Pixel Power's graphics systems showed the live development of Scotland's referendum for the STV

More than four million Scots voted in the past 18 September on Scotland's future as an independent nation of the United Kingdom, a referendum that featured the graphics created specifically for this occasion by the English specialist Pixel Power, integrated with the database of the STV chain and whose information could be controlled by the presenters on second screens in real time with a tablet application.

Scotland's constitutional referendum, celebrated the past 18 September, in which more than four million Scots decided in a vote whether or not they wanted to remain linked to the United Kingdom, was an event followed around the world, with constant coverage produced by STV in Glasgow and available on the UK ITV network, in which the graphics tools to show the results played a special role in the live monitoring of the vote count.

Pixel Power, specialist in the development and production of graphic systems for broadcast and data integration, has been the provider chosen by STV to create especially the graphics in which the results of the vote were captured as they were known and that were shown on the plasma screens of the set of the chain.

The Pixel Power Clarity graphic system that this station usually uses was expanded for this occasion with two Clarity 3D engines, one dedicated to on-air graphics and lower thirds of the screen, and another linked directly to the chain database that was displayed in second displays and that presenters controlled with a dedicated Windows Surface Pro tablet.

To generate this visual image, Pixel Power's creative services team previously worked with STV's graphic designers to create the information templates, as well as developing the connection interfaces to the STV database, to the Avid iNews network and tablet, via the Pixel Power Toolbox dashboard and control, a software application that accelerates the creation of custom connectivity.

Sam Dornan, STV channel operations manager, "The production team was delighted with the graphic output and ease of management of the system developed for the night of the referendum., as it has allowed them to have full control of the charts, of your edit and preview, with easy browser access to the templates to insert them into the informative pieces. Pixel Power has developed tools that responded to exactly what we needed and, the most important thing, we had the critical information on the screen with a flow of direct communication with our audience.".

For its part, James Gilbert, CEOo de Pixel Power, explained that "when broadcasters have large one-off events, as in the case of this referendum, they have to be absolutely sure that the results are the right ones on the air and that they can be easily interpreted by the viewers.. Our graphics systems are easy to adapt and integrate with other equipment and news production systems for live communication workflows, interacting with screens and with the audience".

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