A few years back, we featured E Ink, an innovator in electronic ink technology. E Ink is the definition of an industry disruptor, and since we published that first article, it has made good on its promise to deliver a truly new experiential product designers can actually use.
From our 2016 feature: “E Ink Prismcombines color changing electronic ink tech with architectural products and applications to instantly change the color of a wall, ceiling panel, furniture piece or entire room. The product is a manifestation of an “experience” heavy marketing strategy that many companies are using to engage talent, clients and customers.Put simply, it exists somewhere between static paint elements and power-hungry digital displays. Prism can be applied as a film to many existing architectural products – think glass, acrylics, MDF, and other materials – to transform the way people experience a space.”
For more background on E Ink, check out the full 2016 feature, “Prism Perfect: Electronic Ink Tech at E Ink”: https://officeinsight.com/companies/prism-perfect-electronic-ink-tech-e-ink/.
2016 saw the introduction of E Ink’s Prism product, and at NeoCon 2017 the company launched Prism’s official palette of colors at NeoCon 2017. The company continues aggressive expansion in Asia, working with printing companies to create everything from comic books to printing conductors to print overlays that produce a holographic effect without having to move. Its color-shifting dress even went viral around the world, catching the front page of reddit.
“The number of new projects we’re working through just keeps growing,” said Joe Fillion, senior business development manager at E Ink, in an officeinsight interview. “An area we’re finding a lot of interest in is the Internet of Things (IoT). We’re finding that our technology is a natural fit for an IoT material, which is really exciting to us.”
A big part of the E Ink world is the fun factor; the company’s tech manages to capture and bottle up a serving of joy in ways many companies spend countless dollars trying to drum up.
“There’s definitely a coolness factor to their technology,” said Michael Saroka, executive vice president & COO of architectural glass company Goldray, in an officeinsight interview. “And for some people, that in itself is enough incentive to want to work with the product. Public art is a good example of that type of customer application. But to truly break into the architectural market, you need a purpose beyond being cool. We’ve been working with E Ink to develop that – to develop applications that create a user experience.”
Goldray has been working with E Ink for several year to continue bringing their product into the architectural market, developing tests and sampling to showcase its viability.
This year, from their 7thfloor Exhibition Hall booth, E Ink debuted a series of special vignettes designed by Bergmeyer,Goldray,Skyline Art Servicesand Zahner, each displaying a unique installation showing E Ink Prism’s fully programmable capabilities.
“Their core technology hasn’t changed – they’ve perfected that piece of the equation,” said Mr. Saroka. “But this year at NeoCon, we showed that we have an actual product, not just a technology.”
Goldray’s vignette simulated an elevator space with laminated E Ink Prism behind Goldray glass panels. “The interactive design includes touch sensor elevator buttons that activate Prism on the elevator doors, providing a one-of-a-kind experience for users,” details E Ink’s NeoCon press announcement.
“You can use E Ink technology to indicate things like what direction the elevator is traveling. Or instead of a standard button bank, what if the user could touch the wall, to access an embedded touchscreen. It gives people an opportunity to interact with the elevator space, to offer feedback in a way that wasn’t formerly possible.”
The countless possibilities E Ink presents to designers, also presents an equal number of challenges in product development testing for E Ink and its partners.
“The processes that products now have to go through to make sure they meet all the right lifecycle criteria and durability standards are very intensive,” noted Mr. Saroka. “How do we make sure we don’t wreck it? We’re dealing with temperature and humidity, and we have to make the technology survive through those things.”
At NeoCon, E Ink also debuted autonomous architectural tiles with solar powered capabilities.
“These segmented versions of E Ink Prism are rugged yet lightweight and flexible, complete with a peel and stick application for easy installation that can be removed without residue. This expands upon E Ink Prism’s line of seven different colors…Prism’s paint-like appearance, color palette and wide-ranging compatibility with materials and shapes make it highly suitable for many architectural applications thanks to its bi-stable ink technology. The film can be custom programmed to switch colors in nearly any pattern, shape, speed and sequence, making it the ideal technology to transform the commercial, hospitality, transportation, healthcare, retail and education markets.”
Stay tuned for an officeinsight spotlight on DAZZLE, a large-scale site-specific work displayed on the façade of the San Diego International Airport’s Rental Car Center. DAZZLE makes use of 2,000+ E Ink’s autonomous solar powered ePaper tiles displaying custom, dynamic animations across the 1,600-foot long building exterior.
“The thing with E Ink is that there’s definitely more to come,” said Mr. Saroka. “It’s just the very beginnings of an introduction into the architectural and design markets.”
When we style and design our homes and other spaces, we still focus a majority of our energy on visual interests. The technology and design possibilities that E Ink products make possible, push past that initial focus on the visual element to create an interaction between aesthetics and function.
