Anders at Embedded World 2025
Feb 05, 2025Save the date for Embedded World 2025 in Nuremberg, Germany, the global hub for embedded technology professionals.…
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In today's fast-paced display technology world, industrial machine designers strive to enhance user experiences through aesthetic design and simple usability while maintaining competitive costs. This balance is crucial for mid-entry-level products, where a simple display is sufficient to convey essential information, enabling users to determine the machine's status and be able to operate it safely.
Advancements in full-colour TFT and AMOLED displays offer a plethora of vibrant options. However, these can be overkill for applications requiring minimal display information, leaving many potential features redundant. There is also the danger of pricing your product out of its target market space as the price jump from a basic monochrome display to full colour, will inevitably weigh heavily on the cost of the final BOM.
How can we improve the aesthetics of a monochrome LCD display without compromising the competitive appeal of the final product?
Monochrome Vertical Alignment displays, with their deep black backgrounds and bright white digits, really make the display pop.
Add some eye-catching icons and apply a bit of colour to those display patterns and you’ve transformed a black & white mono display into a one that displays vibrant colours.
This is achieved by applying coloured ink to specific areas of ITO glass that correspond to icons or symbols with a silk-screening process. Ink passes through a mesh while a stencil blocks unwanted areas.
Although multiple colours can be printed, only one can be applied at a time, requiring several silk screens and stencils, which need to be meticulously aligned to the print target area. The process can be slow and labour intensive, especially when trying to apply colour gradients and shading.
But there is a new way of achieving spectacular looking colour gradient effects…
UV printing is a digital technique using UV curing inks, which dry instantly under UV light, unlike conventional printing where ink is left to dry naturally.
Just like digital printing, this method excels in producing high-resolution prints (up to 1200 dpi) with an extensive colour gamut, producing sharp, colourful images and seamless colour gradient effects, surpassing silkscreen printing capabilities.
UV printing offers superior resolution, colour versatility, efficiency, and flexibility, making it an excellent choice for innovative designs. The hidden until lit effect adds aesthetic appeal and customisation potential, perfect for engaging user interfaces.