March 2013 Newsletter
So blackbox-av has been enjoying one of our busiest periods since any of us can remember, with record sales of our U-Turn round, a number of ongoing projects with exciting attractions / organisations like Duxford Air Museum, London Zoo and The National Trust (to name just a few!) and the growing popularity of our online store, we thought it best to keep all of our welcome followers up-to-date with recent bbav news! Here’s a little taster of what we’ve been up to the last few months, especially with the U-Turn…
News
Breaking our record for most U-Turns sold to a single client, Natural England is in the process of taking 40+ for use in various projects around the country. With our factory floor at full tilt the first batch will be going out next week!
National Projects
Audio Posts Enhance Trail
This month The Independent selected the Richard Burton Trail as ‘walk of the month’ with special mention of the U-Turn audio point located there. To quote the article “Audio posts enhance the experience of walking among the actor’s childhood haunts in South Wales”. Read the entire article.
International Projects
Moreton Island, Queensland AUS
Our interpretation products have certainly been getting around, especially this lucky behind panel U-Turn which managed to find its way to Moreton Island in Australia. Thanks to our Australian distributor ‘Focus Productions’ the behind panel U-Turn is now battling tropical thunderstorms, temperatures of 40°C and the salty sea air, to bring interactivity to the visitor centre there. Something that wasn’t possible until now.
Västerbottens museum, Umeå SWE
Through our Swedish distributors ‘Lexter’ the Västerbotten museum acquired a number of our U-Turn Rounds for use in the Gammlia Air Museum, a fully outdoor attraction. Although already using a number of mediums to depict Västerbottens heritage, they had been unable to include audio due to limitations imposed by the location. Thanks to the U-Turn these problems were solved.
Installations
Llanyrafon Manor, Torfaen
We were commissioned (and delightedly so) by Llanyrafon Manor to design, manufacture and install a number of audio signage points as part of their mission to create a more diverse onsite visitor experience. A number of Audio Sign Touch’ and Turns’ were supplied, as well as some standard signage. All of which was designed, built and then installed by us. We look forward to working with Llanyrafon Manor in the future, with a few more projects already in the pipeline including a much anticipated audio bench.
Harris Museum, Preston
This impressive Grade I listed building was first opened in 1893, it now boasts numerous impressive art collections and has the largest gallery space in Lancashire. It also houses Preston’s Public Library. We were tasked with installing a modern projection system while respecting the buildings Grade I listed status. This was no small task and required the creation of a bespoke mounting system for both projector and screen.
Bespoke Projects
RSPB Minsmere, Wild Zone
We were approached by ‘Outside Studios’ for help adding audio to an impressive seasonal sundial they had designed for RSPB Minsmere as part of a larger project. Made from 5 carved posts the sundial points to the current season at a certain time of day. Audio is incorporated into the seasonal markers via a bespoke behind panel U-Turn, helping to really engage visitors and especially children.
Vattenfall, Pen y Cymoedd Wind Energy Project
Vattenfall are a Swedish energy company currently responsible for a new 76 wind turbine scheme in Port Talbot (our base of operations!). They had a website up and running that allowed the public to provide feedback on the proposed project but wanted a robust, secure and user friendly kiosk to leave in busy areas to work as a conduit to that website…. So we designed a bespoke multi-touch kiosk that did exactly that.
Museum Software Lightbox 2
Lightbox 2 is our specially designed museum software, created to give museums and heritage sites a cost effective solution for multi-media browsing of their archived data. All content is managed in a clean ‘backend’ manager and then displayed to visitors through an elegant and easy to navigate viewer ‘front end’. Users interact with Lightbox through a multi-touch gesture sensitive interface which makes it ideal for use in public locations. The real strength of Lightbox is its customisation options, with changeable backgrounds, logo and layouts it can be configured for use in any setting. If you need interpretation, we’ve got the message!
