Plastic displays in unexpected places
With the E-paper display market expected to grow by an estimated £311 Million by 2022, there is a lucrative opportunity for innovative companies looking to evolve their products to remain a step ahead of their competition. The predicted forecast for 2022 and the increasingly popular adoption of plastic displays over traditional glass displays means that we’re likely to see them being incorporated into a number of unusual applications.
Boasting a range of features from daylight readability, low-power consumption and robustness, plastic displays lend themselves to a range of applications across a variety of sectors including education, wearables, automotive and healthcare. In this blog, we take a look at what some of those applications could look like.
Applications in (and out) of the office
Let’s take the office environment first. The rise in flexible working has meant that more people are demanding to work remotely than ever before. However, not all of these employees have the right set-up to do so.
Cue a flexible, lightweight screen that attaches to your mobile. The example pictured below is an ideal application for EPDs, particularly as the displays are readable in all weather conditions, including sunlight. Moreover, their low power removes concern around battery life, making the screens the perfect accessory for those working on-the-go.
Another useful application for the office environment is born out of a similar concept, focused on a nifty design and ease of use. The display works as a standard keyboard, but can also change to a free-hand ‘digital whiteboard’ to facilitate more creative tasks and could be used wirelessly with any computer.
Taking the displays outdoors…
EPDs can also bring electrical displays to the outdoors and Dresden Elektronik’s ‘deZign’ is just one example of this. Plastic displays are weatherproof, tough,
shatterproof and require little maintenance compared with traditional electronic glass displays. Take another example – the parking meter – here a plastic electronic display could be used to show updated area maps, as well as parking spaces available in real time. And most importantly, it can endure 24-hour usage, 7 days a week.
Wearables
Concept designs that showcase potential applications of the future are very interesting and inspiring, but Plastic Logic is already showcasing real life futuristic use-cases today. For example, its recent partnership with Blendology saw the two companies co-develop an innovative professional networking conference badges that allows representatives to tap their badges together to exchange contact details.
Another creative development is from L!BER8, who used our technology to create Tago Arc – an elegant smart bracelet featuring a flexible display that adapts to a selection of patterns and designs depending on the wearer’s style and mood.
Both of these products highlight new use cases where robustness and durability are at the heart of the design, but do not detract from its usability or aesthetics.
These are just a handful of examples of what can be done with EPDs, but the possibilities are limitless. In the face of crowded markets and tightening competition, designers would be smart to integrate the technology into their products from the outset to differentiate themselves at the earliest possible stage.