The Collision conference attracts roughly 25,000 attendees, many of which represent companies in the startup and new-technology sectors. And Interac Corp., a tech-forward financial-services provider, wanted to draw as many of these movers and shakers to its exhibit as possible. According to the designers at creative agency Zulu Alpha Kilo Inc., like many exhibitors at Collision, Interac's business is steeped in data. Where the company distinguishes itself is not just in managing information, but conceptualizing products and services based on its data. When it came to manifesting Interac's imaginative attributes, the Zulu Alpha Kilo team, working in collaboration with Astound Group Inc., found inspiration in the opening credits of "The Matrix," in which green lines of cryptic code cascade down the screen. But instead of staging a literal interpretation of this iconic cinematic sequence, designers subtly referenced it via rigging 600 strips of mesh fabric printed to match Interac's corporate yellow. By abbreviating the lengths of some of the strips arranged in a precise grid 20 feet above the floor, designers created space for an 8-foot-tall central passageway and four casual meeting spaces where attendees could engage in distraction-free demos of Interac's services. The only solid surfaces to be found were at the back of the exhibit, where wood and Plexiglas walls formed formal conference rooms.

According to the designers, maximizing vertical space and using scale to dominate the environment created the opportunity to turn a simple brand element – color – into a show-stopping statement. Exhibit Design Awards judges agreed, calling the stand "alluring" and "deceptively simple." So hats off to Interac for proving that simplicity and award- winning design can be cut from the same cloth. E