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Booth appearance

Posted by Jennifer Donald on September 10, 2010 at 11:02am in Marketing & Sales of Your Art and Crafts
I'm facing the cold hard truth that my booth display is ugly. Yep, there I said it - Ugly with a capital U. So the problem is that the spouse will not "allow" me to purchase what I need to make it better, and sales I AM CERTAIN are lower than they could be due to lack of aesthetics.

Lacking a magic butthole from which to get money to fix up the joint, are there any suggestions on ways to pretty up a display?  Homemade is going to have to suffice (unfortunately).  I work in acrylic paintings and my *ack* display is primarily 3- 4' x 6' lattice panels, painted black and hinged. I have a nice 10' x 10  tent, a folding 6' covered table for printed products and literature.

No, I won't post a pic because I do not wish to harm anyone's retinas. See how thoughtful I am?  ;)

Help?

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Replies

  • Jennifer Donald November 1, 2010 at 5:04pm
    UPDATE: I am SO EXCITED! A local photography store, with whom I have done business in the past, is moving and selling their fixtures. Some of those are........................mesh panels................and a LOT of them!

    I talked to her today about it and she agreed to sell them to me. She purchased them from an artist (so not bought new) and will pull her invoice and determine a selling price. YAY! Hopefully soon I'll have real "grown up artist" walls :D

    I may keep the curtains to make slip on covers for the panels, we'll see. IF and WHEN I get them, I'll take new booth pics. This is so exciting!
    • Terri P. Keller > Jennifer Donald November 1, 2010 at 6:00pm
      Congrats!!! That is indeed a great find!
  • Terri P. Keller September 29, 2010 at 2:46pm
    I understand!! I suggested upgrading from EZup to a Trimline tent with mesh panels.....my hubs said it wasnt necessary......the EZ up was inexpensive and could be replaced if it broke......I knew how to work this!! I convinced him to help me out with a show.....during the event I told him to take a break and look around and see if he could come up with some display ideas (I didnt mention the tent upgrade) so, he walked around looking at all the set-ups. He returned and told me he saw something I needed to see.....I got someone to watch my booth for a few minutes and went with him to look at it. LOL! It was a trimline with meshpanels. We bought it after that show.....It was, afterall, HIS idea!! Works everytime!
  • Joanne Owens September 28, 2010 at 1:04pm
    A trip to Home Depot Could make your existing panels aesthetically acceptable. They have large sheets of pre finished MDF(fiberboard). I think it is intended for shower linings? It is High Gloss White, thin and easy to cut. Since the outside frame of your existing system is black, just cut white panels to insert in to that frame to cover the lattice. Just glue the new panels to both sides ofthe lattice with panel adhesive. Good Luck! Joanne Owens
  • Melanie Rolfes September 28, 2010 at 11:26am
    Suzie I have the same problem as you, canvas no frame. I have tried many different things but right now my favorite is a poker chip ;) My husband has a box full of black, green and white ones. When I use my dark grey pro panels I use a black round poker chip and write the price in silver on the chip. Then I velcro it to the wall next to the painting. I don't put the size of the painting on because I want people to ask me what the size is so I can engage them more in the piece. I also don't like to title my paintings. I do have titles when needed or asked. I do abstracts. I don't want to dictate what people see or feel from my paintings. If something is named Sedona, they may not like Sedona or had a bad experience there. I don't want them to associate that with my paintings. When I use gridwalls I have plastic holders that snap on to the girds. I print labels with the info, put the label on to the back of a business card and then slip them into the holder. I have laminated the business cards because in wet weather they get yucky. The holders were 20 cents each at a supply store. Same place I got my grids.

    What if your pieces are not framed, i.e. large canvas prints stretched over a wooden frame...(wrapped over the frame so that the sides are printed on also?)
    Where would you put the price, size, etc.?
    • Jennifer Donald > Melanie Rolfes September 28, 2010 at 11:35am
      Melanie, I like your ideas on this. I've waffled between 2 "schools of thought". !. to put all the info right there for the customer to see, so that I don't seem pushy or interrupting their experience, or having to wait for me to finish with another customer or 2. to put less so that they have to ask and I can get them talking about what they like.

      I like your perspective on this and will think about it for my show this weekend. Thx!
      • Melanie Rolfes > Jennifer Donald September 28, 2010 at 1:13pm
        I think it depends on what you are selling. For me I believe it helps because I am selling at a higher price point and very large pieces. They are generally the statement piece for a room, so someone isn't going to make a quick decision and not be willing to wait for a couple minutes for my attention if I am busy. Usually they want to hang out for awhile and look at my pieces. It isn't often that I am so busy I can't at least say "Hi, let me know if you have any questions" . When it is that busy I find other patrons start talking to eachother and actually help my sales. It is pretty difficult to do a hard sale and close someone who doesn't want to be closed when you are talking about a 4'x6' painting. The only things that I can think of that helps me close a difficult sale is delivering the piece and accepting Amex. Those are 2 things that seem to make people make a decision faster.

        If someone is selling inexpensive earrings then they probably want to make it easier for the customer to find all the info before they move on to another booth. I guess maybe this should be on a different thread. Didn't mean to highjack it.
  • S. Michelle Babcock September 28, 2010 at 10:49am
    Wow, you're really coming along. Now if I were you I'd think about flooring. I actually found some a carpet at TJ Max that worked with my colors. Some show require floor covering. I have seen some use those puzzle foam squares, but in my last show I saw people tripping on it in a booth near me because the show was on grass so edges were sticking up high enough to trip them.
  • Jennifer Donald September 28, 2010 at 5:20am
    Well here goes. After a week of brain-wracking and knuckle-busting, this is the best I could come up with on a shoestring budget. Granted, I'm doing a lot of smaller, local shows, but ANYTHING would be better than what I had. This still needs some tweaking and tidying and hanging more pics.
    -I removed the long table I had and replaced it with a repurposed foldable bookshelf, which I painted brown.
    -The print bins, which are upside down tv trays, got a board insert for a flat bottom coordinating fabric covers.
    -The lattice got separated; one panel is covered on both sides with brown curtains (cut and sewn together) and stapled to the sides. The other 2 are hinged and covered on 1 side. I attached heavy duty picture hooks to the tops and sides for securing them to the roof frame of the tent.
    -The remaining white space is covered with add'l matching curtains until I can get real panels.
    - Paintings in front of the curtains I hung from fishing line from the roof frame, with a hook at the bottom for easy removal.
    -The pics on the lattice are attached with drapery hooks through the fabric and over the back of the lattice work for strength.
    - The panels on the corners to cover the tent legs and zip ties are window sets, cut in half and hemmed, secured at the top with shoe laces.
    All total spent about $200.

    So.... how'd I do?

    new booth full shot.jpg

    new booth full shot 2.jpg

    • Jan Raven > Jennifer Donald September 28, 2010 at 9:57am
      It looks great, and now I REALLY want to see where you started in order to fully appreciate the journey. Now in terms of a jury-quality photo, I'm sure Larry Berman will have a lot to say, but I'll chime in with this: remove the distracting little white tags in the corners of all your paintings and make sure there is symmetry. Several of the large brown spaces have paintings that are hung in a strange order, with no symmetry. I think that you may be placing the paintings according to where the drapery hooks can hang onto the lattice. Also, why is there a single painting sitting on the ground in the second photo? Get rid of it.

      Overall, this is an attractive booth. I am a fan of curtains!
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