First impressions…
It is said that each of us, when meeting someone, forms a first impression within the first seven seconds.
This decision is not a conscious process; in fact, we do not even notice it.
It is rooted in those “primitive” processes from a time when quickly judging whether the other person was friend or foe, dangerous or harmless, was a matter of life or death.
Moreover, a first judgement is very difficult to change.
While in a long-standing personal or professional relationship we have the chance, over time, to overturn a prejudice that the other person had hastily formed, when it comes to the image of a point of sale we must be aware that a sale lost because of a poor image will never be recovered.
That is why it is important that our LED price displays pass this test.
Price displays are the first thing our customers look for.
An ugly or partially working price display says something about us, rightly or wrongly.
When designing the new series of price displays, we also wanted to approach the product from an aesthetic point of view.
We were not satisfied with the digits simply being recognisable: we chose the right height-to-width ratio for the font.
We did not use the old 7-segment system but opted for a “semigraphic” solution.
Semigraphic characters
There are several techniques for displaying a character.
One of the earliest is the seven-segment display. The older among us will remember them on calculators and digital watches.
Using 7 segments, we can create patterns that we easily associate with numbers
This font is efficient, but it generally clashes with an image in which logos and shapes are full of curves.
We immediately perceive it as something detached from the rest of the lettering.
To overcome this effect, we created a semigraphic font in which the corners have been softened.
The next image shows that, to achieve a rounded effect on the H25 characters, we divided the LEDs into 33 groups (compared with the seven groups of the seven-segment display).
We also increased the LED density and made the price display capable of showing the words SELF and SERV.
Here is a comparison between two boards showing semigraphic characters and an old seven-segment board of height 15.
Below is a photo from a customer who, to save money, ended up with a mismatched set.
We think the comparison between our product and the competition's is merciless.
