National Hardware Show
Transforming a trade show into a brand experience.
The National Hardware Show is one of America's largest trade events, tens of thousands of square feet of Las Vegas convention floor filled with contractors, retailers, builders, makers, and brands competing for attention.
The experience was the problem.
It looked like a trade show. The opportunity was to make it feel like a destination.
Creative Direction: Sean M. Smith & Anna Smith @ ACOMPANY
Art Direction + Design: Sean M. Smith
Strategy and Copy writing: Anna Smith
Brand Identity & Logo System · Environmental & Experiential Design · Wayfinding & Signage · Exhibitor & Sponsor Materials · Print & Digital · Brand Guidelines
The Brief
At a trade show, identity has to survive the real world on signage, in print, across digital, and in the thousands of interactions happening on the floor.
The challenge was to build a visual identity for National Hardware Show that could work across the entire experience, from exhibition spaces and show materials to digital and environmental applications.
It needed to be recognizable, flexible and easy to use across a complex event ecosystem.
The Idea
A trade show becomes a brand when every surface starts telling a consistent story.
The creative idea was to build a system that could move easily between the show floor, communications and digital, creating consistency without making everything look the same.
The Direction
The identity was designed to work across the physical environment, from signage and graphics to show materials and digital communications.
A simple graphic language, bold typography and a flexible color system gave the brand enough structure to feel consistent, while allowing individual applications to adapt to their context.
The System
The brand system was built to be practical as well as distinctive. Logo, color, typography, signage and graphic elements work together as a toolkit that can be extended across the show.
The goal was to make the identity easy for different teams, vendors and partners to use without losing its character.
The Outcome
The identity became the visual foundation for the show giving National Hardware Show a more cohesive presence across the floor, communications and digital experience.
More importantly, the system was built to grow with the event rather than simply define a single year's show.
