How to Design a Trade Show Banner in 9 Easy Steps

Designing an eye-catching trade show banner requires high-quality visuals, easily readable text, consistent branding elements, and strategically positioned key information.

Impress your target audience when you create your banner using this extensive, step-by-step guide, complete with examples for design inspiration.

How to Design a Trade Show Banner That Outshines Competitors

Over the years, we’ve printed thousands of banners for trade shows, corporate events, and indoor/outdoor promotional campaigns.

Through that experience, we’ve nailed down these must-follow art guidelines and basic expo banner design tips for creating effective banners that draw all eyes to your brand.

1. Define the purpose of your banner.

Identifying your main objective shapes your core messaging, visuals, and banner layout.

Emphasize key features and benefits to promote products or services. If your goal is brand awareness, spotlight your logo, tagline, and brand colors.

A strong call to action (CTA), signup incentives, and limited-time offers are great for attracting potential customers.

2. Prepare bold visuals.

Make an impact with high-resolution images and vivid graphics. Here are a few ideas:

• Professionally done, custom photos of your products/services (avoid generic, stock images or blurry, pixelated photos)
• Lifestyle shots that paint a picture of your brand image
• Simple charts or graphics illustrating industry trends, performance metrics, or other key information

Your images and graphics should be simple to interpret. If people have to tilt their heads like they’re solving a Rubik’s cube puzzle, it’s time to rethink your design.

3. Ensure easy-to-read typography.

Choose one to two complementary fonts within the same font family for a clean look. Your font size should be large enough for viewers to read effortlessly from 15-20 feet away.

I recommend adding dark text to a lighter background color or vice versa to make your text stand out.

4. Choose colors that elicit positive feelings.

In marketing, the strategic use of colors influences emotions, affects brand perception, and motivates action. Bright, contrasting colors effectively draw the eye and evoke trust and enthusiasm.

Your banner colors should reflect your brand identity, building connections with your audience and enhancing brand familiarity. 

5. Maintain consistent branding elements.

Consistency is key to a memorable brand.

All visual elements, including photos, graphics, logos, and fonts, should align with your brand identity to strengthen recognition. Use them across all marketing materials and booth displays for a professional, cohesive look.

With a well-branded banner, you establish trust and credibility with your booth visitors.

6. Place key information prominently.

Put on a trade show banner with the most important elements at eye level so viewers notice them immediately.

For floor standing banners, avoid placing anything too low. People won’t bend down to scan your QR code! (Unless they drop their phone first.)

Pro Tip: Less is more. Keep your banner design simple and concise but impactful. Adding too much information will overwhelm viewers, and your brand message will get lost in the clutter.

7. Choose the right banner style.

Find out your booth size and venue layout to determine the best banner arrangement for your trade show strategy.

8. Select the right banner size.

The most common trade show and convention banner sizes in the U.S. include:

Work with a professional printer to get a banner aspect ratio that perfectly fits your booth and venue. We at NorthCoast Banners provide tailored solutions to ensure your trade show banner makes a lasting impression and stands out in a sea of competitors.

Pro Tip: Mix and match different banner sizes if there’s enough booth space. For example, showcase a product display tabletop banner, a medium-sized floor standing banner, and a larger banner backdrop to create a strong brand presence.

9. Create a banner mockup.

See how your banner looks in full size with a banner mockup and booth mood board, ensuring easily readable text and clear visuals even from afar.

Get feedback from others to know which aspects need improvement, especially if you’re using Canva, Adobe, or AI for banner design.

Pro Tip: Place a vector of an average-height person beside your digital mockup to check what most people see at eye level. Keep tweaking your banner elements until you achieve that perfect balance.

Make a Lasting Impact With Well-Crafted Trade Show Banners

Now that you know how to design a trade show banner, the next step is to choose a dependable printer.

High-quality printing makes all the difference. Even the most eye-catching visuals lose impact if your banner quality is poor!

At NorthCoast Banners, we know what works. Our team is ready to create stunning vinyl and fabric trade show banners that draw attention to your booth and effectively communicate your brand message.

Let us bring your vision to life. Contact us today!