The quality of what your supplier delivers is heavily influenced by the quality of what you give them to work with. A vague brief leads to generic concepts and multiple revision rounds. A clear, detailed brief leads to a design that nails it on the first go.
Here's exactly what to include.
1. The basics
Start with the facts:
- Event name and date
- Venue (and city if travelling)
- Your floor space size (e.g. 3x3m, 6x3m) and configuration (inline, corner, island)
- Bump-in and bump-out dates
- Your deadline for design approval — work backwards from when you need things built
2. Your brand
If you have brand guidelines, share the full document, not just the logo. Include:
- Logo files (in vector format, AI, EPS, or SVG)
- Brand colours (Pantone or HEX codes)
- Typography guidelines
- Any brand "do nots" things that should never happen with your visual identity
If you don't have formal guidelines, share examples of brand work you like and don't like. Inspiration images are worth a thousand words.
3. Your goals for the show
What are you trying to achieve? Be specific:
- Are you generating leads? How many conversations do you realistically want to have per day?
- Launching a product or service?
- Building brand awareness in a new market?
- Meeting existing clients in person?
Your goals influence the design. A booth designed for lead generation looks different from one designed for product demonstration.
4. Your audience
Who are you hoping to talk to at this show? The more specific you can be about your ideal visitor, the better your supplier can design a booth that attracts them.
5. Functional requirements
Think about how the booth needs to work, not just how it should look:
- Do you need a meeting area or private space for conversations?
- Do you need product display space, shelving, or sample storage?
- Are you running demonstrations that need power, a screen, or internet?
- How many staff will be on the stand at peak times?
- Do you need lockable storage for bags and personal items?
6. Key messages
What's the one thing you want every visitor to take away? Write it down as a single sentence. This becomes the starting point for your graphic design.
Supporting messages, secondary points, product names, service highlights — can sit beneath the headline, but the primary message should be clear and singular.
7. Budget
Tell your supplier your budget. Seriously. A good supplier will help you get the most out of it — but only if they know what they're working with. Withholding the budget leads to concepts that are either out of reach or under what you could have achieved.
8. Inspiration
Gather 3–5 images of booths or design styles you like. They don't need to be from the same industry. They just need to communicate the visual direction you're drawn to.
Do the same for things you actively don't like, it's just as useful.
9. Decision-making
Be clear about who signs off on the design. If there are multiple stakeholders, get them involved early, not after the design is done. Last-minute feedback from someone who wasn't in the loop is the number one cause of delays.
Putting it all together
You don't need to write an essay. Even a one-page PDF or a structured email covering these points is enough to kick off a great design process. The more specific and honest you are, the better your outcome will be.
Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash
Ready to share your brief?