4ROOM AT
INTERIOR 2018 FAIR
Interior fair Interjöör is the biggest interior event happening in Estonia — memorable representation at the event attracts a strong flow of customers that lasts for months.
Project length
2 months
Makes or breaks the start of the season
Tallinn Interior fair is the main event of the interior design industry in Estonia where visitors – both industry professionals and the general public, come looking for inspiration and ideas on how to apply it.
According to the Interjöör 2018 statistics, 18 700 visitors passed through the fair in three days. An appealing booth is a key element in standing out from the other exhibitors, to invoke interest and want to establish contact with the sales personnel. Good representation at the fair means a reinvigorated flow of customers for the following months.
People don’t necessarily come with the intention to buy
They come to see new interior trends brought to life and to understand what possibilities are available to them when furnishing. As the fair is held in spring at the start of the construction season, for many visitors, it is the phase when they only begin to think of decorating.
Convenience plays an important role for the visitors — instead of driving between different interior stores, this is where they can establish the first contact with the exhibiting companies of interest, make easy comparisons between competing providers and in addition make use of the fair discount deals.
Putting thought into it
Reviewing 4ROOMs previous experience at the interior fair set off the research phase. Mapping the expectations of both, the presenting companies and the fair visitors, allowed for better understanding of the requirements for the fair booth.
Visiting Europe’s largest interior fair in Cologne, I observed various techniques and methods companies put to use in fair booth design and in approaching their clients and assessed the successfulness of these.
Research into larger interior trends required synthesis based on the local characteristics. Although global trends vastly influence the local scene, local peculiarities need to be included.
Shaping the findings
Reviewing the experience of 2017
In 2017 4ROOM Interior store was represented showcasing 4ROOM luminaires, Estonian furniture makers Radis and Ra Sun and Finnish luminaire company Innolux. The setup was fresh, showing new colour and furniture trends of the industry and received noticeable attention.
Although the exhibit sparked the interest of the visitors when analysing the results, it became clear the booth did not communicate well to the visitors – it lacked clear collective identity – visitors were not sure what the booth offered.
The layout unintentionally urged the visitors to view the booth from afar, rendering them inaccessible for interacting with the sales staff.
In this layout, there was room for only a few furniture products before space felt crowded.
Unintentional barrier
Reflecting back on the experience of the previous year, it became clear the old booth’s floor plan had not been supportive of the visitors interacting with the exhibit. The display attracted a lot of attention and was often photographed by the visitors, but the booth design, in contrast to intentions, favoured visitors gazing from the distance. By aiming high visibility, the booth had become too visible and through that unexpectedly passive.
The old booth comprised of four different display boxes of trend colours focusing on the new products of the exhibiting companies. In front of it were additional products on display. These didn’t form strong sets and created an additional barrier for visitors to cross.
Findings directing the planning
Understanding the expectations of the exhibiting companies and of the visitors of the interior fair while taking into account the analysis of the previous year’s experience, created strong guidelines for the design of the booth of 2018. Sketching the floor plan and considering different placements of the wall panels, the foundation presented itself clearly. Not only did it encourage visitors to interact with the booth area, creating active areas of interaction, but it also allowed for a lot more products to be presented without the booth feeling cluttered. For active sales, five members of the sales staff were available at all times, yet the layout didn’t make them obvious to the visitor and the booth didn’t ever feel overcrowded.
Creating an active floor plan
The new booth was positioned next to the main passageway and the design of the floor plan offered interesting alternative paths for visitors. Removing closed corners in the design gave visitors the freedom to choose their own direction.
The open planning allowed to see into the booth enough for the passersby to become curious to enter. When stepping in the booth, visitors became more open to interact with the displays and also the sales staff, who could introduce the brands further.
Encouraging interactions
Knowing what the visitors of the Interior fair come looking for in this event, the booth design aimed to reflect this. Colour scheme of the booth was intentionally more bold than the visitors dare to use themselves. The booth also held a small exhibition of a young Estonian illustrator Eili Lepik and on each day of the fair, there was an hour of meet-and-greet session with local furniture designers.
Colours creating clear divisions
The booth design aimed intentionally for strong colour patterns complimenting the furnishings and guiding the focus onto the products on display. Considering the open plan of the booth, the colour schemes directed the eye and aided defining the areas into display sets.
Common identity,
individual branding
The main area of the booth communicated clearly the message of an interior store focusing on furniture and lighting. The main entryway carried the logo of the interior store and two screens near the secondary entryways showed presentations of the store and brands.
Each of the four brands had a high-light corner allowing them to present the focus products.
Looking back
Prior to this, I had never designed a fair booth. In this process I relied heavily on research and my intuition and knowledge of trends.
Combining four different brands in one booth meant inevitably being in the role of co-ordinator, which, at times presented difficulties. As the new booth allowed for more products to be presented, something that the brands had asked for, the companies weren’t actually prepared to provide as many. With a lot of convincing and a few compromises the booth came together and the represented companies were very content with the results of the interior fair.