In his work as a Multimedia Specialist, Jah’meir Reed often finds himself spanning two worlds: physical and digital. For him, “design” encompasses far more than UIs and UX. It is a comprehensive approach to how spaces – both online and in real life – feel inviting, comfortable, and surprisingly, shareable.
How to Generate Engagement With Experiential Design
Today, creating a brand identity means more than selecting a cohesive color palette and catchy tagline. Brands are appearing online not only via their websites, but also through the lenses of people who post from their stores. While the expanded reach is fantastic, consumer participation in brand identity changes the terms of engagement. Instead of dictating to audiences who you are and what your brand means, the task is now to have a conversation with them in which they can discover the brand for themselves. For many, this occurs through popular social media outlets such as Instagram.
The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY has a 5 Row by 56 Column Split Flap, mounted in their museum store. The custom display is our Enterprise Custom Color in baseball green, with an additional baseball flap.
The Baseball Hall of Fame, for instance, recently installed a baseball green custom Split Flap for their museum store. The Oat Foundry display includes a baseball icon amongst alphanumerical flaps. The museum shared a reel on their official Instagram page showing the mounted display rotating through dynamic brand messages.
Creating Brand Spaces Worth Talking About
To do that, brands have to create environments that are worth talking about – in a phrase: Instagrammable spaces. Take Julith Coffee and its cobalt blue Split Flap display, for example. Contrasted against gray cement, the display visually pops off the wall as it cycles through Julith’s specialty coffee offerings, inspirational quotes, and statements of the brand’s values. Storytelling centerpieces like these do more than just communicate brand values to consumers. They elevate their environments into Instagrammable spaces, places that feel participatory, organic, and worthy of sharing on social media.
Julith Coffee, located in Dubai, has an Enterprise Custom Color Split Flap in Cobalt Blue. The display also features a custom color flap (goldenrod) and is 7 Rows by 32 Columns.
Driving Engagement with Interactive Focal Points
There are many design tricks to spark conversation online. A Notre Dame study found that simply increasing color complexity correlated with higher engagement. In an example more specific to designing a brand environment, this King’s College London study found that “interactive props” were key to sparking organic interaction online. While these are proven tactics, an ArchDaily article outlines the potential risks of prioritizing aesthetic over quality. Sometimes, Instagrammable spaces can feel kitschy without the quality needed to communicate authenticity and permanence.
For Nolita Hall, a European beer hall-style restaurant in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood, the custom Split Flap menu is a featured highlight on their Instagram. The display rotates through menu items, quotes, and highlights the flights overhead the restaurant.
Nolita Hall has a 10 Row by 32 Column Split Flap, used as an interactive menu, in our Classic Black frame.
Interactive Elements, Analog Aesthetic
Many brands are seeking mechanical and sensory signage and displays to meet the demand for analog aesthetics. In addition to providing refuge from digital signage, analog technology like Split Flap displays is both engaging and built to last. With a lifespan of over 50 million rotations, they last for decades and connect with audiences in a way that feels both nostalgic and fresh.
The anticipation of a new message rotating into position, or a colorscape shifting into focus, draws viewers in, creating authentic engagement that feels worthy of posting. Split Flap technology creates genuine moments even in temporary spaces, like Safe Catch’s recent branded display. Our Picture Flap, the image version of Split Flap, was chosen by Diers Exhibition Group to rotate through vital brand imagery and featured on their Instagram.
Safe Catch (via Diers Exhibit Group) rented and customized a 4 Row x 6 Column Picture Flap for Expo West.
Designed to Share: Instagrammable Spaces Worth Talking About
While the data bears out that nice lighting, vibrant colors, and interactive elements can all boost a space’s likelihood to make it into social posts, the key in any conversation is balance. With analog tech like Chroma Flap, brands can present themselves authentically and in a high-quality way that demonstrates their ability to be more than a talented orator, but a true conversational partner. Building from a place of grounded, long-term authenticity will engage consumers in a way that won’t just make it way online, but will drive the conversation once there.