Two screens, one shop window, a thousand details
How I turned a jeweller's shop windows into a communication tool
Not all IT projects are the same. Some take you inside complex company networks, firewalls and servers. Others put you in front of a jeweller's shop window and ask you to make two screens tell a story.
This is one of the ones I remember most fondly.
THE PROJECT
A jeweller's shop in a shopping arcade contacted me with a precise request: install and configure two monitors — one 55-inch and one 43-inch — in the outside windows, with animations, transitions and content they could manage on their own.
Easy to say. A bit less easy to do the right way.
WHAT "DOING DIGITAL SIGNAGE PROPERLY" MEANS
A monitor in a shop window isn't just a screen that's switched on. It's the first visual contact a passer-by has with the shop. It has to catch the eye without being intrusive, show off the products without overpowering them, and work reliably every day, at all hours.
For a jeweller, this means thinking about every detail: the speed of the transitions (too fast and they distract, too slow and they bore), how long each piece of content stays on screen, the quality of the animations, colours that bring out precious materials instead of flattening them.
I configured both displays, set up the content management software and fine-tuned every parameter based on the position of the windows, the light in the arcade and the kind of message the client wanted to get across.
THE BEAUTY OF THIS JOB
Between this project and the one I handled for a multinational based in London — an office to set up from scratch, network infrastructure, international coordination — there's almost nothing in common. And yet the method is the same: listen to the client, understand the context, find the right solution for that specific situation.
There's no such thing as a project that's "too small" or "too different". There's only a project done well or done badly.
And a shop window that shines, at the right moment, with the right transition, can make as much of a difference as a well-designed IT infrastructure.
If you too have a space to make the most of — physical or digital — let's talk about it over a
