A great way to draw attention to your product within your trade show exhibit design is to use it to create a piece of art.
What we mean by art is an arrangement of objects or pieces that work together to create a cohesive, visually compelling form. This goes beyond treating your product itself as art and displaying it in a gallery or within a museum-like case. What we're talking about here is creating something larger and more complex than a single sample of your product: a grouping or arrangement that evokes a mood or emotion.
Here are five examples to get you thinking:
1. Arrange product samples in a visually pleasing way. Modern art piece or sample board? Amerock's display of its upscale cabinet pulls and knobs at KBIS is both. This approach reinforces just how attractive the products are and entices attendees to envision how elegant they'll look installed in a home.
2. Create a piece of art from a component of your product or packaging. Nespresso hired artist Kathleen Nowak Tucci to create a collage from discarded Nespresso coffee capsules. The result is an eye-catching booth attract that non-verbally reinforces the wide variety of Nespresso flavors.
3. Use a component of your product to create part of your exhibit structure. Mercedes used seat belt strapping to create an undulating, sculptural canopy above its exhibit at CES. The open spaces between the illuminated strips of belt created a rhythmic texture and upscale appearance that reinforced Mercedes' luxury brand status.
4. Integrate your products into your display in fun, unexpected ways. The goal, when creating a piece of art out of your product, is to communicate your brand persona. That means fun brands shouldn't be afraid to create fun and whimsical art pieces. The Joy Mangano exhibit at International Home + Housewares Show achieves exactly this. Cleaning almost seems fun when you see the full rainbow of colors of Joy Mangano's Miracle Mop that this mannequin is wearing as a skirt.
5. Dangle products artfully from above. There is something mesmerizing about the slow movement of objects suspended from the ceiling to create a mobile. Even simple window frames become ethereal and elegant when they're suspended overhead at visually pleasing intervals. This approach turns even the simplest of objects into something aspirational.
How have you created art out of your products?
