Frankfurt, December 11, 2023 - From November 14 to 16, the automation industry met in Nuremberg for the international trade fair SPS - Smart Production Solutions. Atelier Markgraph designed and implemented the presentation of PLCnext Technology Ecosystem for Phoenix Contact, the leading German company for electrical and automation technology. Under the motto "Innovate, Collaborate, Create Impact Now", the presentation focussed on collaboration.

The latest trends and developments in the automation industry is what the SPS in Nuremberg stood for again this year. The trade fair presented solutions for a wide variety of work areas to over 50,000 visitors and offered a platform for exchanging ideas with developers of automation solutions. The topics of exchange and collaboration were at the top of this year's agenda for Phoenix Contact. The leitmotif of collaboration also characterized the design of the trade fair appearance.

Transparent architecture with acrylic glass  

In correspondence, the large workshop area formed the heart of the 180 m2 special area. The focus on communication was continued and extended by numerous workspaces distributed across the stand area. The atmosphere, dramaturgy and architecture of the stand were designed to bring visitors and experts into conversation. The colorful, transparent architecture made of acrylic glass made for a strinking design element. It allowed an unobstructed view over the entire stand area whilst at the same time offering areas for individual discussions.

High-tech beehive as a community project

The presentation of the Beehyve community project was met with particularly great interest. Visitors of the stand were able to find out how the data obtained from the comprehensive investigation and digital recording of a beehive can be transferred to a wide range of industrial applications. The resulting projects, including artificial intelligence, cloud and edge computing as well as a digital twin, could be discovered and discussed at the stand. A sweet extra: the honey collected by the bees - filled into small jars - was also presented at the stand.

Visual storytelling

Atelier Markgraph developed a combined design to visualize the main content and to experience the dynamics and flexibility of the ecosystem: the interplay of fixed typographic and graphic elements on the walls together with moving media productions. For the viewer, this created the impression of standing in front of a kind of cloze, which developed into a continuous story through the changing image and text content on the monitor.

The typographically designed exterior walls of the trade fair stand were also an eye-catcher. The words of the trade fair motto "Innovate, Collaborate, Create Impact Now", repeated across large areas and offset on the walls, had a strong long-distance effect.

This was Atelier Markgraph's fifth consecutive SPS trade fair appearance, which the Frankfurt agency was able to design and realize for Phoenix Contact.

Credits

- Client: Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH, Bad Pyrmont

- Graphic production / space-defining elements & furniture: Leko Grafik Produktion, Schorndorf

- Sound: Wolfram Gruss | Custom Sound Production and Licensing, Aschaffenburg

- Photo documentation: Kristof Lemp, Photography & Digital Imaging, Darmstadt

- Film documentation: Christian Gerster, Multimedia Director

- Programming: wirmachenbunt GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg

- Lighting design: Raphael Demonthy, Sunrise Studios GmbH, Berlin

- Light & sound equipment: Production Resource Group AG (PRG), Berlin

- Video technology: Hibino Deutschland GmbH, Oststeinbek

- Motion design: Matthias Schilder, Frankfurt am Main

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