Give Your Booth a Facelift

love to meet craft artists at shows and discuss how their booths could be improved. Sometimes I can tell they are really listening. Sometimes my suggestions fall on deaf ears. I knew when I met Diane Kennedy in July 2002 at the 56th annual State Craft Fair sponsored by the Pennsylvania Designer Craftsmen in Lancaster, Pa., that she was listening.

The first thing I noticed was how beautiful and organic her baskets were, though it was hard to appreciate them in her old booth. There were three things that caught my attention and detracted from her work.

Walls Should Be Room-Height

The first problem was the height of her booth. I am not a tall man (5’8”) but I had the feeling that I was towering over her work and space, as if I was Gulliver in the land of tiny people. Your booth height should be as high as a normal room (eight feet recommended) or your customers won’t be able to relate to the space.

If your walls are low, your customers feel like they’re behind dressing blinds rather than in a room. It’s very common in this part of the country to find booths that only go up five or six feet in height and this is a mistake in my opinion. You can see the positive results of eight-foot walls in the “after” shot of Kennedy’s booth.

A related issue is the difficulty in dealing with lighting when the walls are low. It’s hard, if not impossible, to use track lighting unless your walls are at least eight feet high. Not to mention the visual mess that is created if your booth is lower than your two or three adjacent neighbors.

Send the Right Message with Color and Material

The third negative distraction was the use of pegboard for her walls. I’ll admit that pegboard is very functional, but does it send the right message? Pegboard is usually found in the garage or on the way to the basement or on the back wall of the utility closet. Is this really the best environment for your fine, handcrafted art?

If Kennedy made her booth taller, she’d create an environment that would look more like a gallery or home. I also told her that Velcro™ sensitive fabric and Velcro™ hooks attached to her work would be a much better choice for both look and function.

She listened carefully to all my suggestions and discussed what colors might work well. At the end of our conversation she said, “I am going to do it, I can’t say when I will have it done but I will do it!”

Height and New Lighting Has Great Impact

Kennedy’s first improvement was to get her booth up to the proper height (eight feet) to create that room-like atmosphere. This elevates her booth and her work so it’s in the customers face. They no longer have to stoop to appreciate her baskets and the space seems loftier. In the “after” photo, all the baskets are up off the floor on pedestals or hanging on the wall where they should be.

Note how the lighting is now overhead and almost visually disappears. Ideally it would be best if there were more light fixtures (which was her plan), but this show limited her to 300 watts max. As a result, she was unable to use her other two fixtures, which would have yielded more even and less shadowy illumination.

For the future, I suggested she use all six of her fixtures and get bulbs of a lower wattage to stay within wattage restrictions.

BEFORE	AFTER
Artist Diane Kennedy’s old booth (left) was adequate, but ready for a facelift (right). Some of the key changes Kennedy made included raising the height of her walls, eliminating the use of pegboard to hold her work, moving all work off the floor, up on the wall or on pedestals, and moving her lighting overhead for better effect.

Colors Complement Basket Work

Notice how the new colors improve the overall merchandising of the booth. I usually don’t recommend green as a good booth color. Green has a very tranquilizing effect on your customers and doesn’t motivate them to buy.

However, in Kennedy’s case I think she picked a green hue that’s natural and really complements her work. Over all, the effect is stunning and light years ahead of pegboard.

Another notable improvement is eliminating the pleated fabric in the background that competed for visual attention and took away from her work.

What’s important to keep in mind is that Kennedy did what few craft artist are willing to do — she did a makeover of her old booth instead of throwing it away and starting again. Many booths are discarded or put into permanent storage because the artist is sick of the look or the drawbacks to a particular booth. When they design a new booth they accomplish a new look but often create new drawbacks in the process.

For everything you get in booth design, you’ll give something up. A faster set-up may result in a look that doesn’t showcase your work, or a lightweight booth may be hazardous when it blows around in the wind. Too many booths are discarded before they get a second chance to live again with a makeover or a facelift.

If you choose wisely in the beginning, the skeleton of your booth should last a lifetime. Then you can change the skin (paint, fabric and texture etc.) as your product line evolves and color trends come and go.

Bruce Baker is a jeweler, gallery owner and nationally recognized expert on booth design. Visit his Web site at www.dbakerinc.com.