Booth Designs That Work in 2025: Real Examples from Top Trade Shows

Written by UPrinting - Updated on August 12, 2025

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Trade shows offer significant benefits
to businesses, including unique opportunities to build brand awareness
and valuable insights into the competition and market trends. However,
it’s a real challenge to stand out at these events, with so many
exhibitors vying for attention.

At trade shows, offering unique and interesting products is not enough
to stand out. You also need to set up your booth in a way that piques
your audience’s curiosity and leaves a lasting impression.

This article presents 15 creative trade show booths that stand out with
the use of interactive displays, eye-catching signs and banners,
interesting floor plans, and playful designs.

1. Use Brand Colors to Evoke Emotions

This Coca-Cola exhibit at the National Association of Convenience
Stores (NACS) Show in 2022 drew people’s attention by incorporating
modern design elements with “contemporary nostalgia.”

The company also incorporated its brand’s primary color — a deep and
vibrant shade of red — into the design and complemented it with
other “happy” colors to convey its brand personality, which is
generally characterized by joy and friendliness.

Using brand colors consistently across all platforms can help
reinforce your brand messaging and create an emotional connection
with the audience.

2. Utilize Interactive Digital Displays

At the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Intel included
installed touchscreens and digital displays in their exhibit that
allowed visitors to explore their products. The setup comprised four
11-foot-tall, dual-sided video LED monoliths that showed motion
graphics explaining how the company’s hardware processed data.

The use of interactive displays at trade shows not only creates a
memorable experience and improves lead generation but also provides
exhibitors with valuable customer data.

3. Use Recycled and Reusable Materials

Patagonia is an outdoor apparel and gear company known for its
environmental sustainability efforts. It always uses recycled and
reusable materials for its booth structure, signage, and furniture
at trade shows and other business events.

The company also offers recycled or reusable items as giveaways to
attendees, further reinforcing their commitment to sustainable and
eco-friendly efforts.

4. Use Energy-Efficient Lighting

Hawai’i Energy, a local energy efficiency program, invited the
public to nominate a deserving nonprofit that would receive an
energy-saving makeover valued at around $25,000.

You can use energy-saving lighting (e.g., LED lights) and smart
technology at your trade show booth to save electricity and to
communicate the importance of environmental sustainability efforts
to your audience.

5. Create Open and Welcoming Spaces

Every time Slack sets up its exhibits, it always uses open floor
plans with an inviting ambiance to encourage meaningful interactions
and connections with attendees.

You can replicate Slack’s warm and welcoming booth space by placing
seats in a way that promotes comfortable conversations between the
staff and attendees.

6. Communicate Your Brand Identity

At trade shows, make sure you deliver an experience (from the booth
design to your interactions with attendees) that reflects your
brand’s core values and messaging.

If you want to know how to communicate your brand identity at trade
shows, look at this exhibit by Sleep Number, a company known for its
innovative mattresses and smart beds.

The beds, the lighting, and the overall ambiance in this exhibit
convey comfort and luxury.

7. Maximize the Vertical Space

It’s a real challenge to get people’s attention at a crowded trade
show, especially when you have a limited floor space. However, you
can still create a strong visual impact with the use of oversized
displays, which Salesforce did in one of its exhibits.

Hanging displays with eye-catching graphics can make your booth more
noticeable from a distance, helping you attract more attention at
busy events.

8. Tell a Captivating Story

You don’t have to spend a fortune to make your booth stand out at
events. With a little bit of creativity and a captivating story to
tell, you can convince people to check out your exhibit.

Amy’s Kitchen’s booth shows that telling a story through the use of
captivating graphics can stop people in their tracks. This organic
food company installed a back wall filled with framed photos that
showed their humble beginning.

You can replicate Amy’s Kitchen’s approach by displaying captivating
and vibrant
photo canvas and frame prints
at your next trade show event.

9. Connect With Your Target Audience

When State Farm sponsored the Black Women’s Expo in Chicago, it
designed its exhibit to evoke a “small hometown feel,” so it would
resonate with the small local businesses.

The insurance company also used familiar elements and comfortable
and inviting spaces that appealed to its target audience.

10. Incorporate Bold and Bright Colors

Reddit’s booth at Germany’s OMR Festival utilized bold and bright
colors not just to reflect its brand personality but also to
differentiate itself from other exhibitors. Nevertheless, it still
used vibrant red as the primary color to remain consistent with its
visual identity.

Colors can evoke specific feelings and emotions. For example, bright
and deep colors can convey energy and positive emotions, while
warmer colors can create a welcoming and friendly ambiance.

11. Be Fun and Playful

Mondelēz International had a 5,000-square-foot exhibit that looked
like a snack-filled theme park that featured a towering Oreo Splash
installation and an Oreo-shaped swing that people could sit on.

The company also arranged products to encourage impulse buying among
attendees.

12. Consider a Minimalist Design

When you choose a minimalist design and focus on the essential
elements, you can enjoy better product visibility and give attendees
a more enjoyable experience. Just look at this Mitsubishi’s 50′ x
80′ exhibit, which was surrounded by low walls that made it easy for
passersby to view the products.

The wide-open spaces look inviting to trade show attendees who may
want to get away from the busy and noisy aisle of the main floor.

13. Captivate People with Graphics

Travel Portland used captivating graphics to showcase the city known
for its vibrant culture, arts, food, festivals, and nightlife. The
company also utilized lightweight and easy-to-assemble modular
structures where they hung posters and photos.

They used posters and displays that were easy to remove and replace.

14. Focus on Fun and Functionality

Google wants a functional, fun, and creative atmosphere in their
island exhibits, similar to the vibe in their offices around the
world. Thus, the tech giant always installs comfortable seating
areas, interactive spaces, and vibrant colors that reflect their
brand personality.

If you’d like to recreate Google’s functional layout, prioritize
open spaces, use comfortable seats and multi-functional furniture,
and incorporate interactive displays.

15. Consider Using a Modular Booth

HP uses model structures when setting up its exhibits because these
are easy to ship, cost less than custom-made booths, and help reduce
the company’s carbon footprint.

Modular booths are often made with recycled or sustainably sourced
materials. They are also easy to rearrange or expand, depending on
the floor space and layout.

Conclusion

We hope this list can inspire you to design a unique and captivating
trade show booth that stops people in their tracks to check out your
products or services.

One of the most important things is to focus on a clean, professional
design with impactful graphics and messaging, so make sure you invest in
high-quality
displays and stands
with sizes that are appropriate for your space.

Before printing your stands, posters, and other displays, you need to
know your booth size and layout to create a visually appealing and
functional space.

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