At expos and trade shows, your visuals are often the first impression people have of your company. Attendees move quickly through overcrowded halls, scanning booths from a distance and deciding within seconds where they’ll stop and which ones they’ll pass. Let’s be honest, we’ve all skipped a booth simply because it looked too chaotic or just a bit off…
That puts a lot of pressure on your visuals. They need to communicate clearly what you do or offer, work at scale in real event conditions (people passing by, competing booths, lighting...), and feel unified across every touchpoint, from booth walls to banners and handouts.
Designing for events is very different from everyday marketing design. You’re working within physical constraints such as viewing distance, lighting, materials, and installation requirements, all of which can limit or influence your design choices. So let’s consider them early on, before your files ever reach the printer…
Imagine a backdrop or banner filled with multiple messages: what you do, your 10+ features, 20+ benefits, a special event offer, and a jumble of other visual elements all competing for attention. Would you stop to read all of that just to figure out what the company does, or would you keep walking?
This usually happens when teams try to include everything at once, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved (marketing wants this, sales wants that…). In a busy event space, too much information does the opposite of what you want. Instead of drawing people in, it slows them down and often pushes them away.
A better approach is to treat each graphic as a single-purpose communication tool. Decide what you want someone to understand in the first five seconds and design around that message only. Use one clear headline, supporting visuals, and minimal text. Anything that doesn’t support that main message can live elsewhere, like a brochure, roll-up, screen, or follow-up conversation.
Designs are often created at screen size without thinking about how they’ll look in real life. Text that feels perfectly readable on a laptop can quickly become a pain when it’s printed on a three-meter wall and viewed from across the hall. This usually isn’t anyone’s fault; it simply means the design hasn’t been tested in real event conditions yet.
You can avoid this by keeping the viewing distance in mind right from the start. Think about where people will actually see the graphic and size your text accordingly. Headlines should be big and bold enough to read from across an aisle, especially since people are usually walking by and scanning both sides as they go. Your secondary message doesn’t need to be nearly as large. It is there for those who stop and want a bit more detail about what you do.
“I’ll start drafting before I know the sizes. I can always adjust it later...” Sounds innocent, right? In reality, this often leads to more time spent resizing, awkward spacing, stretched visuals, and last-minute redesigns. In some cases, the final measurements arrive and the file doesn’t get properly adjusted at all.
There’s also the very real risk of getting attached to your first version and not wanting to change it, even when the new format clearly calls for a different layout (and the adapted version suddenly looks so much worse...).
Luckily, this is easy to avoid. Treat sizes, materials, and specs as a starting point, not a formality to confirm. Get final dimensions from your printer or stand builder before you start designing, and request templates whenever they’re available. Designing directly within the correct format ensures your layout works exactly as intended and reduces surprises during production.
When your booth walls, roll-up banners, flyers, and screens all look slightly different, your brand can start to feel mismatched. This usually happens when assets are created at different times, by different people, or without a shared visual reference (I get it, you wanted a more updated backdrop but didn’t want to reprint your flyers).
The fix starts with setting your visual system before you dive into design. Decide on consistent colors, fonts, imagery, and layout rules, and stick to them across every asset. Even a lightweight style guide or reference file can help everything feel connected and intentional once it’s installed. Make the call early, even if it means letting go of those flyers you were hoping to reuse.
Event graphics don’t exist in isolation. Lighting, nearby booths, wall colors, foot traffic, signage from neighboring stands, and even reflections from floors or windows all influence how your booth and its visuals are seen. When these factors aren’t considered, graphics can easily blend into the background or lose readability on site.
Design with the environment in mind. Think about high tables and counters that might block parts of your backdrop, and avoid placing important text or elements near the bottom. Use strong contrast between text and background, steer clear of subtle color combinations that can wash out under bright lights, and position key messages at eye level. If possible, review floor plans or reference photos from previous events to check for visual competition and adjust your design accordingly.
Unfortunately, this is a far too common mistake and one of the easiest to avoid. It’s also the most stressful for whoever is responsible for designing the booth. Rushed decisions, limited revisions, and mistakes can quickly pile up.
Most of the time, it happens because design is competing with dozens of other priorities in the lead-up to an event. With so many tasks demanding attention, design work often gets pushed to the last minute.
You can reduce the pressure by building design into your event timeline. Set deadlines for messaging, sizes, and key assets that allow for two to three rounds of revisions well before print deadlines. This gives you a buffer for internal reviews and changes. For example, your marketing team might finalize a version, only for sales or senior leadership to add input. Starting earlier gives you more control, higher-quality results, and far less stress as the event approaches.
Before you send anything to print or for installation, take a moment to review your work. A little extra time now can save hours of stress, prevent mistakes, and make sure your graphics work as intended at the event, not just on your screen. Think of it as a quick run-through, a simple way to check that every headline is readable, every visual is consistent, and nothing gets lost in translation from your computer to the event floor.
To make it easy, here’s a simple checklist to go over:
Running through these questions before sending your files off will help you catch potential issues early, reduce surprises, and make sure your booth looks well-prepared and put together on the day of the event.
Tell me what you’re planning, and let’s make it happen.
