How to make a safe event without restrictions?

After launching the “Backtoevents” initiative we have spoken on countless occasions about all those aspects that we must take into account in the conceptualization and pre-production phase of an event in order to ensure a safe event. However, today we will focus on those design features that can help greatly reduce the risk of contagion while creating a sensory experience for our guests.

Design as a communicative factor can influence compliance with security measures without these being perceived as uncomfortable restrictions, but instead emerging as organic behaviors induced by the elements of the space themselves.

How is this achieved?

Keep reading.

1. Tell the message visually

Visual separator elements

Physical barriers are not entirely necessary if we know how to play our cards well. We can play with colors, shapes, or with simple suggestive messages.

Let’s imagine we have an area of continuous benches for seating instead of individual seats. The normal thing in these cases is for people to sit in groups, some closer together, others more separated, etc.

We have two options, one, the classic one, putting vinyl on the floor that says “keep a safe distance”, with arrows and footprints drawn. The other, more subtle and less aggressive, is to place brightly colored cushions or stripes with the desired separation fixed to the stands. Although the objective is the same, the intention of the message changes completely, going from a direct obligation to an indirect suggestion. We are no longer telling you “it is mandatory to sit here” literally, but rather the very configuration of the space shows where you have to sit and where you don’t, so that our brain perceives it naturally and not as an imposition.

Sanitization points

Hydroalcoholic gel bottles are already part of all the entrances to shops, restaurants, offices, etc., and we have already internalized their daily use.

Now, to meet the maximum possible guarantees of a safe event, we must go one step further and promote responsible behavior at all times.

So, why not design eye-catching elements that somehow encourage people to use hydroalcoholic gel? Signage elements and/or route directions are usually points of attraction for attendees, as they have content of interest to them. These can be the perfect place to integrate a sanitation point, accompanied by a suggestive graphic that unites the whole.

Circulations

Especially in exhibition spaces, it is interesting to design the distributions with the aim of avoiding crowds of any kind, whether at entrances, information points, etc. This can be done through suggestion and not obligation, as we mentioned. To achieve this we can play with different circuits, circular and non-linear distributions, attracting the audience to disparate points in the room instead of placing everything in parallel, among others.

Each case is different, and that is why, before drawing anything, at Saez Decom we do an analysis of the space and the client’s needs, taking into account all the relevant epidemiological and hygienic guidelines.

2.  Generate new experiences

Putting up a sign to respect the safety distance is most of the time necessary, but it does not mean that it is sufficient or 100% effective, much less that it will lead to a memorable experience. This year’s complications have caused the need to innovate in a completely groundbreaking way in this sector, inventing new event methodologies to make them safe and fun at the same time. This could mean a change in the way we conceive events permanently, since digitalization and new forms of interaction (individual inflatable capsules, spaces separated by groups, reinvented catering, etc.) have come to stay in many ways.

As experts in the design and construction of all types of events, we conceptualize and begin all projects based on the experience and sensations that we want to convey to the public.

In the section How to avoid COVID at events on our website we talk about the importance of using all these changes to provide added value to our safe event.