During the Christmas holidays Microsoft and Synect launched the largest photo booth in the world at two Microsoft Stores in Seattle, Washington – powered by a digital signage system from YCD Multimedia. Shoppers could take their pictures at a custom photo station and see them displayed on the stores’ 46m-long videowall.
The Photo Booth installation guided users through a simple process of capturing their image, using the new Kinect for Windows, and choosing from predefined image filters to create a personalised collage. The application used the images to generate a 26k videowall theme on demand, instantly deploying it to the videowall. “Microsoft Stores and Synect collaborated to create a truly magical experience,” said Peter Ruthenberg, senior art director for the Microsoft Retail Stores. “The campaign for the Microsoft Store during the holiday season was called ‘Give Happy’ –and Photo Booth kept the videowalls full of happy families and smiling faces all through the season.”
The Photo Booth installation marks the first time Microsoft has enabled users to interact with its videowalls in such a direct manner. It also shows new ways in which dynamic, user-generated content can be incorporated into a multi-display installation. “The best part about it is that it looks really simple, even though the complexity behind the scenes is huge,” said Synect’s director of IT, Assaf Margalit. “We’re using a lot of innovation – from Microsoft, Synect, and our partners – to reimagine digital experience inside the store.” Photo Booth was built by Microsoft and Synect to integrate with the store’s digital signage network. Driven by YCD Multimedia’s digital signage system, the network powers over 70 in-store videowalls, which can have a resolution up to 57,600 x 1080.
The World’s Largest Photo Booth at the Microsoft Store from Synect Media on Vimeo.
The installation included a Kinect for Windows V2 sensor, a Surface Pro 3, and a Lenovo All in One at a photo station designed and fabricated by Gensler. Plugins and custom development by Synect enabled interactivity with the videowall and allowed the experience to span across multiple devices. “We are really excited about the Photo Booth Experience,” said Kelly Soligon, senior director of marketing for Microsoft Retail Stores. “We’ve been wanting to put interactivity into the video wall for a long time, and this is a great chance for our customers to experience our store, experience our technology, and see themselves up on the videowall.”
