Insights
Exhibition stands: decisions to make before design
A stand needs room for products, people and conversations. Before commissioning a visualisation, confirm the organiser’s conditions, your objective and what will happen on site.
Give the stand one main role
A product launch, new enquiries and meetings with existing customers call for different arrangements. Choose the priority. Identify whom you want to stop and the next step after a short conversation: a demonstration, contact exchange, appointment or sample.
Match the display to the product. Large equipment needs space and access; small components need an organised display. Avoid treating every wall as a leaflet, because visitors will read it from a different distance.
Collect event-specific requirements
Supply a dimensioned floor plan showing open sides, neighbours and obstructions. Include the organiser’s requirements for construction, height, electricity, assembly and deadlines. Confirm technical conditions from the actual event documentation rather than photographs of an earlier edition.
Separate responsibility for graphic design, construction, production, transport and assembly. Agree file requirements and handover dates with other suppliers. This prevents a visualisation from being mistaken for a complete production order.
Plan for the people working inside
Count the staff, products, samples and stored material. Allow space for coats, spare leaflets and equipment. Check that a conversation at the counter will not block a demonstration and that the message is readable from the aisle.
Consider a failed screen, delayed delivery or unreliable connection. The main information about the business should remain understandable without video or internet access. This is a useful test of the hierarchy, even when everything works.
Simplify large-format messages
Prioritise the name, type of offer and one reason to begin a conversation. Put detailed specifications in a catalogue, product sheet or QR-linked page. Test the code on the actual printed material under conditions resembling the display.
Confirm languages and the final approver. Name each panel according to the assembly plan. After the event, ask the staff which questions kept returning and which information visitors missed.
Prepare for the design conversation
- Event name, dates and organiser’s requirements.
- Dimensioned plan and open sides.
- Objective, audience and displayed products.
- Staff numbers and storage needs.
- Supplier responsibilities, brand files and languages.
Walk the visitor’s route
A visualisation shows appearance; the brief also needs to explain movement and service. Imagine the journey from noticing the stand to completing a conversation. It is a quick way to find missing space or an unclear message before production.
Related services
Have a specific task? Describe the need and the material available so we can agree the next step.
Good to know
A few useful answers.
Planning the scope or preparing your materials? These answers will help you get started.
Ask usWhat comes first: graphics or stand dimensions?
Start with the space, organiser constraints and exhibition objective. Graphics need to suit the real layout and viewing distance.
Should print be planned alongside the stand?
It is useful to coordinate content, identity and deadlines. Catalogues, leaflets and display graphics have different production requirements.