Posted on 24, March, 2020
Last Modified on 20, September, 2022
Color is a more powerful tool that you might think when it comes to creating your trade show booth. When thinking about trade show color ideas, remember that your color scheme plays a large part in your exhibit’s design and visual aesthetic and can serve to help or hurt your company’s professional branding and ability to garner attention at a high-traffic venue or event. You only have roughly 4-6 seconds to grab a trade show attendee or buyers attention. Creative trade show booth ideas that include just the right blend of colors give you a good chance at grabbing attention at a show without needing to say a word.
There are a few general rules and guidelines to remember before you start brainstorming and thinking about specific colors.
Stay on brand: Choosing colors to attract attention and associate your brand with colors that elicit the right emotion are important. But staying on brand is even more important. Picking trade show display colors that don’t really match up with your brand, colors or message can wind up confusing potential customers and thus make your brand not as memorable.
Consider culture: Depending on where you’re exhibiting or who you are marketing to, consider culture and what certain colors mean in different cultures. White, purple, and yellow are just examples of colors that mean one thing to certain countries and invoke entirely different feelings in others.
Consult an expert: If you’re not sure which colors will flow well together or really look good with your brand, consult a graphic designer with your trade show booth design ideas and have them help you design it so everything flows just right.
Think beyond your display: Even the colors of your flooring and carpeting make a difference in your success and the perception of your brand. Choose flooring colors that won’t cause any sort of psychological barriers to your trade show booth.
Colors
Red: Red is a powerful color that instantly captures attention. A bright red hue is often used to grab viewers’ focus but since it is such a dominant color, overusing true reds can be a visual overload for consumers. Using red as an accent color is a great way to draw attention to key areas within your booth without being overly flashy.
Orange: A bright orange can denote an energetic and playful mood, as well being undeniably attention-grabbing. The bright and slightly off-beat color can be seen as fun and cool and often-times makes customers feel that the company associated with the color is modern and on the cutting-edge of the industry. Too bright a shade can be seen as cheap, however.
Yellow: Yellow is often associated with positivity and is eye catching. A lot of very recognizable brands have yellow in their colors but is best used as a secondary color because it can be hard to read if you don’t pair it with another prominent, more readable color.
Green: Green is one of the more usable colors in different shades and for different brands. Eco companies, financial companies, and health companies often utilize green prominently. It goes with a lot of other colors and it’s not so polarizing that it’s off putting if you use it as a main color. Green is your friend.
Purple: Long known for the color of royalty, purple can elevate your professional brand to a prestigious and sophisticated height. As a background, purple is good if you have text in brighter colors as you need a good contrast to make it readable. Just be aware if the trade show floor is darker or if you’re by a wall and its dark, you’re going to need lights if your shade of purple is dark.
Blue: The first emotion or visual people get with the color blue is trustworthy (like Twitter’s verified check mark). Blue is a popular color choice for its simplicity in that it blends well with many other colors and is very easy on the eyes. If blue fits your brand and industry, it’s a very easy to color to work into your trade show booth ideas.
Brown: Brown is an understated color most closely connected to nature and the earth, which would be ideal to use for an eco-friendly or “green” company or business plan. It’s also associated with reliability (UPS) but it’s one of those colors that needs to fit your brand very well or it can stand out sorely.
Black: One color that has a wide range of perceptions and uses is black. It’s often thought of as classic, value and sophistication. It’s also a safe color that says stability and you don’t have to go crazy in terms of trying to pair it with something else to make it flow. It’s not going to wow anyone, but if you are comfortable with staying on brand and still think you’re going to get the attention you need at a trade show, black is an easy choice as part of your trade show booth design ideas.
White: White is the color of purity, innocence, and cleanliness, but can also represent blankness and coldness so it should be used with care. It can create a sense of space or add highlights to a design. If you’re looking for austerity and minimalism, white is an excellent choice.