Coachella 2024: 5 Steal-Worthy Event Design Trends From This Year's Festival

While Coachella is often known for its vibrant color palettes or more muted desert tones, an unexpected color scheme reigned supreme this year: shades of deep purple and blue. The ethereal color palette showed up at Pinterest's first-ever Coachella activation, the "Manifest Station" fashion and beauty experience produced by experiential agency MKG.

Blue and purple tones also showed up at Method's unique “Unleash Your Inner Shower” campaign, a collaboration with experiential marketing agency Revolution Marketing. Guests could relax inside the brand’s Inner Shower Lounge, which featured product samples and the Inner Shower Portal, a multisensory, immersive experience that took guests through the different worlds of Method's most popular scents.

American Express, meanwhile, is a bit more known for its blue-toned branding—and this year, its Coachella activation leaned into the color with a winter wonderland-like space inspired by Reneé Rapp’s Snow Angel album.

Absolut also used deep purples and blues at its Absolut.Land activation, produced by 160over90.

Here's an unexpected one: Round, spherical props seemed to pop up everywhere at this year's Coachella-adjacent parties. CELSIUS Energy, for example, hosted the aptly named "Cosmic Desert" event to celebrate its new Space Vibe Trilogy of cosmic-inspired flavors. A surreal space theme was infiltrated into the decor, like in the reflective metal spheres at this photo op.

BDG–the publisher of NYLON—once again hosted its popular NYLON House event, designed and produced by Event Eleven. The after-hours gathering featured a number of eye-catching sponsor activations, like this underwater-inspired space from Nautica. Clear spheres hanging overhead evoked bubbles, helping immerse guests as they tested out Nautica fragrances and received body art inspired by the underwater theme.

In a similar idea, Method's activation was marked by spherical soap bubbles. The brand also had a branded golf cart, adorned with smaller versions of the bubbles, that traveled festival grounds to hand out body washes, shampoos, and conditioners.

At lifestyle publisher Gallery Media's Gallery House event, a larger-than-life art installation invited guests to step into a conceptual shower experience and capture memorable photos against the backdrop of the Indio mountains.

Guests were guided through the Amex activation by colored, sphere-shaped lamps.

Of course, it wouldn't be Coachella without some gorgeous floral displays. One standout moment? At NYLON House, global fashion brand Kate Spade New York hosted an immersive, technicolor infinity room, where an explosion of florals was set against a rolling spring landscape in a mirrored installation.

NYLON House also featured a floral- and greenery-filled activation from Hilton. Guests could step inside the lush space to reset and refuel with snacks inspired by Hilton's Curio Collection.

The day after NYLON House, BDG also hosted ZOEasis, celebrating The Zoe Report. Also designed and produced by Event Eleven, the daytime gathering featured a floral-covered bar from sponsor Smirnoff ICE.

Italian aperitivo brand Aperol returned to Coachella with an eye-catching activation designed, produced, and executed by We Are Swell. Inspired by the original Terrazza Aperol in Venice, Italy, the activation had a VIP space that hosted guests for culinary experiences during golden hour each day. Vibrant orange branding was offset by green grass and hanging greenery.

YouTube created a 2,000-square-foot immersive desert oasis full of photo ops and interactive surprises—and a colorful backdrop for photos and videos that had the brand's logo front and center. The sculptural lounge, designed by MAS and brought to life by Pink Sparrow's on-site fabrication, created a fully functional media space for artists and fans by incorporating multiple levels and oversize propping layered throughout.

Pinterest's activation included an ethereal photo op set in clouds—with a subtle logo in the corner.

At NYLON House, Smirnoff ICE had a massive "Surpr-ice" photo op—with the "i" made from a bottle—that was flanked by fridges stocked with free beverages for guests.

How's this for a unique photo op? At PAPER Playground, art marketplace Cohart hosted a live art installation, where multimedia artist momloveart did live body painting and created a mural featuring logos and VIP names.

At Interscope and Capital Records' Coachella party, designed and produced by Analog, ORBIT Gum offered attendees refreshing surprises at its "wall of Enchant-Mint." Hands reached through a branded hedge to give out gum, fans, and more.

At Gallery House, sponsor Dove activated in the bathroom with a clever "Get Dove or get foamo" photo op on the shower door.

Butterflies were an unexpected—and eye-catching—decor element at a few parties this year. Case in point: BDG's Coachella presence, including NYLON House, had a metamorphosis theme. Producer Event Eleven scattered eye-catching butterfly sculptures throughout the space.

The butterflies continued throughout the NYLON House space, with delicate, illuminated versions popping up on top of on-site sponsor activations.

Also at NYLON House, Sally Hansen's activation offered butterfly-inspired nail art.

The metamorphosis theme continued at BDG's ZOEasis, where DJ Miss Maddi Jean (Maddi Jean Waterhouse) played a special set surrounded by hanging butterflies.

In addition to Method's Coachella activation, the brand also activated at the festival's campgrounds, most notably with its "Field of Showers" display. At the start of the festival, the Field of Showers was a blank canvas of plain sculptures of butterflies, flowers, and waves—which attendees could then bring to life with paint. (The shapes of the sculptures represented the designs of the Method scents festivalgoers could interact with throughout the festival.)