Design award win for Papercast

The graphical travel information on Papercast e-paper displays has been awarded Silver in the Traffic and Public Transport category of the IIID Awards 2020

Papercast, the world’s leading provider of solar powered e-paper passenger information displays, today announced that its design system has been recognised in the Traffic and Public Transport category of the International Institute for Information Design (IIID) Awards 2020. Held every three years, this is the fourth edition of the awards to recognise the very best in information design – the most prominent accolade in its field.

Papercast was selected for the award only months after it revealed enhancements to its design capabilities, allowing customers to show clear and visually striking graphical travel information on Papercast e-paper displays.

Robert Bicket, Chief Executive at Papercast: “We are delighted that our new design catalogue – which offers a wide range of easy-to-use, visually impactful and fully customisable layouts, templates and design features – has been recognised in this way.”

Working in collaboration with some of the sector’s most prominent public transport providers, the improvements go one step further in taking full advantage of the highly versatile technical scope of e-paper. The design system creates an intuitive and universal system for presenting a wide range of complex real-time and static travel information.

Customers can layout information in a style that suits their transport system requirements, while improving the clarity and relevance of information for the end-users. It offers a comprehensive library of easy-to-use, visually impactful and fully customisable layouts, templates and design features that meet best design standards.

E-paper mimics the qualities of real paper, and so transport authorities and operators benefit from a self-sustainable electronic display, yet still have the freedom to display a wide range of detailed travel information. The key attributes highlighted in the award entry include:

• A quick glance offers basic service information such as route number and first arrival time, additional info is progressively visible with further attention.
• A dedicated set of vehicle attribute icons display occupancy and accessibility as well as on-board services.
• Icons, patterns and micro-animations emphasize important information, also offering integrated hybrid and multi-modal transport options in a single view.
• The modular information components allows quick prototyping and is a basis for custom solutions, with all newly developed components easily re-used.
• The system is adaptable to various applications, placement, size and orientation such as overhead, bus stop, flagpole or wayfinding displays.

Papercast Graphic Designer, Matic Leban, shares his thinking behind the designs: “The amount of information we need to share is constantly increasing and so we wanted to direct focus and layer the information for better usability for the end-user. For instance, the prominent size and weight of the route number and the next arrival time can be seen with a quick glance from distance. More detail is visible as the user moves closer, with perfectly crisp icons and typography thanks to the qualities of e-paper”.

Papercast is revolutionising the way operators provide passenger information at the bus stop. With deployments in more than 40 countries worldwide, Papercast is already in use with operators including Flixbus, Transport for London (TfL), Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), Gruppo Torinese Trasporti (GTT) and CITYBUS.

The unique attributes of e-paper make it ideal for outside use, with unbeatable screen visibility, even in direct sunlight. Couple this with wireless connectivity and the exceptionally low power consumption achieved by Papercast’s engineers, and the displays can be continuously solar powered without changing the battery – no power or connectivity cables are required. Additionally, Papercast’s sophisticated cloud-based management system offers simple integration with open data standards, as well as the ability to control all aspects of the display and its content remotely. Transport authorities can now provide live arrivals and other information to passengers at bus stops where previously it would not have been feasible.

The on-line award ceremony will take place on 28 July, and Papercast will feature in the fourth edition of the IIID Award book and the upcoming IIID Award world tour, covering more than ten countries.

Over the last 30 years, IIID has become one of the best-known names for developing the information design discipline worldwide, passionate about creating better information in many applications. It is a globally recognised organisation, also associated with UNESCO, OECD, ICOGRADA, among other international and national institutions, universities, research laboratories and design companies.