Stand design
The eye-level rule in product display
Lokman Türkoğlu · Founder & Head of Design · 2 min read · Last updated:
Short answer
At what height should a product be displayed?
Small products belong on a plinth close to the eye level of a standing adult, where they can be both seen and handled. An item on the floor only registers if it is large. Display near the ceiling works only for big pieces meant to be recognised from a distance. For heavy exhibits the structure is calculated first and the plinth height fixed afterwards. The fewer items on show, the more likely each one is to be seen.
Three height bands
Dividing the stand into three horizontal bands makes this easier. The lower band runs from floor to waist: only large, heavy items read here, small ones disappear. The middle band, waist to eye, is where display belongs, because the product can be both seen and handled. The upper band, above eye level, belongs to graphics and the brand, not to products.
Trouble starts when the bands are mixed. A small item in the upper band cannot be examined; a delicate piece in the lower band is neither seen nor safe from feet.
When choosing plinth heights, add the height of the object itself. A half-metre exhibit on a chest-high plinth blocks the upper band and swallows the graphics behind it. We check this in section at the design stage.
Touch and safety
The strongest thing about a fair is that people can pick a product up. A glass case removes that advantage. Cases belong to fragile, valuable or hygiene-sensitive items only; everything else should be out in the open.
Open display carries two risks: damage and disappearance. For small valuable pieces, a tether, a fixing or presenting a single sample with a member of staff solves it. A sample missing at the end of the show is a familiar story in most companies.
If a machine runs, safety clearance goes into the plan. Around moving parts you need an area visitors cannot enter, marked on the floor or bounded by a low rail. That area comes out of your floor allowance and has to be counted from the start.
Fewer products, more attention
Bringing every catalogue item to the stand produces the same result as showing none of them. Walking down an aisle, a visitor takes in one thing; expecting them to pick that one thing out of forty is not realistic.
There is a method: sort the range into three. The first group is the single hero product visible from the aisle. The second is four or five representative products displayed inside the stand. The third is everything else, which stays in the catalogue and on screen.
The split helps the sales team as well, because everyone tells the same story. Which product becomes the hero is decided by the visitor profile of that fair. Under our exhibition stand services we make that choice at brief stage.
We are exhibiting a heavy machine, what changes?
First check the hall’s floor loading and forklift access. If there is a platform, the machine sits directly on the hall floor rather than on the platform.
How should product labels be handled?
Short, and not in a single language. Product name, a one-line description and a code are enough; keep technical data in the catalogue and on screen.
Sources
- German trade fair industry association — AUMA
- Venue information — Messe Düsseldorf
- The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry — UFI