When the Design Won't Fit Through the DoorHIMSS 2026
Took a digital brand into the physical world, designed from the start to survive manufacturing.
- Role
- Lead designer (3D/spatial design, vendor specs, collateral system)
- Team
- Abhilash, Asha, Alok, Eileen, external booth vendor
- Timeline
- Nov 2025 to Mar 2026
- Platform
- Exhibition / environmental
A trade-show booth is experience design where the design can literally not fit through the door. I designed the booth in 3D, wrote the build spec, and made a campaign that grabbed people from across a very loud hall.
01 · Context & problem
Design with real, unforgiving constraints
A booth is experience design with rules that do not negotiate: the structure, the sightlines, where the TVs and cables go, what a large-format printer can actually produce, and a hanging sign with real physics. On top of that, the whole thing has to read as one campaign across the booth, the screens, and social.
02 · Role & process
From 3D design to the loading dock
I owned it start to finish: 3D design, vendor spec, campaign, and handoff.
Designed the booth in 3D
Light and dark options, at full dimensions.
Wrote the production spec
Cable holes, grommets behind the TVs, print tolerances so the gradients would not band, and the frame for the hanging sign.
Built the campaign
Posters, a LinkedIn carousel, product and panel videos for the screens, and social posts.
Handled the handoff
Print-ready files and direct coordination with the manufacturer.
03 · Key decision
Designed for the physical medium first
Built manufacturing into the design
What. Designed the grommets, print tolerances, and sightlines in from the start, so the creative could actually be built.
Why. A gorgeous design means nothing if the printer cannot reproduce it or the structure will not fit through the door. On a show floor, "looks great on screen" is where the trouble begins, not ends.
Tradeoff. More detailed specs and more back-and-forth with the vendor.
Result. The booth shipped on time, on spec, and looked the way it was supposed to.
04 · Solution & artifacts
What shipped
A 3D booth design (light and dark options)
A production spec for the vendor (cable holes, grommets, tolerances, frame specs)
A campaign system (posters, LinkedIn carousel, product videos, TV assets, social posts)
Print-ready file export and vendor coordination
05 · Impact
Built and installed in Las Vegas
The event ran in March 2026 in Las Vegas. The booth was built and installed to spec, and the LinkedIn campaign ran as part of 314e's broader conference push.
06 · Reflection
A brand in the physical world
HIMSS showed I can take a brand off the screen and into a room, and design it within constraints that genuinely do not bend. It is a useful counterweight to product work, where you can always just nudge a pixel.