What design trends can you expect to see on the show floor in 2023? To find out, creative directors from two leading exhibit design and build companies explored the show floors at two of most innovative trade shows in the world: Euroshop 2023, held Feb. 25-March 2 in Dusseldorf, Germany, and Natural Products Expo West, held March 7-11 in Anaheim, Calif.  

While both shows are among the largest in their sectors, the exhibitor and attendee profiles are quite different. Euroshop, a retail trade fair that is held every three years, attracted 1,830 exhibitors and more than 81,000 trade visitors. Natural Products Expo, an annual exhibition that showcases natural and organic product innovations, drew 3,000 exhibiting companies and more than 65,000 registered attendees. 

At a webinar presented by the Experiential Designers and Producers Association (EDPA) Northwest and Midwest Chapters on March 28, Katina Zipay, creative director for Classic Exhibits, and Matt Lancaster, senior exhibit designer for Condit Exhibits, shared their take on the top trends for materials, structures, lighting, color and interactive displays. 

Emma Christen, account executive for Eagle Management Group, moderated the session, and shared insight on each speaker’s credentials. Zipay, who is an EDPA board member, has 15 years of experience as a creative director and was named EDPA Designer of the Year in 2020. Lancaster has more than 18 years of experience as an experiential designer across trade shows, retail interiors, brand environments and interior spaces, she added.

“A strong believer in focusing on the visitor to a given space, Matt brings a purposeful customer-centric eye to trade show design,” Christen said.

During the Q&A, ENN asked the speakers to share their opinions on the best inexpensive design trend — rope lighting, according to Zipay — and the best high-end trend — translucent LED screens, according to Lancaster.

Here are some key takeaways for booth design inspiration.

What was trending at Europshop

In materials:

• Mirrors used to create walls, slats and flooring
• Corrugated cardboard to create texture with recyclable materials
• Plants used to create green walls
• Ropes and baskets used for lighting, ceilings and walls
• Metals and chains to create semi-transparent grids, posts and archways

In structures:

• Pill shapes and arches
• Cubes
• Freeform
• Trees
• Circles
• Cylinders
• Accordion walls
• Slats
• App shapes

In colors and graphics:

• Black and white
• One pop of color
• Color blocks
• Segmented shapes
• Art deco
• Sketches

In lighting:

• Edge lighting
• LED lights
• Clusters of lights
• Lots of bulbs
• Basket lights
• LED rope lighting
• Flexible, undulating lights

In interactive displays:

• Push buttons
• Tunnels
• Handcranks
• Body scans
• Huge LED walls
• Semi-transparent LED walls
• Circular LEDs

What was trending at Natural Products Expo West

In structures:

• Instagram backdrops
• Vignettes
• House structures
• Whimsy
• Tencel
• Props
• Slats
• Ropes

In color:

• Strong, monochromatic colors
• Color blocks
• Black and white

In materials:

• Rustic
• Plywood
• Vignettes
• Routed panels
• Printed flooring
• Plants

In lighting:

• Backlit
• Inset lighting for product 
• Key placement in the booth 

Want to know more? Watch a recording of the webinar here. Here’s a link to the full presentation with photos showing all of the trends that have been highlighted: 

Don’t miss any exhibitor-related news: Sign up for ENN’s weekly e-newsletter HERE, listen to our latest podcast HERE and engage with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!