The Importance of Lighting on your Exhibition Stand or Trade Show Booth

Exhibition and Trade show display lighting should be thought of at the very early stages of design as it is one of your most important and flexible sales tool. Effective and creative exhibit illumination can influence people where to look, what to look at, how long to stay and has been proven to evoke different emotion depending on colour and intensity. When thinking about your booth lighting, be aware of what you want your focal point to be.

Strong lighting works literally as a beacon to draw people in. Know what message you are trying to portray and also the ‘feel’ you want. We all know that low/dim lighting can be far more ‘peaceful’ than a bright glare. This may be suitable for a meeting or rest area where you want people to stay a while and maybe flick through any brochures you have on show. On the other hand, if you are trying to launch a new product say, you want to light this up with as much glare as possible so it screams ‘look at me’!

Consider the options of such lighting tricks as gobos – which can throw your company logo onto walls or flooring, or spotlights to highlight certain areas. There’s also backlighting, lightboxes, uplights, downlights, recessed lights, neon lights, shelf lights, track lights etc. etc.!

Lighting can create more atmosphere that any other tools you may have. Lighting can be dramatic, inviting or comforting depending on your message. Colours are just as important as intensity to evoke a mood. A strong white or yellow glare screams ‘look over here’ whilst a blue soft lighting can say ‘come and talk to us, we are relaxed and happy to have a chat!

Talk to your exhibition provider for advice and also your designer. Make sure they take all these things into consideration when showing you initial concepts too. They will also be able to advise on any electrical issues too such as power limitations (if any) to each exhibitor.

Be aware that depending on the show, the cost for extra power may not be feasible for you. If budget is not an issue, then certainly look at lighting being a ‘feature’ on your exhibition stand.