Exhibition stand design

From briefing to 3D concept

You do not need a thick briefing document. Send us the trade fair, the stand size and what you want the stand to do: welcome visitors, demonstrate a product, hold meetings or present your story. Your logo and house style complete the picture. You first receive a quote with every item written out, and after your approval we work out the design into a full proposal:

• Renders of your stand from several angles, with your house style in place
• A floor plan with measurements, so you can see exactly how the layout fits your stand space
• The link to your quote, so you can see which part of the stand belongs to which item

Then you steer. A different counter, an extra meeting room, more height: we adjust the design until it is right, and any change to the price shows up in the quote straight away. Production only starts once you approve the design. The design follows the rules of your trade fair from the first sketch, and we handle the applications and approvals with the organiser, including submitting the stand design in advance where the trade fair requires it.

What makes a good exhibition stand design

Exhibition stand design, sometimes called exhibition booth design, is a trade with rules of its own. These are the five principles behind every design that leaves our drawing table, on 12 m² just as much as on 60 m².

Sightlines

Visitors decide in passing. Your brand name and core message must be readable from the aisle and from a distance, which means above eye level and never hidden behind a column or a plant. Keep the open corners of the stand low, and put the product or the screen on the line of sight: that is what draws people in. In the 3D concept you check those sightlines in advance, through the eyes of the visitor.

Zoning

A stand that works has four zones: reception at the front, the demonstration on the sightline, conversations in a quieter corner and storage out of sight. The route between them must stay open; a counter that blocks the entrance like a barricade costs you visitors every hour of the day. On 12 m² that puzzle is just as real as on 60 m², it only leaves less room for error.

Height

Height gives you visibility across the whole hall, but every hall has its own build heights and its own rules for suspended constructions. A design that ignores them fails the inspection or is reworked on the exhibition floor at a price. We design within the rules of your hall, so the height works for you and never turns into a surprise.

Lighting

Light directs the eye. Spots on the product, illuminated fabric for the brand and LED placed where it earns its place instead of everywhere: that is how a stand gains depth and reads in one glance. A proper lighting plan sits inside the design, not in the leftover line of a quote.

Budget choices

The design is where the price is decided. LED is the most expensive square metre of the stand, a second storey demands a heavier construction plus an inspection, and reusable frames bring the price per trade fair down. That is why our quote writes every item out and the 3D concept shows which part of the stand belongs to which item: you steer the budget while there is still something to steer.

Designing for modular or custom stands

How we build shapes how we design, so that choice belongs in the design and not at the end of the process. Modular at Qbooth means Aluvision Omni-55: a frame system made to be built up and taken down dozens of times. The frames are reusable, the fabric and prints in your house style are new and remain yours, and the stand looks like custom work at a lower price. Read more at modular exhibition stands. Does your brand ask for a shape that no system can deliver? Then we design freely: a bespoke counter, a built piece of furniture, a second storey. All of it comes out of our own hall; see custom exhibition stands. Most clients choose a combination: a reusable base with custom work in the places where it makes the difference. And if you exhibit several times a year, we design the stand so it travels with you to the next trade fair, even when the stand size there is different.

What a stand design costs

The design is part of the job. Send us your trade fair and stand size and you first receive a quote with every item written out, and after your approval we work out the 3D concept, with renders and a floor plan, and adjust it with you until it is right. Design and build come from one partner, so what you approve in 3D is exactly what our hall produces and our team installs. Want to shift the height, the LED surface or the share of custom work? You see straight away what that does to the price. A complete stand, design included, usually costs between €8,000 and €40,000, depending on the stand size, the share of custom work, the LED surface and the distance to the trade fair. What sits inside that price and which choices move the figure is set out at what an exhibition stand costs.

Stand design for IBC, PLMA and other trade fairs

A stand design is only finished when it fits the trade fair it will stand at. From our hall in Made, in the Netherlands, we build at trade fairs across Europe: IBC and PLMA in the RAI Amsterdam, ISH in Frankfurt, ISC in Hamburg, DMEXCO in Cologne and transport logistic in Munich. For each of them we know the hall, the build heights and the build-up times, and that knowledge goes into the design from the first sketch. Look up your trade fair in our trade fair calendar: it shows per trade fair what we arrange, and you can request a quote for it directly.

Designs we built

Five stands from our own floor: two we designed and built from the first sketch to the last screw, and three we produced and installed for international agencies.