Too often, a trade show floor is designed like the streets of our cities and towns: rows and rows in which you walk straight and pass by square structures. Because of this, it becomes even more important to stand out and draw attention to your products and your exhibition displays.
If you have previously created square exhibition displays, or if you are currently considering how to arrange your trade displays to more effectively draw attention to your product, you should be thinking about geometry.
The subject that was so confounding for many people in high school is actually a way of looking at the shape of structures around us, and that includes the shapes and flow of your exhibition displays. The evolution of displays has revolutionized the idea of what trade show booths should look like, and how it presents your information in the most aesthetically pleasing way possible.
- Height: Your company name should be prominently featured at the top of your trade show displays above eye level. It is a demonstrable fact that the names that are placed at the top heights are most easily seen from across the trade show floor, and consequently attract more potential clients.
- Depth: Many of the most recent and successful exhibition displays place a podium or customer service representative stand at the forefront of the booth, while leaving open spaces for clients to enter into the featured area. The representative greets the customer, and the customer then feels invited into the open space. If your trade show displays are cluttered or packed with unnecessary stands and obstacles, it becomes difficult for a client to feel like they should enter that space.
- Width: Having width doesn’t mean having a wide booth; it means having a booth that spreads its arms and invites the client in. Placing an image in the center of the back of your trade show booths makes it look too open and empty. There are several intriguing possibilities, including a “windows” display that contains several panels that “pop” out at the client. The types of displays mentioned above are called Hybrid Displays, and they have proven to be a popular choice for trade show displays in the last few years.
- Circles and others: As stated before, reconsider the rectangle and square. We see so many shapes with four sides, from our homes to television screens, that they become harder to focus our attention on them unless they project a video image (which is also a good idea).
- Choose circles, ovals, and unusual sight lines in order to grab the attention of a client. It is very similar to modern architectural design: what strikes the eye also attracts its curiosity. The very shape of your exhibition displays could be what grabs their attention and draws them in.
If you find yourself standing at a trade show and marveling at the layout and design of other trade show booths, you may want to consider a redesign of your own displays. It’s not enough to simply create a flashy logo anymore; you need a booth that will grab them with the daring originality of your geometric design as well.