Last year I was asked to design a display stand for by a design management company that I do a lot of work for. The stand was to be placed in the reception of a company that produces fire safety products such as smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. Their associated companies also produce fire safety products for industrial uses such as oil rigs. I was the given dimensions of the space that had been allocated for the stand and was told that in the middle of the space their was a section/square column which housed pipes etc.
The brief was to design a stand that on one side would allow smoke detectors and fire extinguishers to be displayed, and the other to feature the industrial, heavy products along with a laptop showing how the system worked. A couple of photographs were supplied for the backdrop on the industrial side, the domestic side would use graphics I had previously created when I designed the fire extinguisher boxes.
My first step was to produce some very rough sketches which I emailed over to my client, who is very design savvy so I could talk them through. Below are a couple of the sketches he asked me to pursue further.
My next step was to draw out a plan view to scale of the elements in illustrator which I could then use in Strata 3D.
In the plan you can see the areas I am trying to create based on the sketch above left. Taking these shapes into Strata I extruded the column and the curved wall and manipulated the shapes in Strata 3D to try and achieve the shapes I was looking for. I also created a shape in illustrator to extrude to make a floor. This was then textured in Strata 3D too. The laptop was a free model I downloaded from the Strata Cafe website
After texturing the two models were lit and I rendered them for my client to present to his client. Although Strata 3D is not one of the big 3D design packages it is very “Mac” like with a small learning curve. Although I don’t use it to its full potential, the basics I know is enough for me to create a reasonable representation of what I am looking for that would be incredibly difficult for me to do otherwise.
The lower visual was chosen and after several “tweaks” and picture changes my client gave the visual to an exhibition company to build it. I have requested a photograph of the stand but as yet have not received one.
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12 Comments
Wow! That’s really amazing. Do you do a lot of display design like this? I hope you get those pictures. It would be a great portfolio piece.
Thanks.
I have done this one and a larger exhibition stand previously. I tend to use the 3D stuff a lot for packaging and I am working on some Point of sale stands at the moment too. I don’t know about the technical side of making it “work” (physically being able to put it together) so I just do the initial visuals in the case of stand and point of sale.
That is really awesome. Most impressive! Great to see how your work through the project one step at a time.
–Steve
Tara, this is really interesting. It’s great to see a bit of 3D.
Very relevant after your recent post, you are NOT a graphic designer!
It seems you get quite a bit of variation in your workload. That’s a good thing I think.
Thanks Steve,
I never quite know if people like seeing this stuff. I don’t want this blog to become a portfolio site, but I know I like seeing other peoples sketches and ways of thinking.
Aaron,
I would love to spend more time learning how to do 3D properly, but as you mentioned before it takes years of consistently working with it to really use it well. That’s why I was quite keen to see some of your stuff, learning how to use the programs properly at college must be a really great experience.
Tara you must understand, we visitors do like to look at these.. The way you post it from sctarch from sketches to the final product.. I dont think a portfolio page list all these..
I love your sketches.. keep posting..
Thanks Santosh
I need to start saving more sketches then, generally they go in the bin, unless as in this occasion I scan them to show a client.
I would be interested in seeing some of your sketches too if you have any to post on your blog?
Very interesting. I’ve never been involved in this kind of work, so it’s fascinating to see the design process. Strata 3D looks a little complex. Do you have a photo of the stand yet? Would love to see it.
Hi Johno,
Strata 3D is a lot more simple than you think you should download the free demo and have a go – its a lot simpler than a lot of the big packages (well it is to the level I use it to anyway). It used to be a really cheap package, with a lite version for free but has become more expensive as it gained popularity.
Still no photo, I asked for one a couple of days ago, and was told although it is all in place (has been for a few months now) the product hasn’t yet been put on it
That’s awesome! We’ll be doing 3D stuff next year. Out teachers say a 3D visual is very important when doing display stuff.
I really like seeing sketches, so often more interesting than the finished product as the client input so often sanitises the best ideas? As a designer as well as a teacher I consider the process to be often the most interesting bit.
best regards,
david george
Hi David,
Thanks for leaving a comment. I agree with you about the sketching being the most interesting bit. It allows you to be quick thinking and not worry if its “right” or “wrong” because you haven’t wasted hours in commercial terms