Pinscreen Exhibit Components by Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose (CDM)

Instant Relief. A Pinscreen by any other name is just as fun - and probably built with CDM's Pinscreen Exhibit Components.

Whether or not a Pinscreen exhibit is named, they all provide an exciting tactile experience that inspires creativity and curiosity in children and adults.

Created and distributed by CDM, Pinscreen components are the choice of museums and designers worldwide for making and customizing sculpture exhibits.

Colour Theory:
The majority of the coloured caps I sell are red. This is both for educational and practical purposes. The red caps tend to show the impressions made into a Pinscreen the best. Red is also the most attention-grabbing of the primary colours, and draws the curious over to the exhibit.

Keeping in mind that a Pinscreen is an extremely tactile experience, you want to design your exhibit with a colour that is appealing and begs to be touched

For example, one of CDM's most recent Pinscreen customers used a software photography tool to change the colour of a scanned-in picture of a red Pinscreen. The designer tried all different colours, and had his mind set on lime green -until his team saw what the finished product would look like. The thought was, that the particular shade of lime green looked slimy (those were their words, not mine!) and that visitors of all ages may not be drawn to touch and play with that particular design.

Another practical thing to consider is colour matching and the maintenance of your exhibit. The red caps seem to be the easiest to colour match. CDM has been in the Pinscreen component business now for almost two decades. In that time customers have requested custom-coloured caps (and pins) ranging from teal to orange. While I highly recommend that a custom coloured Pinscreen purchase include an additional 15 - 20% extra caps (or pins - whatever is coloured) for maintenance, those parts are not always purchased. The result is a beautiful Pinscreen that will be almost impossible to colour match around the 5 to 10 year mark.