How to Use Color at a Craft Show to Attract Shoppers

If you want a craft show display that stands out, you must strategically use color. Color is what catches the eye, evokes an emotion within seconds, can help tell a story, and much more.

Using color effectively so your craft show display catches shoppers’ eyes is fairly easy, but it does take some thought. Here are my tips:

 

Choosing Colors

Colors used in your craft show display should not be chosen randomly.

At my first craft show, I gathered a moss green jacquard patterned tablecloth, wicker baskets, bowls for smaller items, and clear acrylic frames from the dollar store.

Not really a fit for the colorful flannel pajamas and other random items I was selling.

First of all, I was offering way too much selection (you can find out if you are too by checking out this article). Secondly, there was no cohesion in my display.

You may base your display colors on:

• Brand
• Product Collections
• A feeling/mood/vibe
• A theme 
• A season/holiday
• Etc.

 

1 – Based on Brand

Your brand is a good place to start because your logo was likely professionally designed and will have a professional-looking color combination.

Pulling a color or two from your brand colors works best when your products feature similar or complementary colors.

For example, a bath & body vendor may switch up scents throughout the year but always keep their packaging and labels the same, which feature brand colors (let’s say blue, white, and gold). They could really make their space pop by pulling blue throughout the display with accents of white and gold.

 

A display without a color scheme doesn’t have the same pop and can look messy and unprofessional.

 

Avoid pulling your brand colors into your display if your products are colorful and might clash.

For example, if your brand colors are soft purple and gold and you’re featuring a fall collection with products in deep rich colors, having soft purple throughout your display may clash with your products and throw off the fall feeling you want your products to evoke.

If you haven’t developed a brand yet, and don’t have a set brand color palette, consider the vibe or feeling you want your brand/business/products to evoke. 

>> Do you want people to feel calm or excited when shopping with you or using your products? Yellow gives off a vibrant, cheerful, or playful vibe (depending on the props/products it’s paired with).

>> Do you want your business/products to give off a masculine or feminine vibe? Pinks, reds, or soft colors can have a feminine feel.

Choose one or two words to describe how you want your shoppers/customers to feel and then choose a color that best represents that. 

 

2 – Based on Product Collections

If your products change throughout the year and collections are color-based, pulling a color or two from the collection you’re featuring at the craft show may be more impactful than using a brand color throughout your display.

In the example below, the material used for a few bags is also used as the tablecloth. Pink is also pulled into the signage and props (pink flowers).

Here’s an example of a blue and white product collection. Blue is repeated throughout the products, as well as in the tablecloth and signage text.

If you are displaying more than one collection on your table, you may choose to use:

• A neutral color in display elements; one that compliments each collection
• One color that is present in each collection or compliments each collection

When featuring collections you want your display elements to compliment them so each collection can tell its story.

 

3 – Based on a Feeling

You may also choose a color based on the feeling you want to evoke. How do you want customers to feel when they look at your display, or even when they get your products home and put them to use?

Let’s say your brand colors are neutral and your product colors don’t change much throughout the year. You may want to evoke the feeling of happiness and use bright yellow throughout your display. Or choose soft blue to evoke a calming feeling.

For example, a business selling candles may keep their wax color white, candle jars clear glass, and packaging black & white, year-round.

But they want to keep their display looking fresh and coordinate with the season or holiday.

In this case, they would think about the feeling they want to evoke or the story they want to tell, through color.

(I share how to determine a story with your display in the free 5-day email course)

Let’s say they’re selling at a Christmas craft show. They may add red and green throughout their display, or go with a more elegant, modern Christmas vibe using navy and touches of silver or gold.

 

For fall they may swap out the green and red elements for rich orange and deep brown.

Spring may inspire soft pastels or vibrant yellow.

Think about the feeling you’d like to evoke or the story you’d like to tell and research colors to help you do that.

 

How to Use Color to Grab Attention

Color can be used in display elements, such as the tablecloth, fixtures, props, signage, and even your attire.

Because these elements tend to be bigger components of a display, using color strategically for each will naturally catch a shopper’s eye.

If the color in your display comes from your products, be sure they make a statement.

It can be hard to notice smaller items, such as jewelry, from across the room. So instead of relying on an individual piece to make a statement, you can group items featuring the same color, to make a statement. Sort of how one person wearing red in a crowd wouldn’t catch your eye as much as 10 people wearing red standing together would.

Or, let’s say the elements of a display are white so colorful pieces of pottery can stand out. To ensure they’re noticed from across the room, a photo of the vendor’s bestselling piece may be enlarged and displayed behind and above where the vendor stands.

Or better yet, if the vendor space allowed for hanging, they could have 3 images at the same level (repetition is another standout display element; read more about using it here).

If the items were larger (e.g. colorful scarves), a display fixture at eye level or higher could feature a popular color. That may be a bustform sitting on top of the table, wearing a winter jacket (because people wear winter scarves with jackets…not t-shirts or nothing at all;) with a colorful scarf wrapped around the neck.

Ensure that your use of color is bold enough and placed high enough that it can be noticed from across the room.

 

How Many Colors to Use

The key to using color to grab attention and make your craft show display stand out is to keep your colors limited.

Generally, the fewer colors used, the more of an impact you’ll make.

My advice is to feature no more than 3 colors.

Of course, there may be more than 3 colors within your display, but only 3 or less should be dominant and repeated throughout.

For example, a vendor may focus on soft pink, purple, and green for a spring vibe, and repeat those colors in products and display elements. They may still have touches of silver found in sign frames, white used for risers, or black used in signage text, but not enough of those colors to compete with the pink, purple, and green color scheme; rather just compliment it and blend into the background.

Lack of color can make a big impact too.

Someone selling white candles, or silver and rhinestone jewelry, or white wedding accessories, or black and white photos could use white throughout their display. Nothing in particular jumps out and grabs your eye but the display as a whole makes an impact.

And if you have a good eye for visual design, an abundance of color can also make a bold statement. This requires some strategy to ensure a display doesn’t end up looking messy and disjointed.

 

Best Tablecloth Color for a Craft Show

The best color for a craft show tablecloth is a neutral, such as white, black, grey, or shade of brown. Choosing a neutral color will allow your products to stand out.

When signing up for your first craft show, it’s likely you haven’t developed your brand yet and perhaps don’t have product collections sorted. In this scenario, a neutral tablecloth color that compliments your products is best.

For example, if I’m selling reusable food wraps, a beige may be the best neutral color since it has an earthy feel to it, which aligns with my earth-friendly products.

On the other hand, if I’m selling jewelry that incorporates colorful gems, a white tablecloth might work best to keep a clean background so the bright colors can stand out.

Once you develop a strong brand and/or product collections, you may want to personalize your craft show tablecloth more so your entire display makes a bold statement.

 

For ideas on the different elements of your display you can incorporate color to make an impact, please check out MAKE MORE MONEY AT CRAFT FAIRS.