Simple yet impacting

Rounded Edge Studio design and build MTData’s impactful exhibition stand at the 2017 PHTM Expo, using a combination of Twist, Lumos and custom build elements.

The event

MTData is the largest Australian designer and manufacturer of advanced taxi dispatch, GPS vehicle tracking and fleet management solutions. On 17th May, they were at the Private Hire & Taxi Exhibition at Milton Keynes (PHTM) to talk about their Advanced Dispatch System.

With UK offices in Manchester and an expanding list of UK clients, this was a great opportunity for MTData to spread their global wings yet further within this industry-specific expo.

These are testing times for the private hire and taxi industry, facing fast-paced evolution in areas such as legislation, emissions, technology and paradigm-shifting competition from the likes of Uber. The theme of the show was nothing less than survival; it focussed on the future for the industry.

MTData are well placed to feature in that survival story, being a global leading supplier of reliable and high quality taxi dispatch systems. These are advanced and innovative mobile tools geared towards increasing both efficiency and growth for their clients. It is the technology that literally drives their business.

Remote collaboration

The MTData team approached us to commission the PHTM Expo stand, perhaps the unusual part of which was the need to work with us on the design and organisation from their headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. However, here at Rounded Edge Studio, the collaborative approach is in our DNA. Working remotely actually fits well with our focus on fostering and nurturing client relationships, it just requires slightly different communication channels.

So we enjoyed the challenge of the collaborative journey from concept to completion, ensuring the location and time zone difference did not become barriers to progress.

Designing an impactful exhibition stand

The exhibition space was a 6x6m square. Together, we designed and mocked up a stand design befitting the technological aspects of the client’s business. The brief was simple yet impacting, and to that end, we used a clean and clinical white vinyl cover on the raised platform floor.

Integral in the stand were two TV units and four counters all customised with bespoke graphics or vinyl lettering. The TV stands were designed to resemble smartphones, again tapping into the mobile aspect of MTData’s offering.

At the back of the stand, we placed a double-sided back wall, 2.7m high and 3m across, with custom graphics showing screenshots and listing the features and benefits of the dispatch system. The wall consisted of three panels of our popular Twist premium modular display system, seamlessly linked obviously!

As you can see in the images, the stand was set up with plenty of lighting (always a key draw in any dim exhibition hall), including two of our eye-catching Lumos light towers. We also provided four electric points and an Internet socket to facilitate better online demonstrations.

Ultimately, we think we fulfilled the brief and delivered a dynamic, impactful exhibition stand. There was a balance of attention-grabbing sophistication and sparse simplicity, allowing the exhibitors to easily disseminate their message both visually and in face-to-face conversations and demonstrations within the space.

And because we used our non-custom exhibition products like Twist and Lumos for some of the structural elements (rather than an entirely custom build stand), we were able to offer greater value in the overall solution.