What is LED lighting, how does it work, and how can it help you stand out at your next trade show?
To answer these questions, we sat down with Mike Graziani, our Vice President of Design, and Noel Mares, our Creative Director, who oversees the work of our design department.
Here’s what they had to say.
How LED lighting became popular
Mike: In the past, exhibits featured very selective spotlights that were either arm-connected to the exhibit structure or flown above the exhibit in a best-case scenario.
This trend has now shifted to LED (Light Emitting Diodes), which is also commonly referred to as ‘edge lighting.’
Fueled by both the advancements in LED technology and a major shift from other forms of lighting such as halogen, LED edge lighting became popular around the late 2010s, and it’s been a fixture at trade shows ever since.
How LED lighting works
Mike: Thin LED strips are housed within some form of diffusion layer—either a very flexible, rubberized material or hard plastic—which helps to soften their appearance.
When we create a booth for a client, we’ll incorporate outlining strips around the entire perimeter of the exhibit or select areas to draw attention to specific components.
We might use three different colors to highlight three different demonstrations that the client has, or three different products they offer.
Noel: Edge lighting is both decorative and functional, in that it gives the guests some indication of what's happening or what's important as they approach the booth.
It allows you to frame, highlight, and add exclamation points which capture the key benefits of your offering.
The advantages of LED lighting at trade shows
Mike: LEDs are lightweight yet durable.
They’re not like light bulbs, neon lights, or fluorescent lights, which are very fragile by comparison. These were staple features at the trade shows of yesteryear.
Some exhibitors may also recall halogen lights, which gave off a very warm, intense light and were phased out of trade shows around the early 2000s due to fire safety concerns.
But today’s LEDs aren’t generating any heat, and we're able to incorporate edge lighting or back lighting of graphics very easily.
You can choose between warm and cold tones, the power output is great on them, and they’re easy to transport. So, overall, you have plenty of options if you opt for this type of lighting.
Noel: The operational cost of LEDs is also a fraction of what we’ve seen with other types of lighting.
The prices have come down on them to make them affordable and accessible, and this has been a game-changer for the trade show industry.
Almost every exhibitor’s using them now, and, as Mike points out, it’s easy to see why due to the benefits they offer.
The challenges when using LED lighting for trade shows
Mike: You’ll be surprised by how many transformers you accumulate once you start to incorporate strips of LED lighting into your booth, and you've usually got to hide those transformers somewhere within walls or closets. This could be a problem depending on how much free space you’ve got to work with.
The concealment of wires is another challenge. Floating outline boxes are a popular trend right now—for example, at a lot of trade shows, you’ll see a big open cube that’s just made out of sticks of aluminum, which create the perimeter outline of the box, and one face of that framework is illuminated by LEDs.
From a distance, you see this floating box, and it's got a cool colored LED outline edge to it. It's very minimalistic. But, again, those transformers that are providing the power need to be concealed somewhere within the extrusion, which can become challenging.
These are a couple of the more complex problems exhibitors can run into when incorporating LED lighting.
Your strategic trade show partner can guide you down the right path if you run into any areas of uncertainty and need further clarity.
Need further booth lighting advice? Contact us today
We’ve helped businesses like yours stand out, attract high-quality leads, and make more money at trade shows since 1986.
Trade show booth lighting is one of our chief specialties, and we’ll work with you to create a vibrant, visually captivating storytelling asset.
To find out more or talk to us about your next show, contact us here or give us a call at (800) 343-2005.
