Exhibition Booth Graphics: Designing a Stand Visitors Read From the Aisle

Most booth graphics fail in one of two ways. Either the stand says too little, with a large logo, a photo and a slogan that could belong to anyone, or it says far too much, with every product, certification and partner logo fighting for the same wall. In both cases a buyer walking past gets no answer to the only question they are asking: is this stand worth stopping at?

This guide is about the message and the artwork: what goes on the walls, in what order, in which language, and how the files reach the stand builder and the organiser without last-minute surprises. It does not cover structure or budget. Those are separate decisions, and our guide to who designs, builds and brands a stand in Dubai sets out the split.

Start with three questions, in order

Before anyone opens a design file, write the stand’s message hierarchy on one page. It has three levels, and each one is read from a different distance.

Everything else, such as specifications, model ranges, price lists and project references, belongs on the counter, in the catalogue, on a tablet or in the sales conversation. It does not belong on a wall that people read while walking.

A useful test: cover the logo and read only the level-2 line. If a competitor could put the same sentence on their stand without changing a word, it is not doing its job. “Integrated packaging solutions” fails this test. “Exclusive Saudi distributor for [brand] food-packaging machines, with spare parts in Riyadh” passes, if it is true.

Design for the aisle, not the render

Renders are viewed on a screen, straight on, with perfect lighting. Visitors see the stand at an angle, while moving, partly blocked by people standing in front of it, under hall lighting. A few rules follow from that.

• Put level 1 and level 2 above head height. Anything below roughly shoulder height will be hidden by your own staff and visitors once the show is busy. Keep the lower zone for detail that people read once they have stopped.
• Design for the angle of approach. On an inline stand most people see it from the side as they walk down the aisle. Corner and island stands are seen from several directions, so the key message must repeat on each open side.
• Use one dominant image per wall. A single large product or application visual reads from a distance. A collage of small photos turns into texture.
• Keep contrast high and surfaces matte where you can. Hall lighting and spotlights create glare on glossy surfaces, and pale grey on white disappears. Ask your fabrication partner for a sample under similar light.
• Test at full size. Before artwork is approved, output the key line at real scale on paper, tape it to a wall and read it from the distance of the far side of a typical aisle while walking. This tells you more than any rule of thumb.

Do not let the graphics fight the venue’s safety signage either. As one example, the January 2019 edition (version 1) of the Dubai World Trade Centre health and safety rules, a copy of which is hosted by a third-party event site, required advertising signs to be made of robust material, fixed at proper fixing points and placed so they do not obscure emergency signs. Check the current version in your own show’s manual.

Arabic and English on the same wall

In the GCC most stands need both languages, and the most common problem is not translation. It is that the Arabic looks like an afterthought: smaller, lighter, squeezed under the English line.

Part of this is optical. In his University of Reading study Harmonization of Arabic and Latin Script (2006), type designer Titus Nemeth explains that Arabic can look smaller than Latin at the same point size, and in one of his case studies the Arabic needed about 1.5 points more to reach a comparable optical size. He also notes that setting both scripts at the same size and line spacing gives uneven results. The Khatt Foundation’s article on letter proportions in dual-script fonts makes the related point that, in a matched Latin-Arabic family, the Latin x-height and the Arabic loop height should line up.

In practice, for booth graphics:

1. Size by eye, not by number. Set the Arabic and English lines so they look equal in size and weight from a distance, even if that means different point sizes in the file.
2. Use a typeface family designed for both scripts, or a pairing your brand guidelines already specify. Avoid decorative or highly calligraphic Arabic for anything read from the aisle. Dots and fine details are the first things lost at distance.
3. Give each language its own line or block. Do not run Arabic and English on one line. Arabic reads right to left, so place it where the layout feels natural for an Arabic reader, usually the right or the top, as long as your guidelines agree.
4. Write the Arabic, do not just translate the English. A slogan that works in English often becomes long or awkward when translated literally. Write both versions from the same brief and have a native Arabic copywriter approve the final wording.
5. Check text as outlines in the production file. Arabic shaping can break when files move between software or when fonts are missing. Ask for a proof that shows exactly what will be produced.

If your identity has no defined Arabic typeface or bilingual lockup yet, solve that before the show, not during it (our guide to bilingual Arabic-English identities sets out what a proper system includes). An exhibition is a large, very visible place to discover that your Arabic logo was never properly drawn.

Work inside the organiser’s rules

The organiser’s exhibitor manual decides what you can put where, and it usually arrives later than you would like. Read it as soon as it is released, and brief your graphics around it, not the other way round. These are the kinds of rules that affect artwork directly. The examples below come from specific, dated documents, not from current rules for every show:

• Shell scheme panels and fascia. As an example, Messe Frankfurt Middle East’s 2020 Automechanika Dubai booking form described shell walls 2,500 mm high built from 1,000 mm wide panels, a 420 mm fascia board with the stand lettering fitted by the organiser, and stated that “no company logos or fittings may be attached to the name panel or fascia”. It also said no fixings could be made to the walls and that each panel could take a maximum of 4 to 5 kg. On a shell stand, your level-1 message therefore has to live on the walls, not on the fascia, and graphics must be applied in a way the panels allow. If you have not yet chosen the stand type, see shell scheme or space-only.
• Height. The same form said space-only stands could not exceed 2,500 mm without the organiser’s written permission, requested at least four weeks before the show. The 2019 edition of the DWTC rules capped shell scheme stands at 2.5 m. A raised logo tower or header needs to be in the approved drawings, not added on site.
• Walls facing neighbours. The 2020 form required the back of dividing walls on space-only stands to be painted white or masked to present a neat appearance. If you want that surface branded, ask first.
• Hanging graphics. The 2019 DWTC rules made DWTC Event Services the sole provider of top and primary rigging and required at least two weeks’ notice before the first tenancy day, including build-up, for anything suspended. Bottom weights had to be fully sealed inside the banner. A hanging sign is often the best level-1 element on a large stand, but it has the earliest deadline of all.
• Materials. The same 2019 DWTC rules required drapes and fabrics to be fire-retardant treated to NFPA 701 or another accepted international standard. Confirm that any fabric graphic your fabrication partner proposes meets this, and keep the certificate.
• Build-up time. The Intersec Saudi Arabia exhibitor page currently says build-up starts three days before opening, the first day is reserved for stand contractors, and technical orders, including rigging, go through the organiser’s Exhibitor Online Orders system. Graphics that arrive on site wrong cannot be reproduced in that window.

Rules differ by show, venue and edition, and the documents above may since have been updated. Treat them as a list of things to look for, and take the actual figures from your own show’s current manual.

Write the graphics brief

A one-page brief prevents most of the rework. Send it to whoever designs the artwork and copy the stand builder and your fabrication partner.

• Show objective: what the stand must achieve, such as announcing an agency, booking demos or filling a meeting diary with consultants. One objective leads the graphics.
• Message hierarchy: the agreed level 1, 2 and 3 text in Arabic and English, already approved by whoever signs off the brand.
• Stand facts: stand type (shell or space only), size, number of open sides, aisle orientation, and the builder’s drawing with every graphic surface numbered.
• Surface schedule: for each numbered surface, the finished size, visible area, material and how it is fixed. This comes from the builder and your fabrication partner, not from the designer’s guess.
• Brand inputs: logo files, bilingual lockups, colour references, approved product images and any partner brand guidelines. If you are a distributor, the principal brand may need to approve its logo use.
• Screens: number, size, orientation and what plays on them, kept consistent with the wall messages.
• Deadlines: organiser drawing deadline, rigging notice, artwork sign-off date and production delivery date, worked back from the manual.
• Approver: one named person on your side who gives final approval.

Production files and the approval chain

Production specifications differ by material and by supplier, so do not let anyone work from a generic template. Before artwork starts, get from your fabrication partner, in writing, for every surface: the bleed, the visible (safe) area, how wide panels will be split and where the joins fall, the resolution needed at full size, the colour setup and the file format they want.

Then run approvals in a fixed order:

1. Message approval. Text in both languages, signed off before layout.
2. Layout approval. All surfaces shown together on the stand drawing, so you judge the stand as a whole, not wall by wall.
3. Production proof. The final files as the fabrication partner will produce them, checked for joins, Arabic shaping, logo versions and spelling. For key colours, ask for a physical sample on the actual material.
4. On-site check. On build-up day, compare what was installed against the approved proof before the stand is handed over.

Production supervision, the last two steps, is part of our brand applications service: what goes up should match what was approved, and one person should be responsible for checking.

A final check before you sign off

• From the far side of the aisle, can a stranger say who you are and what you sell within a few seconds?
• Is the level-2 line specific enough that a competitor could not use it unchanged?
• Do Arabic and English look equal in size and weight, and has a native speaker approved the Arabic?
• Are all key messages above head height and repeated on every open side?
• Does every graphic follow the current manual: fascia rules, height, hanging, fixing method and materials?
• Do the screens, catalogues and sales materials say the same thing as the walls?
• Is there one named approver, and has the final production proof been signed?

Run that check twice: once on the final layout proof, scaled onto the stand drawing, and once on site before the doors open, standing in the aisle rather than inside the stand. For an exhibition presence built around exclusive-agency announcements, pre-show teasers and a client dinner, see Azeidk at Intersec Saudi Arabia 2024 (booth B33-3).