5 Important Tips for Successful Trade Show Graphics
Thursday, January 18th – There’s a reason we put “graphics” in our name here at Best Displays & Graphics. The visuals you deploy for your trade show marketing are crucial in the success of your display. Graphic elements are an essential factor in your booth design, and can make or break your trade show booth.
Of course, your graphic design options are virtually limitless. It’s up to your company to construct a visual design that will best support your campaign objectives. However, there are some all-around tricks to keep in mind when creating your graphics. Here are some of our favorites…
Five Important Tips to Create Great Trade Show Graphics
- Design to appeal to your audience
Your company’s public persona and the way it’s presented should reflect the attitudes and opinions of your target demographics. A product for kids shouldn’t have dour grey-and-brown colour schemes, while a serious piece of business software shouldn’t have a logo done in comic sans.
(Well, really, nothing should have a logo done in comic sans.)
The more you know about your audience, the easier it will be to create designs to appeal to them. Do market research, or even send out surveys to your mailing list. Find out whether you should be more playful, or more serious. Colourful, or restrained. Formal, or laid back. Matters like that can make all the difference in good visual outreach.
- Have a clear colour scheme.
A clear and distinct colour scheme is one of those subtle elements of design which helps distinguish professional, well-made booths from those which have been thrown together. Pick two or three main colours -ideally, your corporate or logo colors- and make those the key colors in your booth.
In particular, pay attention to hues, and keep them consistent. There’s a reason that companies like Coca-Cola will actually trademark the exact colour of red they use in their logo. “Coca-Cola Red” is instantly identifiable to customers and used consistently throughout their marketing. Try to do the same. Make every colour match as best as possible. If you’re using greens, make it the same green every time.
- Be informative, but not overwhelming
Though there is no rule defining what your graphics-to-text ratio should be on your visual elements, as a rule of thumb, err on the side of graphics. You definitely want some text on your materials highlighting your key selling points, but don’t overdo it. People don’t want to look at a wall of text. Whenever possible, convey your message via images and mood as much as text.
Also, try to put the more colorful, eye-catching, and\or graphics-heavy pieces towards the front of your booth, and then put the more text-heavy pieces in the back. That way you draw in people with the visuals, but give them a reason to stay and learn more if they’re interested in your products.
- Always have a focal point
Another sign of unprofessional graphic design is that it will be “all over the place,” literally. Good composition usually begins with a single piece of the graphic which a viewer’s eyes are naturally drawn to. This can be accomplished numerous ways. You could make one element much brighter than the others, for example. Use of eyes within the graphic is another option. If a human is featured, the viewer’s eyes will almost always either meet their eyes or follow their line-of-sight.
Then add elements around that central focal point that people can explore, using the focus as their starting point.
- Use lighting for highlights and eye-grabs
Lighting is one of our own “secret tricks” here at Best Displays. Whether you’re using spotlights, coloured lights, backlights, or any other kind of light, they’re one of the best possible additions to your graphics. They can throw focus onto a piece of graphic design, or even add extra colour through the use of coloured lenses.
In fact, sometimes a rather plain and uninteresting logo -by itself- can become quite visually interesting with the right lighting scheme added to it. Lights aren’t part of your graphic design, but they can enhance every element of it. Use them well.
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