Exhibition signage is everything that carries your name at a trade show: the backdrop behind your stand, the roller banners either side of it, the header board above it, the table cover, the printed literature people take away.
Birmingham is the right place to be buying it. The NEC, the ICC and the Utilita Arena between them run a large share of the UK’s trade show calendar, which means most of our exhibition work is for stands a short drive from our workshop rather than a courier job to the other end of the country.
Britannia Design & Print designs, prints and supplies exhibition and event signage from Bordesley Green.
A reasonable minimum for a 3m shell scheme stand:
Then check the organiser’s manual before you buy any of it. Shell scheme dimensions, header rail sizes, height limits and rules on what you can fix to the walls vary by show and by hall. Getting a backdrop made 100mm too tall for the stand is a horrible, avoidable way to start a show.
Send us the organiser’s manual and we’ll spec everything to fit it.
The honest answer from watching a lot of halls: not the biggest graphic. The clearest one.
Say what you do at a distance. Most stands lead with a company name and a logo, which tells a passer-by nothing. Put what you actually do at the top in large type. People are scanning as they walk and deciding in about two seconds.
Keep the top third clear. Anything below about a metre is hidden by your table, your staff and the people standing in front of your stand. The top third of your graphics is the only part reliably visible from down the aisle.
Use one message per banner. A roller banner with six bullet points gets read by nobody. One message, one image, one call to action.
Contrast over subtlety. Exhibition halls are bright, busy and visually loud. A pale, elegant design that looks beautiful on screen disappears in a hall.
Roller banners are the cheapest way into a show and full fabric stands the most expensive, with pop-ups in between. What moves the price is the size of the stand, the display type and whether you need artwork designed or already have print-ready files.
Send us your stand size, your show date and the organiser’s manual, and we’ll quote the whole package. Tell us what artwork you’ve got and we’ll tell you what it needs.
Faster than most people fear, but don’t test it.
Standard turnaround on roller banners and printed panels is 2 to 5 working days once artwork is approved. We also offer a 48-hour turnaround on UK mainland print work, so if a show has crept up on you it’s worth calling rather than assuming you’ve left it too late.
The delay is almost never printing. It’s artwork. If you’re supplying your own files, send them early and in the right format, and your show date stops being a problem.
Yes, and it’s worth designing for it from the start.
Roller banner cassettes are refillable. When your message changes, you replace the printed graphic and keep the hardware, which costs considerably less than a new banner.
Pop-up frames last for years and take new panels. Fabric graphics are replaceable on the same frame and pack down small enough to post.
The design decision that makes reuse possible: keep show-specific details, dates, stand numbers, a one-off offer, on something separate and cheap. Keep your core graphics generic enough to use next year. A banner with “Visit us at Stand H42” printed on it is a banner you’ll bin in October.
The printed graphics and display equipment used at trade shows and events: backdrops, roller banners, header boards, table covers, display panels and directional signage.
For a standard 3m shell scheme, a backdrop, one or two roller banners, a header board, a printed table cover and takeaway literature. Always check the organiser’s manual for size limits first.
Roller banners are the cheapest option, fabric stands the dearest, with pop-ups in between. Stand size, display type and whether artwork needs designing are what set the price.
The clearest, not the biggest. Say what you do in large type, keep your key message in the top third where it isn’t blocked by people, and use one message per banner.
Yes. Roller banner cassettes and pop-up frames take replacement graphics, so keep show-specific details like dates and stand numbers off your main panels.
Roller banners are typically 800mm, 850mm or 1000mm wide with around 2000mm of visible height. Pop-up backdrops are commonly 3m wide. Shell scheme panels and header boards must be sized to your specific show, so check the organiser’s manual.
Standard turnaround is 2 to 5 working days after artwork approval, with a 48-hour option on UK mainland print work. Artwork preparation, not printing, is usually what causes delays.
Tension fabric for reusable backdrops, rigid-backed laminate for pop-up panels, anti-curl film for roller banners, foamex or aluminium composite for display boards.
Yes, everything is made to order, including custom sizes and stand-specific panels built to your stand builder’s drawings.
From our Bordesley Green workshop, close to the NEC, with collection available and fast reprints when plans change late.
Everything is made to order. Custom sizes, shapes, finishes and stand-specific panels are all normal here rather than an upcharge for something unusual.
If you’re working with a stand builder, send us their drawings and we’ll produce graphics to their dimensions. If you’re in a plain shell scheme, send the organiser’s manual and we’ll work from that.
From us. We’re at 73 Lower Dartmouth St, Bordesley Green, which is around [X] minutes from the NEC.
Being local matters more for exhibition work than for most signage. You can collect rather than wait on a courier, we can turn around a reprint if something changes late, and if something goes wrong the morning of the show you’re calling someone in the same city rather than a website.
