SMC Deutschland GmbH, a maker of pneumatic and electrical cylinder solutions, tasked exhibit house Dimah Messe + Event GmbH with giving its entire trade show program a corporate face-lift. Dimah did so with panache at Motek 2019 by reimagining SMC's wave logo into a pair of stunning 3-D landscapes suspended over opposing corners of the 26-by-59-foot stand. Each overhead element comprised 323 vertical white-steel tubes of varying lengths with corporate-blue bottoms, abstractly playing off the company's cylinder solutions. Arranged in a matrix, the 2-inch-diameter tubes appeared to morph and flow as attendees approached. Forty-nine of the tubes were equipped with blue LEDs that flickered on and off in orchestrated timings to lend an additional sense of movement. "The three-dimensional structure not only created an exciting feeling of space," said Jonas Scholz, designer for Dimah, "but also aroused the curiosity of visitors due to the changing perception of its geometry."

At ground level, two swaths of inset gray carpet angled across the width of the stand, carving a path amid the otherwise blue flooring. "I love the way the suspended tubes anchor the space," said one Exhibit Design Awards judge. "Meanwhile, the directional flooring does a great job of drawing visitors deeper into the interior."

Throughout the exhibit, head-high white display panels glowed with ambient blue light and featured bright integrated product lighting and frames. Some showcased families of physical components for automation, energy savings, etc. And instead of overloading the design with its more than 700,000 offerings, SMC outfitted other stations with touchscreens to provide attendees access to more of the company's product catalogue. The revamped design is sure to keep the company's image looking totally tubular for many years to come. E