Exhibition stand design: our top tips

Exhibition stand design: our top tips.

Designing a knock-out exhibition stand that draws in your target audience, stands out from the crowd and delivers your key messages is a complicated business. The exhibition stand design team at GH Display have put together our top tips to help with your design thinking.

1. Make an immediate impact

Exhibition halls are vast and exhibitors will all be vying for the attention of the many visitors looking to do business. Your stand needs to make an immediate impact within seconds, as sometimes this is all the time you’ll get before people move onto the next aisle of exhibitors. Your location in the exhibition hall will need to be carefully considered when designing your displays. Think about what elements you want visitors to see from the entrance door or from three aisles over. Show them something bold and creative that makes them want to visit you and think about all the possible routes visitors could use to approach your stand. Avoid putting important elements at floor level. Higher elements will not only get your customer’s attention from farther away, they will also draw their eye away from your competitors stand. Space is at a premium, so when considering your design make sure you think carefully about how to maximise all of yours, including the airspace above.

2. Keep it clear and concise

In our experience this is the single biggest mistake exhibitors make. The key is to get to the root of the problem and state your solution. Strong messaging that can be digested in 15 seconds or less will make your display much more effective. Your stand isn’t a paper brochure. You want your messaging to be clear, concise and to the point. Leave the details for your printed literature or your website. No one is going to want to read lots of detailed text at an exhibition, they’d rather read that on the train home. Keep your displays simple and to the point when planning your exhibition stand design and messaging.

3. Image quality really does matter

Ideally, you should provide original artwork for your exhibition graphics. Spend the extra money to get good quality images. Remember, good professional shots (whether you commission the photography or simply buy professional stock photos) may cost a few hundred pounds, whereas not having clear, crisp images could result in your entire exhibition failing to make the impact you want. If you worked with a designer to create your company logo, ask them for the original files. You may not be able to open them, but that doesn’t mean your exhibition stand design company won’t. It is of course possible to use inferior quality images or images that have been copied from non-original sources. Sometimes, that is the only option, particularly if a tight timeframe is a factor. Where this is the case, the graphics team at GH Display work with clients to advise and improve wherever possible.

4. Think technology

Making technology part of your exhibition stand design is almost a must. From interactive displays that can demonstrate your product or solution to audio visuals on a built-in plasma that sell your message and ethos. Having an iPad available can allow visitors to register to your newsletter, and a running Twitter feed from the show can help to engage your customers, as well as give you an opportunity to collect leads in a more interactive way. We can help you design immersive technology into your stand so that it not only adds a dynamic and interactive element to your offer it also flows well with your overall image, graphics and design.

5. Light the way

Lighting is an essential design element in any size or budget exhibition stand. You can use spot lights, down lights, up lights, LEDs, flood lights, back-lit graphics and light boxes to highlight products and displays within your exhibition stand. Lighting adds an overall interior design feel to your finish and can achieve a prevalent look to your exhibition stand without adding hugely to the overall stand cost.

6. Colour

Colour is an important element, which can create the right mood and image for your exhibition stand. Graphics, frames, carpets, furniture, cabinets, lighting, props and even staff clothes can all be used to add colour where you want it and enhance the visual impact of your exhibition display. Coordinating colours helps bring a display together and vibrant tones can make your exhibition stand shine amongst the competition.

This is a brief overview of the exhibition stand design thinking that goes into all of our design and build custom exhibition stands. To view examples of how these principles have been applied in practice please view our portfolio to view some of our clients finished exhibition stand designs.

If you would like to contact us about our exhibition stand design service please complete our design brief form below or telephone us on +44 (0)1733 570222. For examples of some of our exhibition stand designs view our portfolio.