Carefully designed and curated details and accents are an effective way to saturate your trade show exhibit design with the essence of your brand. Is your company caring and thoughtful? Stylish? Passionate about your purpose? Fun? Hip? Even after you say what you want to say with your graphics, it's the details that show attendees if you're all talk—or if your brand is the real deal.
Take the example above, of the exhibit 3D Exhibits designed and fabricated for Hill's Pet Nutrition at VMX Hill's could have gone with any sort of couch—but it selected a comfy, residential couch which embodies the companies' brand values. Hill's may take a scientific approach to creating diets for companion animals, but at heart, the company is all about a happy, healthy home life for you and your pet. The casual couch design and plump cushions communicate this message more clearly than any printed message.
The crowning touch was the custom accent pillows on the couch promoting Hill's to Home delivery service. Together, the elements non-verbally conveyed what Hill's is all about: health for your pet and ease for you.
Bento Box used eye-catching design details to demonstrate the company's sense of style at International Home and Housewares. Hot pink edge accents on its display architecture, shelving that deviated from a traditional grid, and inlayed floor accents articulated that Bento Box creates products that are both fun and funky. (Exhibit design and fabrication internal and by Vendome)
International Production and Processing Expo is where farming and science merge. Most exhibitors at the show are looking to connect with mega-producers who are technology and manufacturing focused. This one exhibitor stood out by conveying its more natural, organic approach. Forgoing standard metal lit racks, this exhibitor used a turkey fabricated from raw wood to hold its literature. The decision to highlight the turkey—and the choice of natural materials and finishes—articulated that this company is about animals first and manufacturing second. (Exhibit design and fabrication firm unknown)
Eco-Me eco-friendly cleaning products made it obvious that it's serious about family-safe cleaning products. At Natural Products Expo West, the company showcased its products in small shadowboxes that made it super-clear what the company is about—and elicited a lot of attention along the way. Attendees couldn't help feeling a rush of protective and nurturing emotions as they viewed the tiny scenes of baby shoes, toy ironing boards, small sunglasses and micro clothespins. (Exhibit design and fabrication in-house)
If you've never seen a field full of sunflowers in bloom, it's something you might want to add to your bucket list. Gazing out over a sunflower field is an experience that elicits the same feelings of awe, calm, and wellbeing as watching the sunset or gazing from the top of a mountain peak. SunButter recreated this experience in its booth by pairing a backdrop of a sunflower field at sunset with dozens of life-sized faux sunflowers. In doing so, it clearly and powerfully articulated its products' connection to nature. (Exhibit design and fabrication by Conduit Exhibits)
Vita Coco made it clear that its coconut water is natural and fun by creating a tropical paradise on the show floor at Natural Products Expo West. Sand, a hammock, surfboards, volleyballs, palm fronds—and lots of coconuts—transported attendees to a tropical beach and elicited a vacation state-of-mind. And, to demonstrate that it was 100% committed, Vita Coco conducted tasting from a beach shack. (Exhibit design and construction by Grapevine Visual Concepts)
What exhibit design details have you used to intuitively and emotionally convey your brand's attributes?
