Christie’s Book Of Shapes Now A Free iPad App (Or PDF)

February 1, 2013 by Dave Haynes

For the purposes of full disclosure, this is a bit of a shameless plug.

Christie has published and released The Book of Shapes – a “coffee table” style book that showcases projects around the globe that have used the company’s MicroTiles to somewhat reinvent the idea of video walls and digital display in retail and arhcitectuarl design.

The plug involves my having wrote the narrative in the book, which was bankrolled by Christie together with the very substantial help and guidance of Arsenal Media, which has been Christie’s agency of record for the product since it was launched in late 2009.

The book was first distributed, quietly, to key partners and prospects last June. At that point it was just – and I mean just in the nicest way – a hard copy coffee table book.

Now it is an interactive iPad app, or PDF, free to download by anyone interested.

The book looks at how the company’s modular video building blocks have allowed architects and designers to introduce inventive, irregular shapes into projects where video, motion graphics and interactive content are applied.

The release of “The Book of Shapes: International Design Inspirations Featuring Christie MicroTiles” coincides with Christie’s large presence this week at the Integrated Systems Europe trade show in Amsterdam . It’s also just more than three years since the Tiles were launched.

The Book of Shapes app, says a release, features MicroTiles installations from around the world since the product’s launch – with visuals, embedded video and detailed narratives on how the display technology is being used, and the results achieved. The app also includes location maps, reference materials and an integrated version of MicroTiles Designer™ 2.0, a Web-based tool that allows designers and architects to visually plan and specify MicroTiles-driven projects.

iPad users can locate and download The Book of Shapes app free from Apple’s App Store. A non-interactive PDF is also available free of charge, allowing all the showcases and supporting material to be readily viewed on other tablet devices and conventional PCs and laptops.

“The Book of Shapes is designed to inform and inspire people charged with integrating display technology into projects, and help them think about how having a digital canvas can energize and transform a space, or solve a business challenge, in interesting new ways,” explained Kathryn Cress, vice president, global & corporate marketing, Christie.

“We’ve been amazed how architects, retail designers, pro AV and interactive experts have all taken advantage of the opportunity to introduce shapes into design concepts,” added Cress. “They’ve gone so far beyond a display world that was defined forever by rectangles, and the remarkable thing is we’ve likely had just a taste of what’s possible.”

The Book of Shapes celebrates projects across several continents, and is sorted by vertical categories: Retail Environments, Museums & Entertainment, Broadcast Television, Events & Shows, Higher Education and Corporate Spaces.

My bias aside, this is a really, really good piece of work and very innovative, sharp approach to product marketing. So many display and software companies are far too quiet about the projects they have been behind, and market themselves on capabilities and specs instead of how what they have was applied.

Going to an app that has embedded video and tools, and can be steadily updated as more projects add to the story, is so much smarter. If you do any work around retail design, video walls or architecture, you should download this puppy to get inspiration.

And the writing’s not bad.