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Tightrope Media Artistic Signage

by Dave Fahrbach, CTS

Modern Digital Signage for the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago

Is it art, or is it signage?

When a digital signage system is properly implemented, it can be hard to tell the difference. Such is the case at the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, with a digital signage system based on Carousel from Tightrope Media Systems (www.trms.com).

Opened in May of 2009 after almost ten years of planning and construction, the new 264,000 square foot Modern Wing was designed by the award-winning Italian architect Renzo Piano. This very impressive addition turns the Chicago landmark into the nation’s second largest art museum.

The Modern Wing is composed of two three-story pavilions, one on each side of the two-story Griffin Court which will serve as the building’s “main street.” As with any main street, effective signage is necessary so that visitors can get directions about where they are and where they want to go. But, unlike the street signs in your home town, the Art Institute needed modern signage to fit with the Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century art housed in the Modern Wing.

Pentegra Systems installed two portrait-mode LCD monitors in the Griffin Court. One of these LCD’s is dedicated to rotating the posters that have been designed for each of the current exhibitions. The other is currently formatted with two, three or four zones to display an RSS feed of current exhibitions as well as an iCal feed of the featured events with additional LCD's at the museum's new Millennium Park Entrance to give general information on ticketing, events and membership. A fifth LCD was installed above the audio tour counter.



After the opening of the Modern Wing, digital signage was added to the museum’s entrance mirroring information from Griffin Court plus a third LCD above the ticket counter to provide general information.

Selecting a Software System

Once Talaske decided on the number and placement of the digital displays, the next crucial decision was selecting the digital signage software that the Institute would use to create content. Elizabeth Neely, Director of Museum Information Systems, said, “We needed a digital signage package that was straightforward and easy to use with out-of-the-box functionality.” After viewing several software alternatives, the institution selected Carousel from Tightrope Media Systems.

“After our first demo of the Carousel software, we could visualize how we could set up and accomplish the workflow," Neely explained. "Luckily, the system was as easy to use as we expected and has easily fit within our workflow. Our graphic designer has quickly learned the system and has related how easy it is to work with. We are very happy with the system.”

Salvador Cruz, Graphic Designer at the Institute, mentioned that one of the challenges for the digital signage system was the implementation of a customized font that was specifically designed for the Art Institute.

Dieckhaus added that one of the main reasons for choosing Tightrope was that it could run on the existing IP network in the older part of the museum. “The original museum has a lot of Cat-3 cable installed that limits the bandwidth. For digital signage to be installed there, we needed a software package that would not constantly stream video and bog down the network. We also liked that Tightrope offers a wireless option which might be necessary in the 100-year old stone and granite building.”

Cruz concluded by saying, “It’s nice to walk through the Griffin Court and see the posters that we have designed electronically displayed side-by-side with the other art in the museum.

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Forbes Social Networking

by Patti Enright

Wikipedia defines a social network service as focusing on building an online community who share interest and/or activities. Forbes-AV, www.forbes-av.com, believes this is the perfect way to communicate with industry professionals in a real time atmosphere about the latest and greatest products and services we provide. Through sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Linkedin we can share lead times, events, specials and much more. More importantly it gives the company an opportunity to communicate in a platform that millions of people across the globe utilize daily.


Traditional communication is still an important part of our marketing strategy but in an era of green conscious networking web based communications can make a difference. Offering PDF downloads of our catalogs and flyers through these social networking sites and making announcements via posts and “tweets” allows us to move away from printed materials. Videos of our tradeshows, manufacturing processes, installation instructions, etc. can also be an effective way of showing our dealers and end users the value of using Forbes-AV for their presentation furniture needs.

Forbes-AV will always focus on providing great values, as well as top quality materials and manufacturing techniques in building its product. Attending and exhibiting at industry tradeshows as well as personal visits will remain a priority. Our presence in the social networking world will only enhance our ability to communicate and involve our valued partners through that community.

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