Is there any event-design decision more important than color? Particularly in the cold winter months, as attendees deal with yet another rise in COVID-19 cases, colorful event design can be a crucial way to uplift spirits and get guests in the mood to celebrate.
“Consumers want joy, escape and inspiration,” said Cara Kleinhaut, founder and CEO of AGENC Experiential & Digital Marketing, in an interview with BizBash last week. “We have been isolated and cooped up more in the past two years than in recent history. When we do gather, we want a release from anxiety and stress." She predicts 2022 will see plenty of bold color schemes, with a focus on creating "areas of play, discovery and storytelling."
But how do you tackle a dramatic color scheme or complex pattern without sacrificing style? To offer some inspiration, we dipped into our archives and found some of our favorite over-the-top examples from events and activations.
How’s this for a mood-lifter? Sunglasses brand goodr unrelieved the goodr Cabana in Venice Beach, Calif., in August 2021. While the space debuted with a buzzy VIP preview event, the immersive retail store feels like a party in and of itself: It’s a colorful, tropical paradise just ready-made for Instagram posts with fun touches that evoke the brand’s cheeky marketing and memorable product names. The internal goodr team worked with Experiential Supply Co., on the build-out and design, which organizers describe as “tropical surrealism.”
“The common theme from the start was to make this busy and colorful, but tastefully done with an obvious artistic touch,” explained Jasen Smith, founder and CEO of Experiential Supply Co. See more: How This Experiential Retail Store Is Engaging Consumers in Out-of-the-Box Ways
“The common theme from the start was to make this busy and colorful, but tastefully done with an obvious artistic touch,” explained Jasen Smith, founder and CEO of Experiential Supply Co. See more: How This Experiential Retail Store Is Engaging Consumers in Out-of-the-Box Ways
Photo: Courtesy of goodr
Award season parties are typically a chance for event designers to pull out all the stops for a seen-it-all crowd—and HBO’s 2018 Emmys party was no exception. The night had a lush, flower-filled theme from designer Billy Butchkavitz, who said the event “put a smile on my face, and the guests were blown away. The color palette, the carpet, the textiles, the tabletop decor and the large-scale decor elements all blended to create a magical Garden of Eden for this one evening.” See more: Emmys 2018: 28 Splashy Decor Ideas From the Week's Biggest Parties
Photo: Gabor Ekecs
In July 2019, Louis Vuitton proved that a monochromatic color scheme can be anything but boring. To launch the latest collection by its men's creative director, Virgil Abloh, the brand’s in-house event team created a pop-up activation in New York that was painted entirely in eye-catching neon green—complete with a matching bicycle, garbage bags and a mailbox for extra city grit. (Abloh even took to his Instagram encouraging fans to meme the side of the store as a green screen.)
Once inside, the neon green mania continued, powder-coated on everything from a living room vignette complete with live plants and a special 8-bit video game playable on a, you guessed it, neon green TV set. See more: See How Gucci, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton Do Pop-Ups
Once inside, the neon green mania continued, powder-coated on everything from a living room vignette complete with live plants and a special 8-bit video game playable on a, you guessed it, neon green TV set. See more: See How Gucci, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton Do Pop-Ups
Photo: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Venues are a great place to find design and color scheme inspiration too. Located inside AREA15 in Las Vegas is Oddwood, a colorful cocktail lounge from Corner Bar Management. The highlight of the 2,500-square-foot venue is a 23-foot-tall digital maple tree made from 5,000 individually programmed LED leaves, all of which change colors depending on the beat of the music. The rest of the venue is filled with large-scale murals, plus a mix of brass, bronze, and wood bar tops and surfaces. The psychedelic space can hold 122 people.
Photo: Anthony Mair
Staff and performer outfits are also an effective place to tie in an event’s color scheme. At the California Science Center’s 2020 Discovery Ball fundraiser, for example, costumes nodded to the museum’s LEGO-themed exhibition. “We looked at fashion that pulled inspiration from Dutch painter Piet Mondrian," explained the museum's Christina Sion. "We worked with Artists Creating Entertainment to create costumes for a dozen performers mirroring the Mondrian Collection, designed by French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in 1965—but with a cheeky, creative twist. These human LEGO 'mini-figures' provided key guest engagement roles at the event, as well as fun photo ops throughout the cocktail party."
For an added fun touch, the performers served color-blocked Jell-O in the shape of LEGO pieces. See more: How This Annual Gala Used Eclectic Decor to Keep Things Fresh
For an added fun touch, the performers served color-blocked Jell-O in the shape of LEGO pieces. See more: How This Annual Gala Used Eclectic Decor to Keep Things Fresh
Photo: Snap Yourself!
Online video conference VidCon typically draws a young, social-media-savvy crowd—and the trade show’s booths tend to reflect that. One standout from 2018 was MTV’s booth celebrating the original Cribs franchise, but with a modern, DIY twist. MTV worked with creative agency MKG to build an Insta-ready space that resembled a house, complete with a kitchen, a living room and a second floor that offered a unique view of the convention center. The booth was covered in over-the-top, Gen Z-friendly colors and patterns for the walls, floor, couch, books, TV and even the plants.
Photo: Courtesy of MKG
In 2013, Schwarzkopf hosted a runway show in Los Angeles to demonstrate the year’s hair trends to a crowd of industry execs—and since salon pros aren’t afraid to experiment with color, the function quickly took a rainbow-hued spin. The show had a runway in punchy, tropical hues, while a canopy of colored fringe dangled overhead. Surrounding the floor, ghost chairs had bold renditions of the beauty brand's logo. And in plush lounge areas, centerpieces were—what else?—hat heads wearing flamboyantly colored wigs. See more: Hair Show Gets a Dye Job With Colorful Runway and Canopy
Photo: Brian Leahy Photography
Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival typically offfers a wealth of inspiration for colors and interesting patterns. One of our favorites came from Absolut's activation at the 2019 festival. Designed by MKG, the tented space promoted the brand's sustainability initiatives and efforts for LGBTQ equality. A series of photo ops were located inside bottle-shaped frames with colorful backdrops. There was also rainbow-colored messaging printed on the dance floor that explained how the brand is taking action to better the planet. See more: Coachella 2019: See Inside the Biggest Parties and Brand Activations
Photo: Courtesy of Absolut
Looking for a more pastel-inspired approach? For DIFFA's Dining by Design in 2019, first-time participant INC Architecture & Design created a memorable dining vignette called "Us Is More." The space was a playful kaleidoscope of colorful patches on the walls, with a rainbow-bright ceiling installation. See more: 18 Dining and Tabletop Ideas From Diffa's 2019 Dining by Design
Photo: Lisa Vecchione/BizBash
The Color Ball, a debutante ball in Houston, lived up to its name with this dramatic, ribbon- and streamer-style design by Todd Fiscus of Todd Events. Fiscus says the event featured “a group of clients that allowed me to present them the idea and the inspiration. No Pinterest. No copycat stuff. Just a cool cohesive thought…. It was so fun and so vibrant, and the energy was palpable compared to other parties.”
Photo: Courtesy of Todd Events
Traveling mobile pop-ups have also allowed brands to reach consumers in memorable, safe ways—and if you're on the road, you might as well draw some attention, right? An eye-catching recent example comes from Dolce & Gabbana, which, to help increase sales in New York, worked with Coffee ’n Clothes to create a traveling store in the Hamptons. The pop-up store was housed in a customized Airstream, covered in eclectic patterns to make it look like a Sicilian cart—a nod to the Italian fashion brand’s design DNA.
Photo: Courtesy of Coffee 'n Clothes
Look up! The ceiling can be an overlooked spot for interesting decor, too. For the Brooklyn Museum’s annual fundraising gala in 2019, David Stark Design and Production opted for a Frida Kahlo theme, inspired by the museum’s then-new exhibition “Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving.” The ceiling of the museum’s Beaux-Arts Court featured a cascade of colorful “papel picado” decorations.
Photo: Elena Olivo
If you're looking for drama, how about an entirely blood-red color scheme? Sounds ambitious—but Netflix worked with Swisher Productions to make it elegant for the streamer's 2018 Golden Globes party. (Another thing we loved about this event? Its A-list attendees could stop by a shoe valet and trade in their heels or dress shoes for a pair of slippers.) See more: Golden Globes 2018: Peek Inside This Year's Biggest Parties
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
