When exhibiting, the quality of your graphic design will have a significant impact on the success of your attendance. Maintaining a strong visual brand across your stand will help to reinforce your professionalism and messaging.
This week’s blog comes from Claire Aplin at Pink Wahoo. They know how important graphic design and branding is when exhibiting…
“Conversely, bad branding will have a negative impact on how your business and product is received. Firstly, ensure you have a strong brand to start with. Do you have a logo that is clear and reflects your brand well? And do you have brand guidelines that detail which colours and fonts to use. Make sure that every item that you order follows the brand guidelines ensuring the
colours and fonts are reflected across all.
Consider which items you will need:
- Business cards – do you have plenty of these to hand out to prospective
clients? - Brochures, folders and flyers – do you need printed material to hand out to
give more information? - Forms – will you need to write any information down as you are talking to
clients or will you be using an electronic form? - Workwear – will you be maintaining your brand through the clothing that your
team are wearing? You may consider branding polo shirts for example. - Freebies – if you want to provide giveaways on your stand leave plenty of
time as for delivery. Also ensure the colours are as closely matched to your
brand as possible (it’s not always possible to get an exact colour match). - Branded tablecloth – if you are exhibiting on a small stand these are useful for
covering up trestle tables and reinforcing your brand - Presentations – will you be showing your product or service within a digital
screen? Make sure that the presentation is clear, is on brand and shows up
effectively within your stand, whether your screen is fixed to the stand or a
separate stand or table. - Name badges – these are often supplied by the exhibition provider, but it may
be worth checking in advance and ordering your own if not. - Stand – this is arguably the most important element that needs to be
designed. There are many things to consider and we go in to more detail on
this below.
Stand out from the crowd
There are many options to consider when finalising your stand. A lot will depend on
the size and type of stand you have, and also your budget. For example, a smaller
stand may only have space for a simple roller banner, whilst a ‘space only’ stand will
probably need a large bespoke stand built within it.
Whatever the size of your stand here are some things to
consider:
- Get the most bang for your buck. Order the biggest display that will fit within
your stand and your budget – fill the space. - BUT – less is more with graphic design. Just because you have a large,
printed area, doesn’t mean that you need to fill every millimetre with
information or images. Keep things simple and clear so that your messages
and images stand out. - Images – if you are using images make sure they are high resolution – no one
wants to see a blurry photograph. Sometimes the only option is to use stock
photography but consider getting professional shots taken if time and budget
will allow. - Type – make sure that fonts are legible and that any type can be seen from a
distance so that your customers know why they need to visit you. - Clear and uncluttered – consider which areas of your stand will be filled with
items such as tables, brochure racks and chairs. Elevate any messaging and
images so that they are not obscured.”
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