The Importance of Graphics and Exhibition Stands

If your business or organisation exhibits at Exhibitions, Business Expos, Trade Shows, Conferences, and any other commercial or public events, this article is designed to help you. It includes our Top Tips to ensure your exhibition space stands out to attract visitors, and downloadable Information Sheets on preparing for events and making sure your stand team are ready for the day.

The main objective of having an exhibition stand is to attract the right visitors to engage with your stand team. Time is precious for people visiting these events, so strong visuals within your stand design are vital to tell people who you are, what you do, how you can help them, and why they should come and speak with you today (particularly if you are there to promote a new product launch).

Graphics and exhibition stands are powerful tools that can be used to create an impact and ensure (relevant) visitors quickly understand why they should speak with your team. Once you have their attention, it’s then down to your stand team to make sure they leave with a lasting and positive impression of your brand. So, here are our Top Tips on how to use graphic design and exhibition stands to grab attention and achieve success.


TIP 1 – Keep It Simple

While you may want your graphics and exhibition stands to be stunning, it’s important to ensure they remain simple and easy to understand. Keep messages clear, concise, and avoid cluttering your space with too many elements.

Graphics can be used to create eye-catching visuals that can be easily recognised and remembered by potential customers. They can also make your stand more attractive in a crowded exhibition space or hall.

Many events install shell schemes for exhibitors to hire at events, where participating companies and organisations can select the size of the stand from a range of options. While these offer a cost-effective way of securing a space, the difficulty is they can all look the same…so making your space stand out from the crowd is a key element for grabbing visitors’ attention in the 3 to 5 seconds it takes for them to walk past your stand.

A shell scheme stand fitted out with bespoke printed full-sized panels

TIP 2 – Be Interactive

Consider including interactive elements in the design of your exhibition stand. These help your stand team to spend more time with visitors, demonstrate products that are being featured at events, and can be useful for creating “closing sales” opportunities.

Exhibition Stands should still employ attention grabbing graphics, but the main benefit is that they provide a physical presence that helps businesses attract and engage with their target audience.

Seating areas can be used to create a simple way to interact with stand visitors. But to take engagement to a higher level, stands can incorporate touchscreens, hands-on and virtual reality experiences, and visitor participation fun activities. All of these will create a buzz around your stand and ensure visitors leave with positive memories of your business or organisation.

A small stand fitted out with a simple seating area

A larger stand with screens, seating, and interactive zones

TIP 3 – Be Bold

Bold and eye-catching graphics can help your brand stand out in a crowded exhibition hall. Use bright colours, unique shapes, and interesting textures to create a visual impact that will grab attention.

Once your stand has caught the eye of passers-by, your stand team can start to have meaningful discussions with them. Bright, bold colours can be used in conjunction with straplines, headlines about awards, and images that help to entice visitors to your stand.

Add other incentives (did we mention seating and interactive zones?) and your stand will become the “Go To” place to visit at any event.

Bold colours and stunning visuals grab visitors’ attention

TIP 4 – Make It Memorable

Create a lasting impression with your visitors by providing memorable experiences or giveaways.

People can get very competitive at events so, if your interactive zone can support it, introduce a fun competition to your stand – there are loads of ways to achieve this from balloon blowing to hiring video gaming units.

Alternatively, consider giveaways. Ideally these should include your company/organisation’s branding and be useful to the recipient. Many exhibitors pre-prepare giveaway bags that can include several useful items such as pens, pads, and branded sweets, alongside information leaflets on the products or services being promoted on the stand.

 

Branded pens are always useful as giveaways

More Tips on Exhibiting

If you have found this article useful, you may also like to download these Information Sheets, collated by our friend and colleague Steve Manning at Activate Marketing Consultancy Services LLP:

Exhibition Tips for Organisers
Exhibition Tips for Stand Teams

How We Help

After 18 years of supporting companies that exhibit on a regular basis, we understand the importance of attracting visitors to stands.  We offer a design, print, build, and install service and can advise you about different types of exhibition graphics and stands, the materials they can be built from, and how best to enhance them (by including printed marketing collateral and promotional merchandise).

A wide range of stand types are available from us (small, medium, and large), including Pop-Up stands, Modular stands, Fabric Display stands, Display Boards, Lightboxes, and even sustainable Exhibition Displays (which are printed onto Xanita cardboard and are very durable); all designed to make your stand the place people will want to visit.

Exhibition stand options typically range from a stand layout to fit a 2 metre by 1 metre shell scheme space, through to much larger, bespoke, standalone units that feature areas for interactive discussions with visitors, seating, and customer experience areas. We also print graphics to Velcro, which can be used on the walls of shell scheme units to add a bold visual effect.

Print Storage and Distribution Service

Exhibition Stands can be quite bulky and challenging to store at clients’ offices or premises. So clients can make use of our Storage and Distribution Service to store their stands and marketing collateral, using the 200 m2 of storage space available at our Aldershot base.

Find out more about our services
We are far more than a graphic design and printing provider. Our team really enjoy working in a consultative way, discussing options, and offering advice to ensure customers get the most appropriate products and value for money we can provide.

Over the years, we have established a reputation for being responsive, flexible, understanding, and competitively priced. If you think our services can help your company or organisation, please contact our Commercial Director, Lisa Mortimore on 01252 796 903 or email [email protected].

Published April 2023

Categories: Exhibition Stands, Storage & Distribution, Graphic Design

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