Heritage sites want to capture attention, excite people with history, and inspire the next generation. Digital signage for heritage can help reinvigorate your site and ensure visitors remain engaged.
Historians, conservators, curators, archivists, tour guides, educators, and heritage staff have so much passion for their subject and site, and they want to share this with visitors. Yet as the world turns digital and society becomes more technologically savvy than ever, heritage sites need to take the plunge into digital to meet the needs of their audiences.
Whether a castle or cathedral, museum or country house, digital signage for heritage is the way to revamp the sector and ensure visitors remain interested, intrigued, and engaged. This blog highlights 5 top ways the heritage sector can make use of digital signage.
1. Welcome Visitors With Digital Signage For Heritage
Visitors love to feel welcome and appreciated. It adds to their experience and helps them enjoy their visit. Use digital signage for heritage at the entrance of your site to provide welcome messages. These messages can be personalised for large groups and scheduled using digital signage software. This digital welcome enhances visitor inclusivity and reduces the time staff spend welcoming each individual visitor, increasing staff productivity on other tasks.
Moreover, save time and money by including general site information on your welcome screen, including opening times and entrance prices or donation recommendations. By consistently displaying this information on a high-brightness, high-resolution screen, visitors will immediately receive the information they need. This accessibility will increase satisfaction and ease of entry.
This welcome screen can also display scheduled events for the day ahead, such as an artwork talk or bell-ringing demonstration, so that visitors know what to expect and can plan their day, improving the overall experience. These events can be displayed in multiple ways, including a group or list calendar format, scrolling information using the text ticker widget, or displayed on a rotating content playlist. By presenting these events on-screen, customers at the entrance unsure whether to enter are provided with motivation due to bonus events and activities inside, increasing sales.
Welcome digital signage for heritage can also track visitor numbers via sensors. When people walk past the entrance screen, you can count the number of people entering and exiting. This ability not only helps track capacity but also when peak times are. Use this information to make well-informed decisions about your site, such as when to hold events.
2. Multimedia Digital Signage To Bring Exhibitions To Life
Digital technology is advancing at a rapid pace. The multimedia capabilities of digital signage can bring heritage and history at your site to life. This technology creates an immersive experience for visitors allowing them to become a part of history for that moment.
On heritage digital signage, rotate images of old residents of a room or an item being used on a playlist. Also, display video content on an LED TV screen or a video wall. Videos could be of actors using the room, contextual footage from the period, or even historians explaining the room. This content gives the room a realistic feel where the room ceases to be static. It can also induce emotion in visitors, allowing visitors to connect better with those from the past.
On a more complex level, touchless heritage digital signage has many exciting capabilities. Utilise sensors to target visitors walking past the screen and immediately display content to shock. For example, a character from the past saying hello to a visitor as if they were there. Alternatively, use augmented reality to bring a room to life virtually. Project people or events from history to help visitors learn beyond just reading a poster on the wall.
This multitude of multimedia digital signage capabilities has the potential to completely transform the visitor experience for both enjoyment and education, helping your heritage site translate its message and stand out from the rest.
3. Item And Room Specific Digital Information Screens
When visiting a heritage site containing fascinating items, the item descriptions are often small and hard-to-read. Rejuvenate your heritage item and room signage by displaying this information on digital screens.
Due to the brightness and larger size, anyone can read the text, no matter where they are in the room. Also, more people can read a screen simultaneously, unlike a small poster or sign, reducing waiting time and increasing satisfaction.
Alternatively, summarise the contents of a room on heritage digital signage at the room entrance. This content will give people a grand overview of what they can expect and the story the room holds.
This digital signage for heritage increases the chances of visitors reading the room or item information that curators have spent time and effort putting together. As a result, the visitor experience will improve as information is more accessible and staff will be satisfied that their work is appreciated.
4. Digital Wayfinding
Heritage sites often feel like mazes. While an individual building may be easy to navigate, heritage complexes with varying grounds, buildings, and event locations can be tricky to work out. Even finding the gift shop or toilets can be a mission sometimes. If customers get lost, their satisfaction will decrease, reducing the chances of return and recommendation.
Solve this issue with digital wayfinding. Digital screens can display arrows and directions to certain rooms and areas. For example, in a multi-storey, multi-room castle, digital signage can provide arrows on which room to enter next. If the route changes, you can immediately update the display via digital signage software. These screens can also provide extra information on what to expect next, such as “Prepare to jump as you enter the room of the witches cauldron”.
Alongside this, schedule content to display on screens around the site at particular times to give directions to specific events or activities. This capability has the benefit of increasing audience numbers at events.
Alternatively, present digital wayfinding through interactive digital kiosks. These kiosks can display a complete map of the heritage site. On the map, the visitor can see where they are currently and tap their desired location. In response, the kiosk will display a personalised route to the destination and can even offer a virtual tour.
From simple directions to interactive maps, digital wayfinding as a form of heritage digital signage will prevent visitors from getting lost, improving the visitor experience.
5. Interactive Displays And Learning Digital Signage For Heritage
Though centred on the past, museums and heritage sites need to adapt to the new digital age. This adaptation will ensure they stay relevant and engaging for a digital society. These sites aim to inspire new generations, but static items and boring displays often fail to induce excitement in visitors.
Learning materials and resources need to adapt to a generation of children accustom to technology to ignite their passion for history. Research has shown that 80% of parents say their child age 5 to 11 ever uses or interacts with a tablet computer, and this figure only increases for teenagers. As a result, interactive digital displays can capture the attention of these children and ensure they engage and learn.
Interactive touchscreen displays can contain different content and tasks, from clicking on specific tabs to learn more about a topic to virtual archaeology and digging. Make characters that link to your museum to take the children through an interactive journey and improve their chances of having a memorable experience.
Interactive displays and learning content is not just for children, however. Adults need and want to learn too. Collate interactive activities for adults to ensure they, too, have a positive and memorable experience.
When leaving your site, if a visitor remembers something they learnt inside, their trip is successful. Optimise the chances of this with touchscreen interactive digital signage for heritage.
If you have any questions related to digital signage for heritage, speak to an expert today. Call our friendly team on 02380 981110 or Email info@troudigital.com for a no-obligation consultation. Alternatively, click the button below.
