PRINTING United Expo is a trade show devoted to the power of print. With so many experts in the field exhibiting at the show, it’s impossible to miss the inventive signage and displays throughout the show.

For a promo distributor or a printer walking the show floor, there were plenty of examples of how to attract eyeballs using print and displays, immersive installations and equipment demonstrations showcasing what the latest tech can do for signage.

Interact With the Environment

In the skateboarding world, there’s been a long-running debate whether it’s a sport or an art form, because it’s a physical activity that interprets public space in a way that wasn’t originally intended.

The walkway leading to the “Spill The Ink District,” where there were podcast booths and other interactive elements, used a skateboarding motif. It makes sense: A good display can use the space around it to create something totally new.

Using a skateboard ramp motif, the entrance to the Spill The Ink District at PRINTING United Expo used space in a creative way, turning the walkway into part of the display.

These immersive displays and installations are all the rage in branded events. They take over a public space like a storefront, plaza or park and completely reinvent the space, turning it into a memorable branded experience.

Audrianna Manee, director of marketing for UltraFlex, discussed how her company’s own booth used different forms of print to create a cohesive and very fun environment. It included a backlit banner, chair coverings, block-out square pieces to form an archway, adhesive floor decals and curtains.

UltraFlex used a variety of different display pieces to create a fully branded environment, but each piece can work on its own, too.

Not all jobs call for these sorts of displays, though, and each piece can still work as a standalone display piece, too. “You have your installers who do all types of events,” Manee said.

Even what appeared to be simple upholstery was actually a print display, as UltraFlex covered furniture to make every surface of their booth part of the branded experience.

Touch & Feel

Roland DGA was on the show floor demonstrating some of its latest printing tech, including the Dimense DA-640 dimensional surface printer, which creates textured prints without layering ink.

“It adds heat and interacts with the media and the inks in such a way that it actually lays down texture like foam where you tell it to lay down the texture,” said Marc Malkin, PR manager for Roland DGA. “You can feel the texture and you can see it. It works for signage and displays, but also really great for wall coverings and things like that. We’re trying to introduce it to interior design professionals.”

Roland DGA featured a myriad of equipment, including its Dimense DA-640 printer, which prints textured pieces for wall coverings and signage without layering ink.

Texture was a major part of the print displays at the Expo this year. SwissQPrint demonstrated how it can print a “pyramid” texture with its flatbed printers to create a visual effect almost like the pixels on an old TV or an impressionist painting, with small dots creating the larger picture when you stand back.

When viewed from a distance, this pyramid artwork produced by swissQprint appears flat. But when viewed up close, you can see the raised bits of color, adding actual dimension to the piece.

Shapes That Stand Out

No one said that a sign has to be a square. Using different shapes can attract the eye as much as a backlit display. Birttani, a supplier of displays and signage, uses both, with hexagonal and irregularly shaped signs that also use lighting and bright colors to stand out, even under the fluorescent lights of the trade show hall.

Birttani featured signs in a variety of shapes beyond traditional squares and rectangles.

Other companies are using smaller pieces that exist within the display to add dimension and playfulness, such as Polymershapes, which was exhibiting its Fome-Cor foam pieces that can live on POP displays, exhibits or as signage. Its booth featured flowers in a small garden, complete with a call to action for attendees to draw on a whiteboard. That top-to-bottom level of detail, as well as giving a passerby a reason to stop and interact with the space, made a memorable brand impression in a minimal amount of time.

Using print pieces of various sizes and a whiteboard for doodling, Polymershapes created a fun and interactive exhibit that attracted foot traffic.