Plenty of stands look good on screen and flat in the hall. The design is rarely the problem. The light is. You approved the renders under perfect, even virtual light, but a real exhibition hall has patchy overhead lighting that can be yellowish, dim, or coming from behind the visitor. If the stand has no light of its own, your products take on whatever colour the hall gives them.
Here is how we plan stand lighting, based on what we see in halls in Tehran, Istanbul and Dubai, and where it usually goes wrong.
Do not count on the hall lights
Hall lighting is there so people can find the aisles, not so your products look their best. Light levels can change from one spot to the next, and a stand that ends up under a dead fitting will look darker than its neighbour. We always assume the stand has to work with the hall lights off.
So the lights go on the drawing from day one. Leave them to the end and you usually get a few floodlights clamped to the walls, which throw shadows and shine in people’s eyes.
Three layers of light
- General light makes the space bright and even, so people feel comfortable stepping in. It usually comes from a ceiling or a frame over the stand.
- Product light is focused on what you sell: small narrow-beam spots on shelves, plinths or inside cabinets.
- Brand light is for the logo and backlit graphics that need to read from the end of the aisle. Fabric lightboxes are good at this because they spread light evenly.
A stand with only the first layer looks flat. One with only the third looks great from a distance and dark up close. The balance between them is what makes a stand look alive.
Colour of light and your product
White light is not one colour. Warmer light suits wood, furniture, food and hospitality areas. Neutral or cooler white works better for metal, medical equipment, industrial parts and technical products, because it sharpens detail.
A common mistake is mixing colour temperatures because fittings came from different suppliers. One white wall ends up cream and the other bluish. Order every fitting at the same colour temperature. If colour matters to what you sell, such as textiles, tiles, paint or food, ask the supplier for the CRI. Cheap fittings with poor colour rendering turn reds brown, and buyers start wondering why the sample does not match the catalogue.
Shiny products and glass
Polished metal, stainless steel and glass bounce light straight back. A spot directly above and facing the viewer turns the product into a white glare. On the steel and metal stands we have built, we usually light from the side or at an angle and put a dark matt surface behind the product so the edges read. Glass cabinets need their light inside. Light from outside reflects off the glass and visitors see themselves.
Small stands and large stands
A small inline stand of 9 or 12 m² usually has no ceiling or overhead frame, so the light has to come from the walls. A few good spots on long arms, lighting the back wall and the products from above and in front, will do more than ten small fittings. A bright back wall also makes the stand look bigger from the aisle.
Islands and two-storey stands have the opposite problem. There is plenty of room for fittings, but all four sides need to be evenly lit, and the area under the upper deck, where the meeting tables usually go, must not turn into a cave. We light it as a separate room.
Power, heat and organiser approval
Stand power comes from the organiser and has to be ordered in advance. Capacity and deadlines differ from fair to fair, so check the organiser’s technical manual. We add up every light, screen, fridge and coffee machine and leave some headroom. Under-ordering means a tripped breaker in the middle of a meeting on day one.
LED fittings run cool and use little power, and they are almost always the right choice. Hanging a lighting rig from the hall ceiling usually needs separate approval and a separate fee, and not every hall has rigging points, so ask before you finalise a design that depends on one.
Small things that make a difference
- Put all lights on one switch or timer so the first person in can switch the stand on in one go.
- Keep the meeting table softer. Nobody enjoys negotiating under a harsh spot.
- Photograph the stand with its own lights on. Good social media shots depend more on stand lighting than on the camera.
- Keep a few spare lamps in the store.
Next step
If you have a design and are not sure the lighting is right, send us the render or drawing with the fair name and stand size on WhatsApp. You can see how we light stands in our projects, and our services page explains how design and build work with us.