Branding for a boutique lodge hotel in Hangzhou
Project: Branding / Logo Design
Client: The Hidden House 秘·境
Service/industry: Hotel & Resort
Brief
The Hidden House is a boutique lodge hotel located in the heart of a valley in Hangzhou, China. The founder gives the name “The Hidden House 秘·境” to it as this hotel is hidden in a small village at the end of the road.
With a stunning view overlooking the valleys and terraces, this hotel consists of 3 buildings with 17 rooms. This hotel was meant to be built as holiday cottages for guest families.
Challenge
The challenge is to create a visual identity for this boutique hotel that would blend in with its rustic interior style and design a unique logo that could give a soul to this hidden hotel.
Inspiration for Logo Design
The bird who showed the way.
The logo design was inspired by Robin from the book, The Secret garden. “The Robin Who Showed the Way” is the name of chapter 8. The sketch of the logo is derived from a bird’s head, symbolising this valley hotel is a secret place that is worth to be discovered.
Brand Design for the Hotel
Visual identity matches interior design style.
Inside this hillside hotel, its interior design is a mixture of rustic and industrial style. For example, in the main gathering room, it features furnitures like a wooden side table, stone fireplace and vintage industrial lamps. The founder wanted this hotel to blend into the rest of the village as it's been there forever.
The idea behind this branding is to mix the rustic elements (e.g. the logo) into a normcore style. By choosing a modern, clean, neutral font as the main typeface for the brand. The overall visual identity represents a rustic and yet industrial normcore style.
Menu & Coupon Design for LOWAK Coffee Bar
A twist of modern and retro.
LOWAK coffee bar is attached to this hotel brand but has its own name and personality. This creekside lodge is functioning as a coffee bar and a handicraft shop. The menu and coupon design well retains the industrial normcore style from the hotel brand, but also adds a few retro illustrations.
Photographer: Multiple sources | Image credits go to The Hidden House & Chenglan JIN
“I really like this logo design, it retains the quaint feel of the hand-drawn sketch.”
— Leo SHEN
Founder of The Hidden House