When you've got a lot of variations of your product, how do you articulate that story through your trade show exhibit design?
By bringing all of those samples together in a purposefully planned display. This works especially well for smaller products.
Eight tips:
1. Create order. Your goal is to make your display pleasing to the eye. Accomplish this by spacing your products evenly on a grid or at distances that create a visual rhythm.
2. Display vertically. When you place products on a flat surface, it becomes harder for visitors to take the whole thing in at once and understand how they relate to one another. Instead, mount your display on a wall or line it up on shelving. Placement on an upward ramp will work too—and will help intuitively communicate that the choices go on and on.
3. Go wide. When visitors have to stand back to take it all in, it enhances the perception that there are a whole lot of options to choose from. Don't be afraid to wrap the display around a corner onto other walls—this actually increases the impact. In fact, it usually creates a more impressive result when you have one or two rows of product that extend around your entire booth than if you were to display your product more tightly in multiple columns but fewer rows. (Unless you're going tall instead of wide…)
4. Go tall. Extending the height of your display, so people have to look up to take it in has much the same awe-inducing effect as going wide. (KitchenAid/Whirlpool exhibit design and fabrication by 3D Exhibits.)
5. Light it up. As always, light draws the eye and gives your display more impact.
6. Be imaginative. Visitors always stop when they see something unexpected. There's no reason why that unexpected thing can't be a fun or inventive display of your product. In this example, Amerock showcased the breath of its line of cabinet pulls and knobs by arranging them into a piece of art.
7. Make it a focal point. By leaving some white space around your display and making it easy for people to find, you increase the perceived importance of your product. Treating your product display in a shrine-like manner is not going too far.
8. Label it. If your product is something small and not particularly sexy on its own, you might reiterate your point with a sign. Bio-Rad did this to reiterate that what people were looking at was the "World's Largest Selection of Gel Cards." (Bio-Rad exhibit design and fabrication by 3D Exhibits.)
How do you make sure people understand the breadth of your product line?
