30 Examples of Beautiful User Experience in Events

December 13th, 2016 at 10:00 AM EST

Skift Take

A lot of elements go into every event and help to build the user experience. Here are 30 examples of great UX from real life events to inspire you.

This comprehensive collection of user experience examples within events covers websites, branding, flyers and invitations, décor and catering.

Event Websites

These websites feature excellent examples of user experience, making them easy to use, aesthetically pleasing and suitable for their respective events or brands.

Sport Relief

With highlights from the Sports Relief weekend and the star-studded fundraising help, the website also doesn’t disappoint. Articles based on music, sport and comedy that all contributed to the fundraising efforts can easily be found on the website as well as video shorts, ongoing sponsorship forms and ideas and specific events going on around the UK.

BoobyBall

boobyball

The events from Rethink Breast Cancer are stunning each year with a circus theme last year and a jungle theme for 2016, their website changes to suit the current theme and the images are stunning, special effects are quick and responsive and it is easy to use. Each area of the site is specific to the location you choose and it is just fantastic, as well as for a great cause!

Exchange LA

With a range of events on offer at the Exchange LA their website is easy to navigate and has an adaptable style to suit each event and attendees. The news and media reels help you keep up to date and the colors are sleek online.

BBC Children in Need

As a fundraising orientated website for the annual Children in Need extravaganza it has everything from fundraising kits and ideas, how the money is spent, features, interviews, tips and advice as well as updates on how everything is going so far. As a high, profile annual fundraising event the website provides a year round experience for the user.

Awakenings

awakenings

Bold, stylish and easy to use, Awakenings offers tickets, photos, merchandise, hotel deals and information for their events in a stunning and easy to use online package. Achingly cool and to the point.

You can also check out these 21 Great Examples of Venue Websites.

Event Branding

Here are some great examples of event branding with a powerful punch that are memorable and can give you some inspiration on how to take your brand to the next level and be recognized.

BUSK Singer Songwriter Festival

busk-singer-songwriter-festival

With a stunning geometric design and simple overlay it gets the message across. Using flags in the street to promote the festival during parades helped to spread awareness and embodied the liveliness of the event and brand itself.

COS Pop-up shop

For LA fashion brand COS, simple and contemporary are used in their clothing designs. To advertise and spread word of their designs they created a temporary industrial space with minimal clothing but monochromatic rooms which created a new shopping experience and made the brand more memorable.

Latin American Design Festival 2015

latin-american-design-festival-2015

Representing different cultures and countries was what was in mind for this simple idea for LADFest and in order to do this it drew on multi colors that are key in the identity of Latin America. The lightning logo combined with the neon colors was plastered on maps, badges, tags, bracelets, t-shirts and online interactive graphics to attract attention.

Summer Shows 2014

The branding used for this show was simplistic but effective and involved large boards with areas of interest or directions that were left up against the walls or leaning against one another. This created an interactive effect and got the users more involved when attending the exhibition.

Samsung Developer Day

samsung-developer-day

To make the Samsung Developer Event brand stand out among the Samsung brand itself, a lot of focus went into the geometric, colorful design. Used for consistent branding on smart devices, banners, platforms, posters, bags and badges it certainly got the message across.

Pantone Café

pantone-cafe

As an eventprof you may have heard of pantone as their color system helps to select and specify certain colors in textiles, fashion, paint, fabric and plastics. Over the last two years they have opened a summer pop-up café in Monaco and Paris that uses specific color swatches that match their products to highlight their brand. From bottled water and sandwich wrappers, to the walls and umbrellas, this is an all-out branding opportunity and a showcase to the specific block colors they highlight.

IKEA BIG Sleepover

With manicures, massages, bedtime stories read by celebrities and sleep experts, Ikea invited 100 guests to have a sleepover in one of its stores in the UK. This branding move not only highlighted plenty of products but got a lot of media coverage and attention for this mini event with over 100,000 signing up for a chance to go.

EPIC Awards

A celebration of leadership in popular culture and the media of women created by The White House Project saw unique branding programs, unfolding print designs, table centerpieces and the branding projected onto the wall behind the speakers.

Great event branding makes a strong impact. Here are 13 low-cost ways to show off your event branding design.

Event Flyers and Invites

Flyers and invitations are one of the first ways to get people excited about your event. Here are some excellent examples of both.

Mulberry Event AW11 Show Invite

In the format of the old fortune teller paper fold-up games, this invite unfurls to reveal the details of the AW11 show by Mulberry with stunning white and gold foil designs. Stunning.

Retro Photo Day Flyer

Encompassing photography and the event’s retro style to go with this flyer it has all the essential information but leaves a big impression and is easily recognizable for the event itself.  

New York Fashion Week Party Invites (Chanel)

Sliding monochrome invitations that were simplistic and fun for the user as you slide some of the card out to reveal the details of the party afterwards.

New York Fashion Week Party Invites (Roger Vivier)

We just had to share these as well – multi-layered graphic cut-outs of Parisian landmarks. How ever could you refuse an invitation like this?

Jazz Art Festival Flyer

With quotes, striking images and a two tone bar effect, these flyers appeal to attendees and users with a creative side and definitely draw you in.

Bestival 2016

Bestival nailed the design it this year with flyers, digital websites and animations. It had a variety of colors, information and design that jumped out of the page and drew you in, making the user want to be a part of it and catching the eye in both print and online formats:

Chicago Renegade Craft Fair Poster

This fantastic poster captures Christmas and crafts in one image with the traditional knitted print, hat design and the reindeers, while also giving users all the information they might need.

Brick Lane Music Festival Poster

Spanning the weekend, this poster helps to bring music lovers to the infamous East London high street and does so with this clean but bold design. With plenty of information and colors that make it pop you are guaranteed to stop to check out the details on this one.

Event Décor

Décor can make or break an event atmosphere so brilliant décor that enhances the user experience is what you are aiming for.

Two X Two

This fundraising event added grass to the walls for different textures and a unique feel and even brought it inside to the sit-down area which, combined with the lighting created and ethereal atmosphere.

MGM Wonderland

For New Year’s Eve the MGM resort in Las Vegas held an Alice in Wonderland/through the looking glass event that saw large props such as the caterpillar’s hookah pipe, giant chess, through the looking glass tunnel and a tea party as well as performers to add to the atmosphere.

125th Anniversary of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh

Creating an “it’s about time” theme the décor was centered around clocks and time pieces that were shattered and suspended from the ceiling. There was also a giant clock centerpiece, projections, glass sticker graphics and a “selfie station” for raising awareness of the event.

2nd Annual Cows ‘N Cabs in Winter Park

Using food as delicious decorative pieces there were restaurants showcasing their talents including the Deep Blu seafood grill who suspended fish in a glass encasement as part of their display near their cooking area. They also used live liquid nitrogen to create special effects and liven up the dishes to make them edible AND decorative.

2016 Event Inception

With an indoor garden theme there were trees, green lighting, hedges and hanging plants at event inception this year and the stage was surrounded by shrubbery as well.

Save our Son’s Gala Dinner

Held at the Luna Park Big Top Auditorium for their annual fundraiser, the gala was a massive success and this was almost definitely because of the “Vintage Circus” decor. With Acrobats suspended from the high ceilings, burlesque dancers and yellow and red spotlighting it created a tent-like atmosphere and the large trailing lights and hanging lanterns helped to bring in the big venue and make it feel more enclosed for the 1,000 attendees.

If this hasn’t given you enough inspiration, check out these inexpensive event design ideas to wow your attendees.

Event Catering

For some events it is all about the food and for many attendees this can be the make or break of an event. Expectations for good food and presentation can be high so it is important to create a positive UX here.

LABC Warranty Blitz Awards Dinner

Using the blitz as inspiration, menus were presented as ration books and cocktails were drunk from standard issue military enamel mugs. The food included pigeon, bread and quail for starter but all set with ration themes, for example the butter was designed as imperial weights and the bread was served on an old set of fashion scales.

Vogue Baby Shower

An event for Laure Heriard Dubreuil saw famous event caterer Peter Callahan create a unique “modern fairytale” theme with the food. With caramel apples suspended from live trees you can literally pluck your dessert and eat it.

VMware PEX

With a long itinerary, attendees at this conference were treated to food stations for individual selections including a cheese and cracker board (but the whole table size!), a sliders table and a fajita creation station too.

Here are 25 health conscious catering ideas for your next event if your target demographic or event theme have health and fitness interests.

In Conclusion

Events are about the user experience, from start to finish. Remember to keep your branding throughout, from the first invitation and event website, through to your communications, themes and décor. We hope these beautiful examples have inspired you to create a strong user experience at your next event.

 

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