MEGA LED

At Click Suite we’re researching the feasibility of an outdoor LED installation at a top secret location somewhere in Wellington.

It’s in the early stages but what’s evident is that just like tall building envy, there’s LED envy. But is big HUGE MASSIVE always better?

China has the biggest LED display right now, but as usual Dubai has plans to top that. Plans are afoot to embedded the world\’s largest LED screen on a commercial tower in the Majan district of Dubailand.

[above] The Podium\’, will be a neck-breaking 33-stories high that will be visible from a distance of 1.5 kilometres. It will be used for advertising, messaging and art. The LED screen is designed to still allow natural light into the building.

But already up and running is the GreenPix digital media wall, in Beijing, possibly the largest color LED display in the world. It uses 2,292 low-energy lights spanning a 24,000-square-foot glass surface. In the evenings the wall plays massive low-resolution arty abstract video installations.

[above] What’s also fantastic about this display is that it’s an example of innovative sustainable technology. The designers laminated photovoltaic cells inside the glass curtain wall generating enough electricity each day to power the display at night.

One of Click Suite’s favorites is the World’s Biggest Fake Fish Tank. It’s a 250m by 30m LED screen installed in the ceiling of a new mall in Beijing. It hangs 80 feet in the air, and is actually five screens combined.

[above] Photo by Skinny. Video below…

But is massive-scale LED displays all good news? This blogger talks about the pitfalls of massive displays when advertisers get their hands on them : “Toiletries being sold to us from a 17-story TV”.

They have a good point, but I think it depends HOW the products are being sold. As these technologies become more common (and bigger) advertisers and interactive designers need to think of ways to get the message across in creative ways which enhance the urban environment, not send us into a sensory overdrive. Otherwise, people will learn to ignore these screens, no matter how massive.