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Selecting the right touch screen to maximize results

November 2, 2010 by Kurt Myrick — Technical Engineer, Phoenix Kiosk

(Part 1 of 2)

Getting familiar with touch screens – Touch Screen 101

If you’re familiar with the kiosk industry, you know that touch screens are an integral part of any self-service kiosk. Yet touch screens are often overlooked. That’s why I decided to dedicate a two-part blog to touch screens in order to ensure companies make sure they end up with the touch screens that best suit their needs.

As a brief overview, touch screens enable someone to interact directly with what is displayed on the kiosk, rather than indirectly with a cursor controlled by a mouse or touchpad. The touch screens provided by my firm Phoenix Kiosk and others are typically Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs). Other emerging technologies, such as LEDs, are also available. Keep in mind that the major difference between a touch screen and LCD, is that the touch screen is an overlay that is placed in front of an LCD screen. 

Common sizes for touch screens
There are essentially 10 standard touch screen sizes: 19”, 20”, 22”, 24”, 26”, 32”, 42”, 47”, 55” and 65”. The most common sizes that our clients prefer are the standard 19” format for smaller screens, and the 32” format for larger touch screen applications. You can definitely go larger than 65”, it just depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

Although virtually any application can be configured to a touch screen of any size, one thing to consider in choosing the size of your touch screen is functionality versus the need for the “Wow” factor.

If your kiosk is simply used to display and print forms for human resources, then a large screen may not be needed. However, if your kiosk is used on the sales floor to generate leads and additional revenue, then obviously, the larger the screen the better. In fact, the more screens the better. Dual-screen kiosks are a popular choice for those who seek to engage the largest audience possible. One screen is interactive, while the one that appears above it is typically marketing or advertising only.

If you want to make a statement, that’s an easy thing to do if you implement the right kiosk.

Benefits of having a larger touch screen
A larger touch screen provides many benefits…

•    Grabs attention – Attracts more customers and can increase leads/conversions
•    Provides more visual space – Clearly conveys messages and provides more compelling presentations
•    Maximizes branding – Products and messages are recognized and assimilated more quickly
•    Product expansion – More images, more variety, more marketing space

Touch screen orientation – landscape vs. portrait
Smaller touch screens are typically mounted into kiosks in a landscape (horizontal) format. This format is one that people are accustomed to with small screens, such as their personal computers, for example.

Applications used with larger touch screens, however, are often more conducive to portrait (vertical) format. This is because information can be presented in a manner that is more pleasing to the eye. Although widescreen televisions are always horizontal, touch screens obviously serve a different purpose. On the other hand, if video or other considerations are more important to an application, landscape format is certainly available for touch screens of any size.

It’s safe to say that most people feel more comfortable with portrait format if they need to view a moderate to large amount of detailed information. It’s easier to process information spread out in a large number of slender columns, rather than a smaller number of longer rows. Think New York Times.

Any touch screen can be configured in any format except for the 19” model, which must be landscape due to its 4:3 ratio. When it comes to digital signage, such as the wall mount units, they are always provided in landscape format due to the heavy video content presented on these models.

Conclusion – bigger is better (well … almost always)
In most cases – especially for sales, marketing and branding applications – the bigger the screen the better. Bigger screens capture a larger audience and provide more space for your company to present more information in a clear and concise manner.

When it comes to the orientation of your touch screen, your options are pretty much wide open. Most of the decision comes down to thinking about the user interface, and providing the user with the most pleasant experience possible.

My next blog, the second of the two-part touch screen series, will talk about various touch screen technologies (surface acoustic wave, projected capacitive touch and infrared), as well as software considerations.

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