How stand design works, from brief to drawing

Brief → concept → technical drawings

the order of the design stages, never skipped

Stand design

1–10 days

on-site installation time, which the design has to fit

Stand types

No drawing before the brief

The first day of design is not a drawing day. The name of the fair, the hall number, the floor area, how many sides are open, where the neighbouring stands sit, how many people will work the stand, the weight and size of the exhibits, whether meetings happen standing or seated. If none of this is written down, every plan drawn will come apart within weeks.

The client does not have to write the brief alone. On most jobs we ask the questions, write the answers down, reduce them to a single page and send it for approval. That page becomes the reference for every discussion that follows.

The line most often left out is storage. Boxes, catalogues, samples, coats, catering supplies. With no space allocated, by the second day all of it lives under the meeting table. Our way of working is set out on the stand design page.

From concept to technical drawing

The concept stage starts with a floor plan, not a picture. The entry point, the stopping point, the meeting area and the store go down in rough positions. Get that layout right and the visual comes out well on its own; get it wrong and no material choice will rescue it.

The 3D visual comes after. Its job is not beauty but decisions: is the height right, does the logo read from the aisle, is the product at eye level. Two revisions at concept stage cover most jobs. When a third is asked for, the problem is usually not the visual but a question left open in the brief.

Once approved, the technical set is drawn: plan, sections, elevations, structural details, the electrical run, lighting positions and print dimensions. The workshop builds from that set, not from the visual.

Approvals and the calendar

Design is not finished on its own. The file sent to the organiser covers height, rigging loads, double-deck structures, the treatment of walls facing neighbours and the power demand. Venue regulations are not identical; a rigging arrangement allowed in one German hall may need separate approval in a hall in Istanbul.

Build the calendar backwards. From the opening date: build-up days, freight, production, printing, technical drawings, design approval. The most fragile link in that chain is design approval, because one delay pushes every step after it.

A practical rule: put the approval date in the calendar and name the person who will give it. "Management will look at it" is not a date. How scope relates to price is set out on our pricing page.

How long does the design stage take?

With a complete brief, a concept takes a few days and around a fortnight including revisions. What stretches the schedule is not drawing but questions waiting for an answer.

Is the design fee charged separately?

If we also build the stand, design sits inside the square metre rate. If only design and technical drawings are wanted, it is quoted separately and the file is handed over.