Trade show booth design

From brief to 3D concept

No lengthy briefing document required. Tell us the show, the booth size, and what the booth needs to do for you: welcome visitors, run demos, host meetings, or present your story. Add your logo and branding, and we get to work. You first get a quote with every line item spelled out, and after your approval we develop the design into a complete proposal:

• Renders of your booth from multiple angles, with your branding applied
• A floor plan with dimensions, so you can check how the layout fits your booth space
• The link to your quote, so you can see which part of the booth belongs to which line item

From there, you give direction. A different counter, a second meeting spot, extra height: we revise until the design works, and any change to the price shows up in the quote right away. Production does not start before you approve the design. The design respects the rules of your show from day one, and we take care of the paperwork with the organizer, including submitting the booth design for pre-approval when the show asks for it.

What makes a good trade show booth design

Every booth we draw follows the same five principles. They hold on a 12 m² inline booth just as much as on a 60 m² island, and they separate a booth that decorates from a booth that delivers leads.

Sightlines

Attendees make up their minds while walking past. Your brand name and core message have to be legible from the aisle and from far away, so place them above eye level, never tucked behind a pillar or a plant. Keep the perimeter low at the open corners, and put your product or screen on the sight axis: that is what pulls people in. The 3D concept lets you verify those sightlines before anything is built.

Zoning

A booth that performs has four zones: reception up front, the demo on the sightline, a quieter spot for conversations, and storage hidden from view. Keep the path between them clear; a counter parked across the opening like a roadblock costs you traffic all day. On 12 m² that layout puzzle is no smaller than on 60 m², there is simply less room to get it wrong.

Height

Height makes you visible across the entire exhibit hall, but every venue sets its own height limits and its own rules for hanging structures. A design that ignores them fails inspection or gets fixed on the show floor at a premium. We design within the rules of your venue, so the height works for you instead of against you.

Lighting

Light steers attention. Spotlights on the product, backlit fabric for the brand, and LED used where it earns its keep instead of everywhere: that gives a booth depth and makes it readable at a glance. A real lighting plan is part of the design, not a leftover line item on the quote.

Budget decisions

The design is where your budget is actually decided. LED is the most expensive square meter of the booth, a double-deck adds structural work plus an inspection, and reusable frames lower the cost per show. That is why our quote spells out every line item and the 3D concept shows which part of the booth belongs to which one: you manage the money while the design can still move.

Designing modular or custom booths

The way we build feeds straight into the way we design, which is why that decision belongs in the design phase and not after it. Modular in our shop means Aluvision Omni-55, a frame system engineered to go up and come down dozens of times. The frames get reused, the fabric and prints with your branding are new and stay yours, and the booth reads as custom work at a lower price point. More on that under modular trade show booths. If your brand calls for a shape no system can deliver, we design freely: a custom counter, built furniture, a second level. Everything comes out of our own facility; see custom trade show booths. Most clients land on a mix: a reusable base with custom elements where they matter most. Exhibiting several times a year? We design the booth so it moves with you to the next show, even when the booth space there has different dimensions.

What a booth design costs

The design is part of the job. Send us your show and booth size, and you first get a quote with every line item spelled out; after your approval we develop the 3D concept, with renders and a floor plan, and revise it with you until it works. Design and build come from one partner, so what you approve in 3D is exactly what our facility produces and our crew installs. Want to shift the height, the amount of LED, or the share of custom work? You see right away what that does to the number. A complete booth, design included, usually runs from €8,000 to €40,000, depending on booth size, the share of custom work, the amount of LED, and the distance to the show. What is included in that price and which decisions move the number is covered at what a trade show booth costs.

Booth design for IBC, PLMA, and other trade shows

A booth design is only done when it matches the show it is built for. From our facility in Made, the Netherlands, we install at trade shows all over Europe: IBC and PLMA at the RAI Amsterdam, ISH in Frankfurt, ISC in Hamburg, DMEXCO in Cologne, and transport logistic in Munich. For each show we know the venue, the height limits, and the setup days, and that knowledge is baked into the design from the first sketch. Find your show in our trade show calendar: it lists what we handle per show, and you can request a quote for it right there.

Booth designs we built

Five booths from our own production: two that were ours from first sketch to last screw, and three we built and installed for international agencies.