To and fro between the micro and macro levels
The idea of small trade fair stands is to show the whole picture through detail. If you have little space at your disposal, you have to focus on the essence of the matter. Understood as an opportunity, this constraint can produce a worthwhile end result.
According to a survey by the Berlin based Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA) last year, the average stand size at supraregional trade fairs in Germany was not even 40 m2. And at regional events, the figure was even 10 m2 less at 29.7 m2. That sounds sobering and also raises many questions about the special aspects and pitfalls of a big appearance on a small surface.
For Fabian Friedrich, managing shareholder of PLAN 3, Munich, small stands are not necessarily indicative of a small budget or poor design. "The art of designing small stands is reduction to the essence - the architect must ask what elements of the corporate design and the equipment are absolutely necessary and what can be left out. Small stands can be a thrilling challenge for architects because all the customer's wishes have to be implemented on a small stand without it appearing overloaded and cluttered." That requires clear structuring and restrained use of architectural and graphical elements, even if you want to stand out visually from the competition and adjacent booths.
"There are also constraints due to construction rules imposed by the organizer", Friedrich expands, "for example, the maximum height. A change of perspective is required to turn these ‘constraints to one's advantage and create ingenious solutions. Experience tells us that the planning of small stands benefits from careful implementation of the corporate identity and optimum presentation of the exhibits because a small stand often later grows into a large stand."
In response to a customer requirement for the same quality on a small exhibition surface as at large fairs, MIKS Konzepte developed its own "small series" of appearances on reduced surfaces, putting themselves under the same constraints as apply to their exhibiting customers. A small island stand measuring 12 m2 was all the company needed to present itself at EuroShop in Düsseldorf in 2005. With a little hyperbole, the Hamburg company succeeded in working out special added value - the ratio of area to statement - in a way that was illustrative for the customer. "Focusing on the essential objectives in conjunction with clear structuring creates a harmonious ambience and the necessary appeal. At the same time, it highlights the issue facing any exhibitor: achieving a maximum effect with minimum space and money", says Levke Wieghorst, assistant to the management.
"Having achieved this, a few months later the company worked for marketingservices in Frankfurt. They applied the same principle but altered it slightly this time to gather experience with the mini-max principle. This approach is relevant because of the trend towards exhibitions held in parallel with trade conferences, even at an international level. There, many exhibitors find a very high-calibre, concentrated public and they favour the greater cost of a prestigious stand over a pop-up solution." Getting optimum efficiency out of these small events with maximum re-use of materials and keeping the lid on costs place particularly stringent requirements on the concept and the technical structure taking long life and logistic aspects into account.
For marketingservices 2006, another aspect became the focus of the company's own trade fair activities. This time the aim was to create ambience and to emphasise charm and USP. Once again the motto was: "live unconventionally", or at least "show yourself to be unconventional". The stand with an access width of only three door breadths housed oversized silhouettes of the employees and provocatively placed statements that encouraged thought and inquiry. At the conclusion of the trade fair, the visitors were able to take home a piece of the stand and therefore of the exhibitor in the shape of the mobiles of the ceiling structure. The appearance experimented with dispensing with a tall structure, dispensing with specific proof of competency (such as a broad spread of customer exhibits), instead using branding at eye level (and in the figurative sense), and with communication within the trade fair stand shielded from the remaining exhibitors. According to the company, an especially good result was achieved.
A further example of self-presentation of a trade fair contractor at marketingservices in Hamburg: kohlhaas messebau, Germering, consistently implemented a clear concept with its appearance. The visitors were taken into the world of vinyl records and enthralled with many meticulous details. In a warm atmosphere, references were presented in elaborately designed record covers, materials shown, and a few disks played on a vintage portable gramophone. The stand was dominated by a 3.5 m tall rear wall in sunny orange which reflected the geometric lines of the suspended lighting strip as a relief. The front counter for the reference covers and material drawers appeared to be one with the back wall and followed this movement. Dark wood combined with semitransparent back-lit Plexiglas and a grey deep-pile carpet fused to become a fresh and appealing stand design on just 18 m2.
That the right concept is more important than the size was also proved by watchmaker Nomos Glashütte with its appearance at Baselworld this year. The purpose of the concept was to set the company clearly apart from the competition in its corporate presentation. That is why it was mainly based on the "Nomos Universal Encyclopaedia in Color and with an Impressive Map Section", a book that light-heartedly provides information about the company in the form of an encyclopaedia.
"It was supposed to look as if we were at the wrong fair, as if we had prepared for a book fair and suddenly found ourselves at a watch fair", reported press officer Jan Hendrik Montag. "So we designed the entire stand as a large bookcase and underscored the idea of a publisher with a watchmaker attached with a total of 3,000 books. A small bookcase with a few sample books would not have been enough to cause the confusion we wanted to cause at this otherwise conservative trade fair. Because the book contains numerous stories, we placed two ipods in a converted showcase on which the articles of the encyclopaedia could be called up as an audio book, together with images, TV programmes and an advert. Of course, the second showcase showed our product: the watches." The 28 m2 stand was designed by the Mönchengladbach artist Klaus Schmitt, who in the past has also designed trade fair stands and even a company building for Nomos. (He directed the conversion of Glashütte station, the new domicile of the watchmakers.) "We wanted to address all visitors with the open and colourful design of our stand not just the trade visitors", explained Montag. "We wanted to provide a forum for discussion with final customers, too, who feel deterred by the hermetically enclosed structures of other watchmakers. However, our dealers and distributors should also find a useful environment for discussion. The open and flexible design of the stand helped us organise the discussions because tables were put together for larger groups at short notice and interlocutors could move across to other discussion groups."
With its appearance at Expo Real 2005 in Munich, the HeLaBa (Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen) wanted to make a lasting impression on a small floorplate. The trade fair construction and design company spacewood, Frankfurt, and mezzo systems, Rottenfuß, were quick to agree: The Main Tower, part of the imposing Skyline of the city on the Main and head office of the HeLaBa, should protrude from the 87.5 m2 stand. The almost true-to-life replica of the Main Tower was enabled by the filigree aluminium sections of the mezzo system. One technical highlight of the original was also implemented in the design: the intelligent climate control with sunshields.
At 150 m2, the trade fair stand of the Belgian light manufacturer Kreon at Light + Building 2006 in Frankfurt was considerably larger than the average trade fair stand but offered just enough space to present a shipping container and its draw-out interior. In front of the eyes of trade fair visitors, the floor plate of the container separated from the rest of the housing and came to rest on the floor while the outer casing was hydraulically raised 5 m in the air. The interior and additionally extended sides then formed the architectural stage for Kreon's "tools of light". The walk-in architecture of the container conveyed the corporate philosophy immediately and in the smallest possible space. Through this mobile and highly technical form of presentation Kreon underscored its claim in the field of research and development.
"For us, a design cannot be considered successful unless we feel this constant to and fro between the micro and macro levels: zooming in and out, a dialogue between detail and the whole. This claim emanates from us and our products", says Kristof Pycke, head of product development/design.
m+a report Nr.5 / 2006 vom 14.08.2006
m+a report vom 14. August 2006