How can cardboard stand in for sheet metal?
And when is wood not actually wood?
The primary goal of any display is to capture the customer’s attention and drive sales of the product it showcases. We’re all familiar with the typical means to make that happen: Innovative shapes, eye-catching graphics, cutting edge electronics and the like.
However, behind all the glitz and glamor of a successful Spectas display lies our explorative approach to a hidden, but vital form of innovation: Process. This sets us apart in two key areas:
- Innovation in Development. Leveraging our cross-material fluency, we use the most economical---yet representative---materials to thoroughly explore our concepts. Unworkable configurations and potential issues are swiftly identified and dealt with rather than being discovered during the more expensive prototype or even production stages. Additionally, it’s always helpful to get a three-dimensional sense of the physical layout and merchandising power of a display before committing to final materials.
- Innovation in Material Sampling. In terms of materials, our design and engineering teams are seasonal veterans at thinking outside the box. For example, if a display requires a rustic wood texture, it can be more cost effective to produce some components out of urethane. Or if a client needs a lighting effect, but electrical power is not available at the in-store location, edge-lit acrylic elements can achieve the same look by redirecting ambient lighting. We excel in perfectly matching suggested materials to the best manufacturing processes, given the quantity and budget at hand.
As tempting as it can be to focus solely on a display’s external appearance, it’s the innovation at work in the processes behind the scenes that can truly make the difference.