o create an exhibit that is eye-catching at a trade show is an impressive feat. To create an exhibit that catches your eye because it's looking right back at you through giant, moving eyes of its own is downright startling. But to introduce its new retina-scanning technology to attendees at the American Neurological Association Annual Meeting, Heidelberg Engineering Inc. used this eerie effect like a Hogwarts spell to captivate attendees' attention and draw them into the exhibit.

The display featured eight hanging discs crafted of clear vinyl and extruded aluminum frames in sizes ranging from 5 to 10 feet in diameter. Each had a layer of rear-projection fabric inside, and was inflated to an eyeball-like convex shape via a tube and an air pump in the ceiling. Projectors in the exhibit walls and in a center column directed different videos to the lenses – each showing footage of a human eye blinking and looking around. Sprinkled into the videos was the message "Track MS Change," touting Heidelberg's technology that helps neurologists study the progression of multiple sclerosis in patients through scans of the retina.

To make the floating lenses really pop in the space, designer Mitchell Mauk opted to encase the booth in solid black, leaving the colorful, moving irises as the most vibrant elements in the display. Exhibit Design Awards judges called the design "weird – in a good way" and praised the booth's bold ingenuity. "It's an amazing element, and it has to be one of the most memorable things people saw on the show floor," one judge said. The exhibit was indeed spellbinding, and added just the right amount of magic to attract attendees in the blink of an eye. E