When Ferag AG wanted to present its precision-printing products at the massive Drupa exhibition in Düsseldorf, Germany, the Zurich-based business went high when other companies might have gone low. Working with MC2 Europe GmbH, Ferag created a ceiling element that helped it soar above the nearly 1,800 other exhibitors at the quadrennial printing-equipment expo.

Attendees entering the 13,200-square-foot exhibit found themselves craning their necks upward as if they were suddenly confronted with a skyscraper. Looming above them was an immense 12,916-square-foot "ceiling" of 364 LED screens. Mounted 25 feet above the booth from an overhead truss, the screens measured roughly 10.9 square feet each and ran a sequence of computer-driven digital imagery in 4K resolution. Controlled from a 29.5-by-29.5-foot chipboard structure (which also housed a sales office and meeting room) that was enameled in the company's corporate red hue, the simulated sky evoked Ferag's Swiss origins with a recurring loop of images that included shimmering blue skies, spinning windmills, soaring hot-air balloons, and a fluttering Swiss flag.

The colossal ceiling element also served as a signal for when demonstrations of three high-volume printing machines were about to start. For 40 seconds before the demos commenced every half hour, the sequence of imagery on the hundreds of ceiling panels was replaced by waves of blazing red sweeping across a field of arctic white. Then, with the brilliant visual cue complete and the crowds attracted, the trio of massive machines roared into action. Long, coiling conveyor belts fed poster-like sheets of paper into the apparatuses, which inserted them into newspapers and various other types of enclosures. Attracting droves of visitors, Ferag's spectacular ceiling element proved almost as breathtaking – and nearly as popular – as the Swiss Alps themselves. E