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Blog | Design Inspiration & Tips | Booth Designs That Work in 2025: Real Examples from Top Trade Shows

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

See real trade show booth designs from brands like Coca-Cola, Slack, and Google. Get inspired by creative layouts, bold graphics, and smart displays.

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.

Large island trade show booth with red structural elements and Coca-Cola branding

Large island trade show booth with red structural elements and Coca-Cola branding

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.

Faux storefront trade show booth with tall illuminated product display pillars

Faux storefront trade show booth with tall illuminated product display pillars

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.

Custom wooden trade show booth with a large curved structural arch and reception desk

Custom wooden trade show booth with a large curved structural arch and reception desk

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.

Brightly lit pop-up store trade show booth with yellow accents and hanging lights

Brightly lit pop-up store trade show booth with yellow accents and hanging lights

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.

Tech trade show booth with a green faux plant wall and computer workstations

Tech trade show booth with a green faux plant wall and computer workstations

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.

Large darkly lit trade show booth with a massive illuminated globe projection

Large darkly lit trade show booth with a massive illuminated globe projection

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

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.

Blue and white interactive trade show booth with themed games and activities

Blue and white interactive trade show booth with themed games and activities

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.

Close-up of an interactive string art and pinboard display wall at a trade show

Close-up of an interactive string art and pinboard display wall at a trade show

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.

Cafe-themed trade show booth featuring a green floor, brick backdrop, and red awning

Cafe-themed trade show booth featuring a green floor, brick backdrop, and red awning

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.

Vibrant trade show booth with blue and red pom-poms and neon signage

Vibrant trade show booth with blue and red pom-poms and neon signage

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.

Brand activation with oversized Oreo cookie replicas

Brand activation with oversized Oreo cookie replicas

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.

White corporate exhibit with a large square overhead banner and a central information desk

White corporate exhibit with a large square overhead banner and a central information desk

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.

Exhibit with wood-textured pillars, a neon Portland sign, and illuminated photographic banners

Exhibit with wood-textured pillars, a neon Portland sign, and illuminated photographic banners

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.

Modern white architectural booth with the Google logo and a streamlined reception counter

Modern white architectural booth with the Google logo and a streamlined reception counter

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.

Trade show display featuring HP logos and various modern office furniture setups

Trade show display featuring HP logos and various modern office furniture setups

The Bottom Line

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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