During my time at ASTOUND Group, our marketing team had submitted to the World Exhibition Stand Awards. The team had approached me to respond to the questions provided as a representative of ASTOUND. These were questions about industry foresight, design trends, and the globalization of face-to-face marketing. Below are responses from my perspective that were then edited to represent ASTOUND Group. I share this version that reflects my own opinions and industry biases that may not be shared by ASTOUND.

1) What does it mean to you to be a 2020 Finalist in the World Exhibition Stand Awards?

It’s amazing to have been recognized as a Finalist and would be an honor to win. We love exhibition industry and respect the work of our competition who has been recognized alongside us. The global audience that the World Exhibition Stand Awards attracts means greater standards, greater competition, and a greater winner.

2) What are the big trends in exhibition stand design?

The industry (particularly in North America) is at a crux. Much of what we see is commoditized and one-size-fits-all. However, we find that with great relationships and a strategic approach, exhibitors are embracing creativity, looking to stand out, and finding ways to extend their footprint. Evolving build tactics have made fabrication and installation easier, freeing up dollars for digital experiences, larger-than-life audio visual, and creative pre- and post-show outreach.

3a) How international is the exhibition industry becoming?

The global economy has certainly played a part in the exhibition industry. It seems as though for every major show in North America, there is an equivalent overseas. We’ve also found that the fabrication and installation tactics in North America have influenced design and build overseas and vice versa, ensuring consistent brand experiences across the globe.

3b) What is driving this internationalisation?

The demand for face to face experiences is universal. There are amazing things being done on the web or through other digital media, but properly executed, personally authentic experiences cannot be replicated. Even as we look to fill this gap during a global pandemic, it is abundantly clear that face-to-face marketing works for every audience and every brand.

4) What has been the best innovation of the past 5 years? 

Virtual reality – but not in the way most individuals would expect it. VR has become a tremendous tool in collaboration and visualization. As projects are being designed, gaming engines and real-time renderers allow for real, on-the-fly collaboration at human scale. About 10 years ago there was a moment where both 3D printing and virtual reality burst on the scene as potential ways to capture a design, and after some hurdles and much technological advancement, VR is a staple in creative workflow.

5) What are clients currently asking for in stand and experience design? 

Every brand wants a sharable / Instagrammable experience. Those requests can often be daunting. Some of the most successful photo experiences are created with a lack of branding and a lack of effort. When brands clearly crave social attention, authenticity is thin and audiences see it.

6) How are exhibitions and stand design staying relevant in a digital world? 

Good digital experiences can be inauthentic (see FyreFestival). Face-to-face interaction gives a brand a personality that can’t be written, designed, or rendered. However, exhibitions are only as strong as their execution, requiring both a good partner, and staff that understand and accurately represent your brand.

7) What do you expect the next 5 years will hold for exhibition stand design?

The current pandemic has certainly made this more difficult and tumultuous than we could have ever imagined, however demand is still high as ever. In the short term, cost-per-contact will be high due to low attendance. After the first year or two of returning to normalcy, this rut in ROI should boom back as attendance does. This state will increase the long-term demand, spends, and creative desires.

8) Do exhibitions get the status they deserve versus other marketing channels?

It’s easy to be in this industry and be jaded. There are a lot of vets who have watched the industry ebb and flow, but I think it’s most important to speak to people who are not day-to-day tradeshow workers or attendees. Businesses value face-to-face, creatives appreciate the media-agnostic creativity, and carpenters admire the speed and modularity.

9) What’s the best exhibition stand or event you’ve seen in the last year? 

Google never seems to disappoint at CES. Audi’s design in Frankfurt is an impressive fabrication that also pokes some fun at the “Instagrammable experiences” every marketer seems to desire.

10) If you could change one thing about the world of exhibitions what would it be?

The “show-me-what-you-can-do” mentality of winning business. Relationships, services, and track record should be effective ways of choosing a partner. Requiring proposals that can cost 10’s of thousands of dollars to put together, only to eliminate participants on a limited brief doesn’t create a basis of trust when building a marketing relationship

11) Does stand size matter? 

Not at all. Particularly in the age of digital experiences. Digital will never replace face-to-face, but when combined, a small, smart footprint can surpass a large half-baked one.

12) What are the biggest challenges for exhibition stand design and build currently? 

Scale... but not “the bigger the better”. Some of the best work is done when agencies can partner with clients, work on multiple events, be immersed in the brand, and create economies of scale. Widespread project portfolios and one-off projects stifle creativity and make tight budgets even tighter.

Looking at portfolios of experiential marketers can sometimes feel like scrolling through an Instagram feed – flicking through and admiring, but seldom spending the time to dive deeper into the story behind the passing pixels.

It’s a symptom of our industry. So many projects are won and lost on beautiful images and renderings, but creative problem solvers are shifting that point of view. Designers are becoming marketers and storytellers, thinking more strategically than just tactically and artistically.

Creatives live in a world of problem solving. Creative problem solving is the ability to look for good ideas that can be put into action that addresses a particular need. The fact is that creative intelligence requires insights – insights from the client but also from the outside world that feeds into this process.

Here are a few best practices on how I inspire and apply creative thinking:

1. Gather information with an open mindset – Getting the right information is about asking the right questions and quickly weighing the responses. An open mind allows us to think on our feet, probe deeper, and uncover how to tap into the emotion that will solve marketing problems. It provides us a brush to paint an otherwise black and white canvas, exciting us, our partner, and ultimately the end user
2. Starts questions with a "what if" and be prepared to answer “why not” – These open-ended statements and questions are your creative mantras. Creativity is limitless but by definition, design requires a problem. Applying outside-the-box thinking to a design problem allows us to navigate the sanctions and limitations of a scenario and come out with a solution that turns those limitations into features, not flaws.
3. Be sure the solution fits the problem – So many times we see a “what” without a “why” as a result of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Whether it be a new technology, personal bias, or a fleeting trend, it’s important to weight the use against the story being told. Part of creative thinking means being aware of those biases. Store your technologies and trends in the back of your head and draw lines to them at the right time – not every time.

Next time you find your thumb getting tired from hypnotic portfolio scrolling, take a break. Be critical of what you see and ask questions. “Who is this meant for?”, “How would he or she experience this?”, and “What’s the big idea that solves a real world problem?”.

Practicing this elevated awareness expands so far beyond designers and creatives.

Use an open-minded, solutions-oriented approach to cut through the clutter of your life, and elevate your next project.

One of the most important things I’ve ever learned was an elementary understanding of computer programming. It’s fascinating really, but amazingly simple when broken down to its key ideology.

My understanding all started when a friend of mine was going back to school and wanted to study computer science and philosophy… At that time, it seemed like those two things were like oil and water. Of course, I laughed for a second and then questioned how the heck he intended on combining the two and he responded with one word: “logic”.

The idea of logic was something I never really dove into understanding, but this conversation was about to be forever enlightening. He explained that everything in computer science could logically be explained as a series of complex “if / then” statements, and then connected that thinking to code. “If mouse clicks here, then open application.”

It was an interesting connection that distills the idea of logic into the most basic understanding and allows it to be applied to anything – even creativity.

 

Logic, code, and equations are not really part of a creative or design curriculum, and that’s totally fair. It sounds a lot like “thinking inside the box” which traditionally we’ve been allowed to think is the wrong thing to do. However, design isn’t creating something beautiful or emotional; it’s about solving a problem. In order to truly solve that problem, it requires finding all of the “ifs” that go into it, and responding appropriately with a “then”.

Understanding the “ifs” requires a few things. First is empathy. You need to have an idea of what someone else’s root problem is, who their audience is, etc. This may be contrary to your feelings or your opinion, but being able to play devil’s advocate and put yourself into someone else’s position is extremely important in design.

Part of collecting those “ifs” is devising a good creative brief and important dialog between creative and client. The days of “just give me an idea” or “make it look cool” only exist in desperation. Those kinds of projects set you up for failure because you haven’t given your creative team a problem to solve and can always reply with the subjective answer: “Nah, I don’t like that”.

A good brief and good dialog help mitigate errors in subjectivity and allow a design to be “right” instead of just “good” or “bad”.

Taste and subjectivity are commonly looked at when thinking about designers and creatives. It only takes a basic understanding of design fundamentals to make something aesthetically pleasing, but that’s only half the battle. If one makes a beautifully simple, clean, modern space for a client who prefers bold, colorful, expressions, then the aesthetic falls apart in solving a problem and answering a brief. It’s important to put your own opinions and subjectivity aside in order to do so. Ultimately, your client is paying for your final product, and your job isn’t to educate them on taste.

That’s where things can sometimes get difficult. A lot of designers have a good sense of taste but it often becomes a crutch. Even things as simple as client opinions are input to your problem. “If my client loves red, then I need to introduce red into the design”. These are also the most difficult and mundane “ifs” to attain. That’s where collaboration, incremental shares, and open dialog come in to ensure your design isn’t spoiled by an aesthetic appreciation that you and your client may not share.

Ultimately, beautiful isn’t always the goal when it comes to design. A screwdriver will never be beautiful, however, it was intelligently designed to solve a problem. Designers should have a strong opinion of aesthetic and that can come forward in their personal brand, company brand, fine arts, etc., however when solving a client’s problem, the goal should be to find the “right” solution, and not necessarily the one you may like the most.