COVER STORY
INNOVATIVE STAND DESIGN
ATTRACT attention, sell, and be unforgettable. Successful stand designs do all this and more. Luckily, they have more tools at their disposal than ever before, making stands more engaging, affordable, and versitile than ever. Award-winning stand photo courtesy of XZIBIT.
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lan de Beer, Creative Director of Scan Display, has been in the stand design business long enough to remember when technology meant a TV set placed on a stand. But times have changed. Now de Beers is using “thin, wallmounted plasmas,” “iPads,” and LED lighting, like much of the rest of the industry. Customers expect the incorporation of the latest trends into their stand designs. And they can get it. “I think the European market is leading architectural and stand design, especially in Switzerland, Germany, and
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Spain. As a result we often look to them for what is the latest market trend,” says de Beer. Other industry leaders agree. Complete Exhibitions says, “clients have always expected value for money and quality service, now they tend to also expect that you will offer someting new and innovative.” They add, “good graphics are a must, a different floor even if it’s just a different carpet colour and the use of unique lighting. Average graphics can look amazing when properly lit, good graphics become wow graphics!” Jaques Jacobs, Head
of Design at 3D Design, says that although the objective remains the same -- keeping up with client expectations such as good design, good service, and good finish, the industry is changing due to outside factors. Jacobs says, “the energy crisis, greening, pollution, technology and new materials,” impact his work. “I draw inspiration from my surroundings, watching people and everything and anything that I feel will inspire me, which helps create new and innovative ideas,” Jacobs adds. The global economic downturn has also impacted the
industry, notes Murray Strauss, Head of Design at SSQ Exhibitions. “The industry has been hampered by various factors from the recession affecting marketing budgets to the slow pace of adapability from market players...There has been a noticable decline in fact, in terms of size, budgets, and forward thinking of exhibitions, primarily due to recession,” Strauss notes. In the following pages we take a close look at the stand industry: current trends and what’s ahead.