Inflammatory skin diseases are not normally considered the stuff that dreams are made of, but pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim put a decidedly fantastical spin on the introduction of its newly FDA-approved drug, Spevigo, at the American Academy of Dermatology show. Visitors were invited to enter a compelling painted-foam "cave," where a video of a fire-breathing dragon was enlisted to connect awareness of the pain experienced by those afflicted with Generalized Pustular Psoriasis (GPP) with Spevigo as a remedy. A heat map indicated that 68 percent of visitors spent three or more minutes in the cave. "The dragon metaphor works perfectly for the skin condition it focuses on," one Exhibit Design Awards judge observed, alluding to the malady's characteristic debilitating flares.


The stalactite-studded cave "stopped the audience in their tracks," said Mike Friedland of experiential agency Access TCA Inc., adding, "A large foam structure the attendees could enter was almost irresistible." The booth further beckoned clinical dermatologists to "Disrupt the Fury" of patient suffering via its bold messaging.

The remaining 50 percent of the booth was completely open and featured a reception space with tables and seating, along with stalagmites equipped with embedded screens that effectively presented product information. The hospitality area – with wing-inspired stools referencing the Spevigo logo – offered showgoers respite in the form of pretzels and anti-inflammatory papaya-berry tea.

The video's story ends on an optimistic note. Post Spevigo, the dragon's blazing breath is transformed into an exhale of pastel-hued flowers, symbolically offering help, hope, and taming of a formidable foe. E

Brunswick Corp. ignored the no-wake zone and made tsunami-sized waves with its "Aqua Arena" exhibit at the 2023 International Consumer Electronics Show, where it partnered with Kubik Inc. for design and fabrication. The marine-recreation company's 70-by-60-foot bowl-shaped exhibit featuring deep-blue exterior walls practically begged attendees to wade past the glowing entry point and into the water-inspired oasis to be transported away from the noisy show floor.


Once attendees entered the oversized aquarium with a curved 50-foot-long skyscape-printed fabric header, they found a 37-foot Sea Ray 370 boat sporting a pair of 600-horse-power Mercury outboard motors with spinning propellers. Visitors ascended a short flight of steps to a wooden deck that afforded them a view into the watercraft. Inside a nearby semicircular alcove featuring a 10-foot-tall, 21-foot-wide, 180-degree wrapped screen, marine enthusiasts took the controls of a simulated console for an on-the-water immersive experience where they manually piloted a watercraft and experienced the system's self-docking technology.

While the activations were likely the highlights for boat-loving visitors, the subtle lighting design caused our awards judges to dive in. The design teams employed 36 Mac Encore programmable lights with a variety of overlapping colors and projection and motion patterns, to create a "tidal flow" across the floor that started just outside the entrance, rippled around the front of the major displays, and then washed out the exit like a meandering stream that guided visitors through the experience. Eat your heart out, Captain Nemo. E

How does a giraffe get its spots? There's a complex mathematical equation at play: Toss a random assortment of points on a flat plane, and then expand outward from each at the same rate until you hit another. The tesselation fills the space with a mesmerizing and uneven elegance.

Voronoi diagrams like this have practical applications, but they occur everywhere in nature, including the distribution of melanin in giraffes and, in this case, the very cells in wood. What better way to showcase the mastery of Müllerblaustein HolzBauWerke GmbH (Geiger Gruppe), one of Germany's leading timber engineering and construction companies?

Atelier Damböck Messebau senior vice president Nils Herfeldt was charged with designing a stand for Müllerblaustein's exhibit at BAU 2023, a show dedicated to architecture, materials, and systems. "During the design process, I woke up one night and had the idea to structure it like the cells in wood," said Herfedlt. Not only did it help the exhibit stand out from other booths at the show, it delivered a sustainable and reusable environment that one EDA judge called "ingenious."

But executing a design of such complexity proved challenging. The facade is made from 3 layered plates cut 2.5 inches thick with a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine, essentially using similar technology to 3-D printers to cut wood. Locally sourced silver fir trees became 55-inch-wide parts connected by beams on the top and on the bottom.

The modular construction could be reused time and time again. What better way to show a company's values and skills than to make the invisible building blocks of life spectacularly visible?E

Ubisoft Entertainment, the French video game publisher behind major franchises like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed, was primed to make a big splash at 2023's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). But because the industry pivoted away from trade shows in favor of digital livestreaming promotions during COVID, the show was put on hold, perhaps for good.

Rather than produce a typical trade show booth, the approach was to establish an "Ubisoft base camp" that functioned as an immersive art show. A segmented and divided light projection design would have allowed for "multiple" ambiances within the space to emphasize Ubisoft's entire portfolio of games at once.

Attendees would be lured in through a pathway that cuts into the corner of the square-shaped area and diagonally toward a performance VJ controlling imagery and sound throughout. Meanwhile, reactive screens strategically placed on the outer walls would respond as attendees passed through. And, of course, there was plenty of space available for actual gaming. "We took a disruptive approach to its overall presence, using an atypical interactive design system in a reduced booth footprint that still created a strong, immersive experience for attendee connection," said Simon Waloszek, creative director of MC2.

The Ubisoft E3 2023 initiative also would have included an "experiential journey" involving clues on social media platforms that gamers could decipher, leading to an augmented reality game at the event followed by a dedicated virtual room with exclusive rewards.

"It's a wild design," one Exhibit Design Awards judge wrote after seeing the plan. "I only wish it was real." That one statement echoes the sentiments of gamers everywhere.E

When it was time for Genie, a Terex company, to let their newest electric fleet of high-powered lifts out of the bottle, they knew they needed to create some big sparks. Genie had three wishes for their exhibit at the 2023 American Rental Association Show: to create a bold, branded presence that could be felt and seen from across the room; to captivate attendees and spark meaningful conversation; and to make a buzz, leaving visitors feeling engaged and electrified. Tapping their long-time partner, ImagiCorps Inc., the teams combined forces to design a super-charged environment on a budget.


The 115-by-50-foot booth became a high-voltage showroom with a magnetic presence. Mega-sized branding charged the airspace above the exhibit floor in the form of 35-foot-wide logos. A 40-foot-wide archway towered 16 feet above the milling crowd. ImagiCorps took advantage of the telescopic extensions of the Genie boom lifts, raising the aerial platforms 30 feet and outfitting them with more than 1,500 linear feet of blue LED lighting, casting a sapphire glow.

But it wasn't just the cobalt glow that electrified the space. Players went head-to-head in an electric toy car challenge, racing cars along a 28-foot-long RC track. Built to mimic the rugged conditions the Genie vehicles face onsite, the track featured bridges, boulders, and sandy terrain. A running leaderboard kept a tally of the action and stoked the competitive fires of captivated players.To further amp up the buzz, participants could win a custom-wrapped electric motorcycle.

The beckoning exhibit no doubt made enthusiastic crowds race to the Genie booth. ImagiCorps vice president of operations Joe Sullivan said, "It was great energy and collaboration that brought these ideas to life."E

When Fastener Distribution Holdings (dba FDH Aero), inspired by Jack Morton Worldwide, entrusted designer EWI Worldwide Inc. with creating greater brand awareness that emphasized its top-tier position in the industry, no one thought the project would be all fun and games. But a healthy dose of both kept visitors coming back to the 20-by-50-foot display at the 2023 MRO Americas show.


An energetic atmosphere was all but guaranteed by the inclusion of an interactive competition, the "Design to Deliver challenge" (think: Simon video game) and the chance to win an Apple Watch. The posting of a daily leaderboard upped the excitement and drew out attendees' competitive spirit. "They leveraged gamification with the Bop-It-type game in a really smart way," one EDA judge observed. The custom digital game symbolized FDH's quest for speed and accuracy – tenets the company holds close – and let repeat visitors amp up their energy with extended fun-filled stays. But signage and other informational visuals also led a list of must-haves for the space because not all FDH Aero customers recognize the marque.

Large rear-lit FDH logos, highly visible from the show floor, were placed on two sides, while inside the booth, a 16-foot-tall product wall included a comprehensive at-a-glance display of the company's products. Like an activity board for toddlers, the display invited visitors to interact with products they wouldn't be able to under normal circumstances. Another wall entertained a detailed map featuring FDH's various locations, visually hitting home its global footprint. And "beers from around the world" were served at specific times of the day to encourage guests to unwind and stay awhile. We say, "Prost," "Za zdorovie," and "Salute" to that!E

When Locus Robotics approached Exhibit Concepts Inc. to design their 2023 ProMat booth, their desire to become synonymous with innovation and robotic solutions and launch the next generation of warehouse robots into the stratosphere was palpable.

Exhibit Concepts unveiled a design that created total domination on the show floor. The first step was uniting its two adjascent 30-by-80-foot island booths. Designers cleverly erased the carpeted gulf by using projected oversized logos that seamlessly blurred the borders. Each booth had a primary function â?" one was a working warehouse and the other an informational headquarters. For full galaxy inclusion, the registration desk greeted visitors in multiple native tongues, including Klingon.

The booth design was modern, revolutionary in brand awareness, and inhabitable for humans and robots alike. Sleek glass pony walls lined with a thin pinstripe created a makeshift border that invited guests in but kept robots corralled. Precisely positioned shelving made way for foot and bot traffic, and the bustling warehouse teemed with mechanical staff. One judge said it was like "walking into a room full of R2-D2s."

Across the aisle, visitors joined one of the many sophisticated presentations in the central theater hub to further their robotic understanding. Private meetings and hospitality were held upstairs in the six large meeting rooms of the 20-foot-tall towers that flanked the theater. The room's windows were covered in reflective one-way mirrors, boomeranging the surrounding glow of the blue-hued lighting. Attendees who were inside had a commander's view into the warehouse space, and the entire experience boldly went where no other brand has gone before. E

From Atlantis in ancient myth to Isla Nubar in "Jurassic Park," islands are synonymous with lush landscapes and alluring adventures. Creating an island whose real-life charms equal those fictional realms, though, is harder than escaping the one that held Gilligan and friends captive. But to celebrate its 150th birthday at the 2023 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show, Kohler Co. did it with a 15,000-square-foot booth that was an island in form and an oasis in function. "With the increasing cost of building supplies, labor shortages, and supply chain issues, we had our work cut out for us creating this elevated booth experience," said Kohler designer Kayla Knapp, who conceived the booth along with The Freeman Co. LLC (Freeman). The company divided the stand into categories (kitchen space, bathroom suites, lighting, etc.) that allowed it to display roughly 1,000 of its wares. More sanctuary than salesroom, the stand incorporated natural elements such as rocks, flowers, and 12-foot-high trees along with sound-absorbing running water. The soft, earthy color palette of the floors, walls, and ceilings allowed attendees' eyes to rest on the products the company wanted to highlight.

Kohler proved it could be as whimsical as it was elegant with the "Heritage Color" café. Inside the expansive space, it lined up six toilets like a beauty contest for commodes, each hued in a different legacy color dating back to the Jazz Age. Guests voted on their favorite commode color via QR codes while they sipped coffee in cups striped with the historical shades and nibbled on matching confections. With one judge saying that Kohler "elevated toilets to thrones," the company looked ready for another 150 years of being flush with success. E

Nestled on gently rolling slopes west of the Rhine River in Germany lies the Land of a Thousand Hills where verdant soil nourishes one of the oldest and most popular wine regions in the world. Grapes flourish in Rheinhessen's dry, mild climate thanks to the Taunus Hills blocking more severe weather patterns from entering the region.

How do you channel rich history dating back to the Roman era into an exhibit showcasing the region's vineyards and their varietals? That has been the chief task of Rheinhessen Wine e.V., the joint advertisement founded in Alzey in 1961, for more than half a century. The company's efforts at ProWein 2023 in March, however, distilled the spirit of the region into a riveting and inviting exhibit offering a taste of what it means to be from the Rhine.

From top to bottom, it's all thoughtful elegance that reflects the brand's identity. Much like the region's wine, a number of "traditional, handcrafted, and delicate" raw wooden structures were built to look like landscape silhouettes of the Rheinhessen's hilly horizon. Bottles painted blue, green, and purple incorporated the corporate design color scheme of the Rheinhessen tourism and marketing services.

The very floorplan echoed the geography of the region, with the main path through the center of the exhibit mirroring the way Rhine's river valley cuts through the land. Even the curved ceiling, a design of layered string and lamella, symbolized the vine rows of the vineyards, and the hills that appeared on the back wall included silhouettes of region villages. The environment transported visitors from the busy show floor to savor the lush experience of being surrounded by gentle hills.E