Exploring Popular Trade Show Booth Lighting Options

Web Feb 7th, One thing we love to talk about here at Best Displays & Graphics is lighting because good lighting can often make the difference between an overlooked booth and one that draws plenty of visitors. With plenty of trade show booth lighting options to choose from it can make deciding on which works best for your purpose a difficult task.

In today’s blog, we wanted to talk about lighting – its purposes, and the effects different kinds of lighting can have on your booth.

Understanding Your Trade Show Booth Lighting Options

So what’s the big deal about trade show displays lighting, anyway? Well, in a fundamental way, lighting is about attracting and guiding eyeballs. Our eyes are basically “programmed” by nature and evolution to be attracted to light sources. If you stick a bright or flashing light on something, most people will look at it automatically. It’s often almost impossible not to.

On a trade show floor absolutely filled with signs, fixtures, and colours all competing for people’s attention, lights are an element that can provide an excellent shortcut to achieving visitor attention.

Beyond that, lighting can also be used to create certain moods or feelings within a booth. This is a somewhat advanced technique but can be excellent when promoting distinct products or lifestyles. A booth promoting children’s products would want to be bright, with plenty of colorful lights, whereas a booth full of formal evening-wear would want subdued “mood lighting” to suggest the more mature settings appropriate for the product.

Asking “How can we use lighting to enhance our product displays?” can lead to a much better booth that simultaneously engages more visitors while communicating the product’s qualities to buyers.

Picking the Right Lights for The Right Job

With a plethora of trade show booth lighting options available, here is a guide to a few of our favourite approaches!

Direct vs Indirect Lighting

Direct lighting means the light source is visible and aimed at a subject. Think spotlights. As a result, that also means it will be casting hard shadows. Indirect, or diffuse, lighting means the light source is partially concealed and spreading light over a large area – like overhead fluorescent lights.

Either approach can work in a trade show display, although generally, a combination of both is appropriate. You have indirect lighting providing the overall lighting while using smaller spotlights or other direct lights to highlight the most important items in the booth. For example, if we build a set of shelves, we might put a diffuse light source behind the back wall for basic illumination, but then set up small lights aimed directly at key products so they “pop” when looked at.

Overall Light Levels

Overall light brightness is another consideration that should not be overlooked. And “the brighter the better” isn’t always the best approach. You can definitely have too much of a good thing, with so many lights that it becomes obnoxious or even unpleasant. Generally, brightness levels should be dictated by the mood of your product and the lifestyle it suggests.

Also, sometimes under-lighting with mostly direct spotlights can make your booth stand out through its unique look. Most people at a trade show will be over-lighting their stand. Having a slightly “noir” vibe can make your booth interesting and attractive.

Different Kinds of Lights

These days, most trade show lighting is accomplished with LED lights. They’re far more energy-efficient than older fluorescent or incandescent lamps, while also producing less heat. There’s very little reason to use a big hot halogen lamp as a spotlight when you could just use an array of white LEDs instead.

Occasionally, you might use fluorescent bulbs to create a mood. Nothing invokes 80s neon like fluorescent, for example.

Fiber optic lights can also have their place if you want to have a “line” of lights leading from one place to another. There are also tape lights, strings of LEDs in close proximity, which are good for marking boundaries or guiding people around the floor.

Get More Advice from Best Displays & Graphics

We love identifying new and unique trade show booth lighting options. Contact us for more great lighting ideas for your booth!