Keep exhibit graphics simple.

At trade shows and in exhibit halls you have only an instant to capture the attendee’s attention so keep your exhibit graphics messages minimal:

  • your logo or name
  • what you do in that a dozen words or less, i.e. your tag line
  • what differentiates you, ina dozen words or less, from the guy down the aisle (optional)

Think minimal, say barely enough to pique an interest. The objective is to allow the people manning the booth to take over from there. If the exhibit graphics say too much the attendee may think, “I know what these people do”, and move on. But things may turn out differently if your booth team has a chance to have a conversation.

Designing Exhibit Graphics

Exhibit Graphic : Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Use great photography.

If you have read other pages on this website the great photography reference may be getting old. But it’s as true for display & exhibit graphics as it is for everything else. There are dramatic and excellent type-only designs, but if you use photography, and chances are you will, make sure it is top notch.

Trade show panels and exhibit graphics are very large and will most likely require very high-resolution photography. It should be high-res from the start. Increasing the resolution of a low-resolution photograph in Adobe Photoshop is not good enough. It’s quality in, quality out.

Here is an example of a minimum size image for an large-format inkjet printer. The vendor will probably want a minimum resolution of about 100 pixel per inch (PPI) at final size. That’s 330 Mb RGB image at 100 ppi for a standard 10′ wide by 8′ high trade show display. Images can be ‘rezzed’ up a bit if necessary but if they look blurry on your screen at 100% they’ll probably look blurry in the finished display.