Exhibition Tip of the Week #7 - Exhibit Display Graphic Design Part 3. Messaging and Typefaces

Once you have worked out the dimension of your exhibit visuals, its placement, imagery and colour, it is time to put the finishing touches on it – the text and its typeface. The text will help to clearly convey key benefits to exhibition attendees, so it is important you follow our guide to make sure you get it right.

Messaging

Many exhibitors make the mistake of putting too much content or words on their graphics. According to one of the basic rules of billboard readability, it is ideal to have no more than six words on the board. Statements that contain more than six words have a lower chance of being read by people walking past your booth.  In addition, graphics that can’t be read in three seconds (which is approximately the amount of time required to walk past a booth) have far too much text. It is vital that you communicate your key message in as few words as possible while keeping it simple and clear.

Graphics messaging should focus on your target audience’s needs by conveying to them the benefits of your product, rather than features. Brief statements that emphasize product benefits are much more effective than blocks of text that describe every product specification.

Typefaces

Fonts are like voices that can express an entire series of emotions. The combination of font selection and text content can yell or whisper your key messages. The selection of fonts are organized into one of three major font families – serif fonts such as Times Roman, sans serif fonts like Arial and decorative fonts such as Comic Sans or any of the script fonts that resemble handwriting. However, note that serif and sans serif fonts are typically more readable than decorative fonts.

It is imperative you choose the most appropriate typeface that will convey the correct message to your target audience. Pick a font that will enable your message to be easily read based on its location in the exhibit and distance from the viewer. Lastly, try not to use more than two fonts on the same graphics to prevent it from looking messy and confusing for the reader.

Within the exhibition industry there is a rule of thumb that states exhibitors have about just three seconds to catch the attention of passing visitors and communicate key messages. With such a narrow time frame, a display’s graphics must offer appealing and engaging graphics to support those messages while the size and placement of an exhibition display is vital in ensuring that it will grab visitors’ attention. Graphics should consist of colourful, relevant images, legible typefaces and concise text that provides information on what you can offer attendees. A great exhibit design should be able to send your target audience a simple but powerful message in a short amount of time.