Preparing the perfect trade show exhibit can feel a little like playing the Oregon Trail video game.

  • What do you take?
  • Who do you take?
  • What do you leave behind?
  • How do you condense everything you need into custom trade show displays?

Unfortunately, in the real world, the stakes are too high to get lost along the way. Trade shows can be a tremendous opportunity to promote your brand and gain new leads, but if executed poorly, a total waste of time. If you’re struggling to create compelling trade show booth ideas, then take these tips from our exhibit experts. Trust us, you don’t want to learn these lessons the hard way, on a crowded trade show floor full of your colleagues and competition.

Remember: Great Artists Liberate

If you ever notice particularly awesome trade show booth designs when wandering the showroom floor, don’t hesitate to snap a picture for your own future designs. As they say, a good artist copies, but a great artist re-purposes the idea as their own. If an element of a previous exhibit was a hit, then it’s okay to update it and use it again. If you’re still coming up short on inspiration, check out our exhibit company’s portfolio of unique trade show booth ideas.

Remember: Less Is More and More Is Less

The latest market research indicates design graphics should be 40% empty space.

Perhaps because we live in a world that is overwhelming, crowded, and constantly moving, consumers are attracted to simpler designs. Think of a television news program. Between graphics in the top corners and one or two running headlines across the bottom of the screen, it is difficult to focus on the news anchor in the middle. Often, minimalist trade show booth ideas that incorporate the less is more approach help potential customers focus on the message, not the distractions.

Take, for example, the simple billboards along an interstate. While many billboards fill space with offers of cheap gas, snack prices, and clean restrooms, they often have so many colors that the visual clutter is overwhelming. Often, it’s the simple white billboard that attracts attention.

Remember: Have a Strategy for Sticking Out

A major part of trade show booth displays is making sure that you are visible from multiple angles. For example:

  • Long-range graphics, those that can be seen from across the trade show venue, should be as high as possible within the regulations of the trade show.
  • Medium range graphics need to be above eye level. These six to eight feet high items will attract potential visitors from two or three booths away.
  • Short range graphics are only five to six feet high and are for the purposes of keeping the attention of people at your booth.

Flexible Spaces Work Best

Just as website designers know that any visuals they create have to move from the laptop platform to the handheld device platform, the best trade show exhibit companies understand how important it is to have a booth that is flexible for a variety of physical spaces. While an island booth accessible from all sides may be a company’s dream location, these spaces may not be available at all trade shows. As a result, exhibit house companies must provide materials that can be configured in different space sizes and different locations, be it a perimeter booth or a linear booth.

Taken together, all these current trade show booth ideas and trends point to a simple yet modern approach. Are you following these trends in your design?