Coachella 2023: 6 Event Design Trends That Stood Out This Year

Coachella's reputation can be a bit larger than life—so it only makes sense that some of the event design went a bit oversize, too. One fun example? The 20th anniversary of the buzzy Revolve Festival, which was designed as an otherworldly experience by Blue Revolver and NVE Experience Agency. Oversize florals, mushrooms, and other props complemented a large R logo.

Another out-of-this-world moment at Revolve Festival was a series of large, silver mushrooms that sparkled in the desert sun. The two-day event, which honored Revolve's "Best Trip" campaign, featured special guests like Ice Spice and 21 Savage. NVE produced the technical and logistical operations as well as the stage design and build, while Blue Revolver crafted the overall festival creative and designed and built the experiential installations.

Another fun usage of large-scale logos came from Adidas and Bad Bunny's memorable team-up on festival grounds. The Adidas Campus Experience, a cube-shaped pop-up that celebrated the pair’s latest sneaker release, featured a massive Adidas logo made from steel and pine that highlighted a shopping experience. On the other side of the flower-covered cube, Bad Bunny’s signature logo served as an entrance tunnel. The activation was produced by Corso Marketing Group and fabricated by Whalefilm.

BDG's ZOEasis—The Zoe Report and Rachel Zoe’s midday gathering—returned for its seventh year on April 15. The event, which was designed and produced by Event Eleven, featured an oversize, photo op-friendly logo set against a water backdrop.

BDG and Event Eleven also opted for an oversize logo for their nighttime NYLON House event, presented by Samsung Galaxy at a private Indio estate. This one leaned into a more futuristic option with neon-lined letters offset by colorful cactuses.

Another thing Coachella is known for? Over-the-top floral displays, of course. While flower crowns may be dwindling in popularity, this year's events and activations still leaned heavily into lush flowers, including this vibrant display from ZOEasis.

Perhaps the most memorable floral design of the festival came from the Adidas x Bad Bunny activation, which boasted 50,000 live florals in 60 different varietals. Elevation Vertical Gardens handled the exterior vertical garden systems and Eric Quintana handled the planting element.

Vegan haircare brand Love Beauty and Planet brought a series of deluxe “misting tents” and earth-friendly festival essentials to select luxury hotels throughout weekend one. Brought to life by creative agency MKG in partnership with Edelman, the colorful pop-ups featured florals from Figs & Flowers that matched the corresponding scents.

Another cheery activation that matched its floral design to its products was Ketel One Botanical's Spritz Oasis party. Throughout the flower-filled daytime gathering, guests were invited to try cocktails based on the brand's three varietals—peach and orange blossom, grapefruit and rose, and cucumber and mint—which also dictated the event design and color scheme. NVE Experience Agency handled production.

In a fun, on-theme touch, the Ketel One Botanical event featured flowers and fresh fruit floating in the pool.

Of course, the ultimate goal of a brand activation—even at Coachella—is often to promote a product. Many brands found fun and natural ways to incorporate those products into their designs this year—like Adidas shoes hanging from a floral chandelier at the Adidas x Bad Bunny activation.

Another fun example? Lucky Brand's Desert Mirage pop-up—produced by experiential agency ENTER—featured an entrance tunnel and step-and-repeat made from the brand's signature denim.

At the Ketel One Botanical activation, the peach and orange blossom, grapefruit and rose, and cucumber and mint varietals were stylishly displayed on a colorblocked wall.

Phone accessories company CASETiFY hosted its "Disco Euphoria" experience on festival grounds. In a clever touch, producers Revolution Marketing used the brand's vibrant phone cases to create a cloud art piece on the wall.

While the desert festival always has plenty of color, some of this year's activations also opted for more unconventional color schemes, like monochromatic designs, colorblocking, or stripes. Saint James Tea's activation at Revolve Festival, for example, was a garden-inspired space with bold green stripes.

Another eye-catching activation at Revolve Festival came from Shay Mitchell's travel accessories brand, BÉIS. In honor of its new Sherbet Collection, the brand teamed up with Wanderlust Creamery to serve limited-edition ice cream out of a colorful on-site ice cream truck. In a fun touch, products from The Sherbet Collection were displayed on the side of the truck. The activation was produced by Food Truck Promotions.

Meanwhile, Aperol Spritz made its first-ever Coachella appearance with the Aperol Spritz Piazza, which opted for an eye-catching orange color scheme. The cheery, photo-friendly space was filled with vibrant flowers and oranges. Swell handled the design, production, and execution of the space, which was intended to be a modern and joyful take on an Italian town piazza.

For the 11th year, YouTube was the exclusive livestream partner for Coachella across both weekends. This year, YouTube Shorts hosted three studio setups for content capture on the festival grounds. According to event producer MAS, the experience leaned into color schemes and designs that matched the zeitgeist of the desert festival, from sunset pinks and purple fawns to midnight blues and pops of yellow.

In order to keep the YouTube space dynamic for each artist and influencer who came through, the sets were built to be mobile and customizable, with modular backgrounds and props that could be interchanged to create various vibrant vignettes. There was also a lounge area for creators (pictured).

Another fun use of color came from göt2b's YOU Style Station at NYLON House. On site, guests could get hairstyles done with göt2b's metallic-colored hair extensions—which were also evoked in the space's decor, which included vibrant metallic streamers, floor-to-ceiling mirrored walls, and neon lights.

A fun Coachella trend in recent years has been creating pit stops for guests driving to the festival. In its first-ever Coachella activation, for example, Marvel Studios invited travelers to Knowhere, a nod to the Guardians of the Galaxy home base. The immersive, open-to-the-public space, set off to the side of the road that attendees take to the festival, featured fun photo ops, musical programming, and exclusive giveaways centered on the new Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The activation was conceptualized and produced by creative agency IHEARTCOMIX.

Another brand that leaned into the vintage roadside attraction trend was 818 Tequila, which hosted the 818 Outpost during weekend one. Throughout the day, the public-facing, gas station-inspired pop-up drew more than 2,000 consumers, who took home free festival essentials from top fashion and beauty brands. Revolution Marketing and 818's creative team collaborated on the project.

Weekend one is known for the wildly popular Neon Carnival—so is it any surprise that neon continues to be a go-to design trend for brands and event hosts? At Neon Carnival itself, one of many eye-catching activations came from Smirnoff, which worked with NVE Experience Agency to create a neon-lined space that celebrated the brand's Smirnoff ICE products.

The neon trend extended far beyond Neon Carnival, of course. CASETiFY's vibrant Disco Euphoria, for example, included a neon-lined selfie dome that reflected the activation's hot pink, orange, yellow, and blue color scheme.

The CASETiFY activation also used interesting lighting to add dimension and texture to the space.

NYLON House leaned into its "YOUniverse" theme by creating what the team described as an “extraterrestrial planet of pop culture"—and much of that was accomplished through neon lining, uplit cactuses, and lights that shone brightly into the nighttime sky.

Want more inspo from these and other Coachella-related events? Click here to check out our full roundup of the festival's coolest activations.