs to be made per mother glass, specially 58 inch LCDs, in which case 6 can be produced on a Gen 8.6 mother glass vs only 3 on a Gen 8.5 mother glass, significantly reducing waste.AGC Inc., Corning Inc., and Nippon Electric Glass.

The origins and the complex history of liquid-crystal displays from the perspective of an insider during the early days were described by Joseph A. Castellano in Liquid Gold: The Story of Liquid Crystal Displays and the Creation of an Industry.IEEE History Center.Peter J. Wild, can be found at the Engineering and Technology History Wiki.

In 1888,Friedrich Reinitzer (1858–1927) discovered the liquid crystalline nature of cholesterol extracted from carrots (that is, two melting points and generation of colors) and published his findings at a meeting of the Vienna Chemical Society on May 3, 1888 (F. Reinitzer: Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Cholesterins, Monatshefte für Chemie (Wien) 9, 421–441 (1888)).Otto Lehmann published his work "Flüssige Kristalle" (Liquid Crystals). In 1911, Charles Mauguin first experimented with liquid crystals confined between plates in thin layers.

In 1922, Georges Friedel described the structure and properties of liquid crystals and classified them in three types (nematics, smectics and cholesterics). In 1927, Vsevolod Frederiks devised the electrically switched light valve, called the Fréedericksz transition, the essential effect of all LCD technology. In 1936, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph company patented the first practical application of the technology, "The Liquid Crystal Light Valve". In 1962, the first major English language publication Molecular Structure and Properties of Liquid Crystals was published by Dr. George W. Gray.RCA found that liquid crystals had some interesting electro-optic characteristics and he realized an electro-optical effect by generating stripe-patterns in a thin layer of liquid crystal material by the application of a voltage. This effect is based on an electro-hydrodynamic instability forming what are now called "Williams domains" inside the liquid crystal.

In 1964, George H. Heilmeier, then working at the RCA laboratories on the effect discovered by Williams achieved the switching of colors by field-induced realignment of dichroic dyes in a homeotropically oriented liquid crystal. Practical problems with this new electro-optical effect made Heilmeier continue to work on scattering effects in liquid crystals and finally the achievement of the first operational liquid-crystal display based on what he called the George H. Heilmeier was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of FameIEEE Milestone.

In the late 1960s, pioneering work on liquid crystals was undertaken by the UK"s Royal Radar Establishment at Malvern, England. The team at RRE supported ongoing work by George William Gray and his team at the University of Hull who ultimately discovered the cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals, which had correct stability and temperature properties for application in LCDs.

The idea of a TFT-based liquid-crystal display (LCD) was conceived by Bernard Lechner of RCA Laboratories in 1968.dynamic scattering mode (DSM) LCD that used standard discrete MOSFETs.

On December 4, 1970, the twisted nematic field effect (TN) in liquid crystals was filed for patent by Hoffmann-LaRoche in Switzerland, (Swiss patent No. 532 261) with Wolfgang Helfrich and Martin Schadt (then working for the Central Research Laboratories) listed as inventors.Brown, Boveri & Cie, its joint venture partner at that time, which produced TN displays for wristwatches and other applications during the 1970s for the international markets including the Japanese electronics industry, which soon produced the first digital quartz wristwatches with TN-LCDs and numerous other products. James Fergason, while working with Sardari Arora and Alfred Saupe at Kent State University Liquid Crystal Institute, filed an identical patent in the United States on April 22, 1971.ILIXCO (now LXD Incorporated), produced LCDs based on the TN-effect, which soon superseded the poor-quality DSM types due to improvements of lower operating voltages and lower power consumption. Tetsuro Hama and Izuhiko Nishimura of Seiko received a US patent dated February 1971, for an electronic wristwatch incorporating a TN-LCD.

In 1972, the concept of the active-matrix thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid-crystal display panel was prototyped in the United States by T. Peter Brody"s team at Westinghouse, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Westinghouse Research Laboratories demonstrated the first thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD).high-resolution and high-quality electronic visual display devices use TFT-based active matrix displays.active-matrix liquid-crystal display (AM LCD) in 1974, and then Brody coined the term "active matrix" in 1975.

In 1972 North American Rockwell Microelectronics Corp introduced the use of DSM LCDs for calculators for marketing by Lloyds Electronics Inc, though these required an internal light source for illumination.Sharp Corporation followed with DSM LCDs for pocket-sized calculators in 1973Seiko and its first 6-digit TN-LCD quartz wristwatch, and Casio"s "Casiotron". Color LCDs based on Guest-Host interaction were invented by a team at RCA in 1968.TFT LCDs similar to the prototypes developed by a Westinghouse team in 1972 were patented in 1976 by a team at Sharp consisting of Fumiaki Funada, Masataka Matsuura, and Tomio Wada,

In 1983, researchers at Brown, Boveri & Cie (BBC) Research Center, Switzerland, invented the passive matrix-addressed LCDs. H. Amstutz et al. were listed as inventors in the corresponding patent applications filed in Switzerland on July 7, 1983, and October 28, 1983. Patents were granted in Switzerland CH 665491, Europe EP 0131216,

The first color LCD televisions were developed as handheld televisions in Japan. In 1980, Hattori Seiko"s R&D group began development on color LCD pocket televisions.Seiko Epson released the first LCD television, the Epson TV Watch, a wristwatch equipped with a small active-matrix LCD television.dot matrix TN-LCD in 1983.Citizen Watch,TFT LCD.computer monitors and LCD televisions.3LCD projection technology in the 1980s, and licensed it for use in projectors in 1988.compact, full-color LCD projector.

In 1990, under different titles, inventors conceived electro optical effects as alternatives to twisted nematic field effect LCDs (TN- and STN- LCDs). One approach was to use interdigital electrodes on one glass substrate only to produce an electric field essentially parallel to the glass substrates.Germany by Guenter Baur et al. and patented in various countries.Hitachi work out various practical details of the IPS technology to interconnect the thin-film transistor array as a matrix and to avoid undesirable stray fields in between pixels.

Hitachi also improved the viewing angle dependence further by optimizing the shape of the electrodes (Super IPS). NEC and Hitachi become early manufacturers of active-matrix addressed LCDs based on the IPS technology. This is a milestone for implementing large-screen LCDs having acceptable visual performance for flat-panel computer monitors and television screens. In 1996, Samsung developed the optical patterning technique that enables multi-domain LCD. Multi-domain and In Plane Switching subsequently remain the dominant LCD designs through 2006.South Korea and Taiwan,

In 2007 the image quality of LCD televisions surpassed the image quality of cathode-ray-tube-based (CRT) TVs.LCD TVs were projected to account 50% of the 200 million TVs to be shipped globally in 2006, according to Displaybank.Toshiba announced 2560 × 1600 pixels on a 6.1-inch (155 mm) LCD panel, suitable for use in a tablet computer,

In 2016, Panasonic developed IPS LCDs with a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, rivaling OLEDs. This technology was later put into mass production as dual layer, dual panel or LMCL (Light Modulating Cell Layer) LCDs. The technology uses 2 liquid crystal layers instead of one, and may be used along with a mini-LED backlight and quantum dot sheets.

Since LCDs produce no light of their own, they require external light to produce a visible image.backlight. Active-matrix LCDs are almost always backlit.Transflective LCDs combine the features of a backlit transmissive display and a reflective display.

CCFL: The LCD panel is lit either by two cold cathode fluorescent lamps placed at opposite edges of the display or an array of parallel CCFLs behind larger displays. A diffuser (made of PMMA acrylic plastic, also known as a wave or light guide/guiding plateinverter to convert whatever DC voltage the device uses (usually 5 or 12 V) to ≈1000 V needed to light a CCFL.

EL-WLED: The LCD panel is lit by a row of white LEDs placed at one or more edges of the screen. A light diffuser (light guide plate, LGP) is then used to spread the light evenly across the whole display, similarly to edge-lit CCFL LCD backlights. The diffuser is made out of either PMMA plastic or special glass, PMMA is used in most cases because it is rugged, while special glass is used when the thickness of the LCD is of primary concern, because it doesn"t expand as much when heated or exposed to moisture, which allows LCDs to be just 5mm thick. Quantum dots may be placed on top of the diffuser as a quantum dot enhancement film (QDEF, in which case they need a layer to be protected from heat and humidity) or on the color filter of the LCD, replacing the resists that are normally used.

WLED array: The LCD panel is lit by a full array of white LEDs placed behind a diffuser behind the panel. LCDs that use this implementation will usually have the ability to dim or completely turn off the LEDs in the dark areas of the image being displayed, effectively increasing the contrast ratio of the display. The precision with which this can be done will depend on the number of dimming zones of the display. The more dimming zones, the more precise the dimming, with less obvious blooming artifacts which are visible as dark grey patches surrounded by the unlit areas of the LCD. As of 2012, this design gets most of its use from upscale, larger-screen LCD televisions.

RGB-LED array: Similar to the WLED array, except the panel is lit by a full array of RGB LEDs. While displays lit with white LEDs usually have a poorer color gamut than CCFL lit displays, panels lit with RGB LEDs have very wide color gamuts. This implementation is most popular on professional graphics editing LCDs. As of 2012, LCDs in this category usually cost more than $1000. As of 2016 the cost of this category has drastically reduced and such LCD televisions obtained same price levels as the former 28" (71 cm) CRT based categories.

Monochrome LEDs: such as red, green, yellow or blue LEDs are used in the small passive monochrome LCDs typically used in clocks, watches and small appliances.

Mini-LED: Backlighting with Mini-LEDs can support over a thousand of Full-area Local Area Dimming (FLAD) zones. This allows deeper blacks and higher contrast ratio.

Today, most LCD screens are being designed with an LED backlight instead of the traditional CCFL backlight, while that backlight is dynamically controlled with the video information (dynamic backlight control). The combination with the dynamic backlight control, invented by Philips researchers Douglas Stanton, Martinus Stroomer and Adrianus de Vaan, simultaneously increases the dynamic range of the display system (also marketed as HDR, high dynamic range television or FLAD, full-area local area dimming).

The LCD backlight systems are made highly efficient by applying optical films such as prismatic structure (prism sheet) to gain the light into the desired viewer directions and reflective polarizing films that recycle the polarized light that was formerly absorbed by the first polarizer of the LCD (invented by Philips researchers Adrianus de Vaan and Paulus Schaareman),

A pink elastomeric connector mating an LCD panel to circuit board traces, shown next to a centimeter-scale ruler. The conductive and insulating layers in the black stripe are very small.

A standard television receiver screen, a modern LCD panel, has over six million pixels, and they are all individually powered by a wire network embedded in the screen. The fine wires, or pathways, form a grid with vertical wires across the whole screen on one side of the screen and horizontal wires across the whole screen on the other side of the screen. To this grid each pixel has a positive connection on one side and a negative connection on the other side. So the total amount of wires needed for a 1080p display is 3 x 1920 going vertically and 1080 going horizontally for a total of 6840 wires horizontally and vertically. That"s three for red, green and blue and 1920 columns of pixels for each color for a total of 5760 wires going vertically and 1080 rows of wires going horizontally. For a panel that is 28.8 inches (73 centimeters) wide, that means a wire density of 200 wires per inch along the horizontal edge.

The LCD panel is powered by LCD drivers that are carefully matched up with the edge of the LCD panel at the factory level. The drivers may be installed using several methods, the most common of which are COG (Chip-On-Glass) and TAB (Tape-automated bonding) These same principles apply also for smartphone screens that are much smaller than TV screens.anisotropic conductive film or, for lower densities, elastomeric connectors.

Monochrome and later color passive-matrix LCDs were standard in most early laptops (although a few used plasma displaysGame Boyactive-matrix became standard on all laptops. The commercially unsuccessful Macintosh Portable (released in 1989) was one of the first to use an active-matrix display (though still monochrome). Passive-matrix LCDs are still used in the 2010s for applications less demanding than laptop computers and TVs, such as inexpensive calculators. In particular, these are used on portable devices where less information content needs to be displayed, lowest power consumption (no backlight) and low cost are desired or readability in direct sunlight is needed.

A comparison between a blank passive-matrix display (top) and a blank active-matrix display (bottom). A passive-matrix display can be identified when the blank background is more grey in appearance than the crisper active-matrix display, fog appears on all edges of the screen, and while pictures appear to be fading on the screen.

Displays having a passive-matrix structure are employing Crosstalk between activated and non-activated pixels has to be handled properly by keeping the RMS voltage of non-activated pixels below the threshold voltage as discovered by Peter J. Wild in 1972,

STN LCDs have to be continuously refreshed by alternating pulsed voltages of one polarity during one frame and pulses of opposite polarity during the next frame. Individual pixels are addressed by the corresponding row and column circuits. This type of display is called response times and poor contrast are typical of passive-matrix addressed LCDs with too many pixels and driven according to the "Alt & Pleshko" drive scheme. Welzen and de Vaan also invented a non RMS drive scheme enabling to drive STN displays with video rates and enabling to show smooth moving video images on an STN display.

Bistable LCDs do not require continuous refreshing. Rewriting is only required for picture information changes. In 1984 HA van Sprang and AJSM de Vaan invented an STN type display that could be operated in a bistable mode, enabling extremely high resolution images up to 4000 lines or more usi