How to Design a Trade Show Booth

Choosing to exhibit at a trade show is a significant investment. A lot of time and money goes into booking a show, buying a display and planning your strategy. Designing your trade show booth is absolutely critical for your success so that your money was spent wisely and you receive a return on your investment. So how do you design a trade show booth effectively? You need to set a budget, decide on a message, pick the right colors and fonts for the display, choose images, decide if you need additional lighting and you need to plan the booth’s layout.

How to Design a Trade Show Booth

• Set a budget: Before you can begin to design your displays and build your booth layout, you need to know what kind of budget you are working with. That will help you determine what your options are for your trade show displays and booth.
• Decide on a message/tagline: Once you decide on a budget and a display, you have to determine your booth’s message. There are at least one or more reasons to exhibit at a trade show and your booth’s message should clearly state your mission for being there to customers.
• Pick readable, eye catching colors and fonts: The worst thing you can do is have hard to read text on your trade show display. You want to use your trade show display as a way to pitch yourself to attendees who might be customers. Picking colors that will catch their eye and are easy to read is a big step in designing your trade show booth.
• Choose a few images for your display background: Don’t overstuff your displays with too much text or too many images. Catch attendee’s eyes with good images but give them ones to focus on and don’t overcrowd your display.
• Decide if you need additional lighting: The lighting situation may change from venue to venue depending on your booth location at those venues. Packing additional lighting for your display is always a good idea to begin with, but if you feel like the colors you use for your display might be less visible if there is a lighting issue, decide on additional lighting options before it’s too late.
• Plan your booth layout with the customer experience in mind: One of the most common phrases used in interior design is “open concept.” It works for homes and it will work for your trade show booth. The goal of exhibiting at trade shows is to attract attendees to your booth. An open concept of your booth design will seem more inviting and easy to navigate, thus increasing your odds for trade show success.