Creating Lasting Impressions: Leach’s Guide to Exhibition Stands that Work

Will Binns October 13, 2025 3 min read

Standing out from the crowd at exhibitions can be tricky but with the right design, your stand can become the one that captures attention. Understanding your goals and the audience you're targeting is your first step in a successful exhibition stand design. With over 130 years of large format print experience, discover Leach's top tips for exhibition stand design.

Beko exhibition stand, blue and white curved halo frame is installed to the ceiling floating over the stand. There is beko sign backlit under the frame

Do you need support in designing the perfect exhibition stand?

For over 130 years, we’ve partnered with specialist design agencies, exhibitors and stand builders to help organisations maximise their impact at events. Together, we create bespoke graphics which represent your brand, values and helps you stand out from the crowd.

At Leach, we offer custom lightboxes, tension frames, fabric graphics, signage and more! Tailoring your brand to our innovative products is what we do best. We’ll work alongside your design team to extract the key highlights you want to exhibit at the event, ensuring you capture your audience’s attention and spark valuable conversions that leave a lasting impression long after the event.

Unsure where to start when designing your exhibition stand graphics? At Leach, you’re in good hands…

How can you make your exhibition stand steal the spotlight? Leach’s top 5 tips

1. Understand your goals and audience

Before designing an exhibition stand which you think will work, it’s important to take a step back and enter the mind of your audience. Whether you’re exhibiting to professional finance firms, or to upcoming retailers, the thought process behind each design should be just as rigorous, with the output varying between audiences.

Take time to understand your goals too. Do you want to build brand awareness, capture data, generate leads or showcase a new product? Knowing your client’s pain points will also help you to create an impactful stand.

2. Prioritise a strong brand identity

Your design should reflect your brand’s identity, immediately resonating with the audience you’re exhibiting to. Capture attendees’ attention with clear branding, graphics, colours, imagery and messaging which your clients recognise and link to your brand. Consider using any wall, ceiling and floor space and even sponsoring or speaking at the event for added exposure.

Backlit visuals installed for Regatta exhibition pop up stand. The lightboxes are advertising womenswear and menswear

3. Make lighting work for you

As well as using brand colours and taglines, it is essential that your stand shines from the rest at the exhibition. By using lighting to your advantage, incorporating a lightbox or neon signage perhaps, you can set the mood of your booth and enhance its visibility. You can even use colour changing lighting to truly catch the eye.

Lighting can also be a clever way to spotlight certain products, or areas of your stand which you want to emphasise to the audience, ensuring that this is what captures their attention.

Abu Dhabi exhibition of a house with open doors. In front of the entrance there are pillars.

4. Leverage innovative materials – a talking point

Make your exhibition stand a talking point to spark meaningful conversations with your clients, by using innovative materials in its structure. Use eco-materials to create unique designs to draw your audience in, spotlighting your stand in a room full of competition. This also showcases your commitment to innovation and sustainability. You could consider sustainable branded giveaways such as reusable bags, coffee cups and water bottles to expand the reach of your brand beyond the stand.

5. Go big or go home

Let your exhibition stand do the talking! Incorporating large features means that your clients can’t miss you. Large bold graphics can draw attention from afar and can communicate your brand’s message in an instant. Using motion graphics or interactive features can also encourage visitors to stay at your stand for longer, allowing you time to convey everything you want to say to a potential customer. QR codes are useful tools to incorporate in designs to guide your audience to relevant content, whilst capturing trackable leads simultaneously. If space allows, having a comfortable seated area for conversations or refreshments is also another good way to draw people in!

Sustainable exhibition with numerous stands

Why Leach?

We specialise in high impact large format print, ensuring seamless design, print and installation for every project. We work alongside your design team, whether you’re exhibiting or building the booth, to create bespoke graphics tailored to your brand and audience, which you can use at your next exhibition. Exhibiting at events can seem daunting at first, with a certain pressure to outshine your competitors, but our experts are here to help you create the wow factor to draw the right attention and maximise your time and investment.

Are you exhibiting at an event soon, and want to stand out? Get in touch with our team today.

Lightboxes

Free Standing Lightboxes

Wall-mounted LED Lightboxes

Ceiling LED Lightboxes

Slim tension frames

Large tension frames

X-Large tension frames

Double sided tension frames

fabric graphics

wall coverings

eco materials

window graphics

Wayfinding Signs

Interpretation Panels

LED Display Signs

Creating Lasting Impressions: Leach’s Guide to Exhibition Stands that Work

Do you need support in designing the perfect exhibition stand?