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“See the Unseen” Summer Campaign

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Context 

I was tasked with designing assets for a new summer campaign on behalf of The iNUA Hotel Collection. The purpose of the campaign was to promote iNUA, and incentivise domestic consumers to holiday in Ireland by highlighting some of the country’s hidden “unseen” wonders.

 

Brief
The concept of the campaign was to “celebrate the often unseen wonders right on our doorstep”. The look and feel needed to be bold, colourful and fun.

 

Process
My priority was to capture a catchy tagline that would tie the whole campaign together across platforms. I came up with the line “See the Unseen” as it summed up very simply the core message.
There were two main parts to this campaign – the main campaign itself, where I utilised AI imagery for the first time, and the PR collateral (the travel suitcase pictured above.)

 

For the main campaign, the challenge was to draw people into each hotel property, and show them what wonderful attractions were available on their doorstep. My team took an unconventional approach to this brief. Most hospitality marketing collateral tends to focus on highlighting the destination with scenic landscape imagery. Instead, we brought the destination inside each hotel, showing what adventures are “unseen” and available to be “seen” right outside your window. To capture this surreal and dream like premise, AI imagery was generated to create impossible scenes, allowing the audience audience to engage and imagine their what their “unseen” holiday could look like. Each of the images nodded to the “unseen” tourist attractions available at each iNUA hotel property. The bright colourful gradient lines suggest a fun, endless summer of holidaying and adventuring across the island of Ireland.
As part of the PR collateral for the campaign, I was tasked to design suitcase stickers, one representing each of iNUA’s hotel properties. Similar to the main campaign, the stickers highlighted different tourist attractions near each hotel in the collection. I deliberately went for a “weathered” vintage look, as if a traveller had collected many stamps and postcards along their travels. Each hotel sticker need to capture that hotel’s property and feel unique, while also maintaining a consistent overall look and feel.

 

Challenges
The number one challenge with this project was getting to grips with using AI generated imagery for the first time. There was a steep learning curve in figuring out which AI platform was the most effective and user friendly for generating imagery. There was also a great deal of trail and error in figuring out how best to construct prompts in order to produce the desired result. I did find that I had to retouch many of the AI images afterwards in Photoshop before applying them to the campaign, but using AI allowed me to conceptualise and iterate ideas much, much faster than would have previously been possible. I had a lot of fun working with AI, and was able to create dream like images that truly captured the spirit of the campaign.

 

Conclusion
This was an exciting campaign that challenged me and pushed me outside of my comfort zone. After working on these assets, I am eager to continue experimenting with AI and incorporating it into my workflow more in future.

Yew Tree

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Context
The iNUA Collection is a hospitality Group, who owns a selection of 4 and 5 star hotels across the island of Ireland. The Yew Tree Restaurant is part of the Muckross Park Hotel Killarney.

Brief
I was asked to rebrand the Yew Tree Restaurant to bring it up to a 5 star standard. The brand needed to incorporate a yew tree motif, in reference to the famous yew tree in Muckross Abbey, which the restaurant was originally named after.

Process
For an elegant, high end establishment, keeping a luxurious feel for brand was critical. I researched many high end brands from hospitality, fashion, cosmetics and retail. I was particularly inspired by the clean cursive typography of the Park Hotel in New York. The letters almost gave a vine or plant like feel, which I reimagined in the Yew Tree brand.

Challenges
Maintaining the connection to the yew tree and creating a high end feel was a unique challenge. I achieved this by using a Yew Tree branch, rather than the entire tree. This allows me to reference the restaurant’s origins, and balance the elegant, cursive typeface.

Conclusion
I thoroughly enjoyed the process of bring this brand to fruitarian. Although this brand was not implemented, this brand was well received.

The Navvy Bank

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Context 
I was tasked with creating a restaurant brand concept for The Gateway Hotel in Dundalk. The interior designer provided me with a moodboard in order to ensure that the brand was inline with the interior design.

Brief
The brief asked for a brand that resonated with the locality, but also maintained a global flavour.
Process
In my research, I learned that the hotel was located near an area called “The Navvy Bank”, an artificial embankment constructed in the 1840s to facilitate the entry of shipping into Dundalk Port. This informed my decision to take a “navigator” theme for this brand – The Navvy Bank references the local port, while also referencing Dundalk’s global shipping connections.

Challenges
The name “The Navvy Bank” and the navigator theme both suggest a blue colour scheme and a nautical vibe. However, I found that the blues where lacking character and contrast. It was also imperative that the brand design was in synch with the interior design. I pulled the orange accents from the interior décor. The bright pop of orange keeps the brand feeling sharp and modern, while the maintains an air of elegance.

Conclusion
Although this concept was not used, it did receive very positive feedback. The challenge of  designing a brand in line with a interior designer’s moodboard was an interesting process.

Our Place

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Context 
The iNUA Collection has a selection of 4 and 5 star hotels across Ireland. A number of these properties contain coffee docks, where customers can treat themselves to a hot beverage or snack. In order to boost sales at these coffee docs, I was asked to create a new brand.

 

Brief
The brief asked for a warm, friendly atmosphere. It was specified that we attract more local and leisure business. This brand also needed to be able to stand alone as it’s own self contained entity.

 

Process
In my research, it was evident that most of our competitors were heavily targeting corporate visitors, and therefore couldn’t be used as a relevant bench mark. Instead, I took inspiration from smaller family run businesses and bespoke coffee brands. I went through a number of iterations with the illustrations, careful to strike a “friendly” vibe without veering into a look that was too “childish”.

 

Challenges
The naming for this brand proved to be a significant challenge. (I was not provided a name, and was expected to decide on one as part of the project.) I spent a lot of time writing lists of names and consulting with my marketing colleagues on suitable choices. I choose “Our Place” for it’s approachable, welcoming feeling, and because I could see how it would translate well into catchy taglines for social media etc. As a designer, it is crucial to consider how a brand is going to live online, and how that “story” is going to be shared with your audience.

 

Conclusion
This concept was not used, as it was decided that it made more business sense to use The iNUA Collection’s new coffee brand for the coffee docks instead. However, “Our Place” received very positive feedback from clients and stakeholders.

The Gasworks Hotel

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Context 

I was tasked with a rebranding for a new hotel purchased by Cliste Hospitality in Belfast. The name “Gasworks” derives from the area the hotel is located in Belfast. For over 150 years the Gasworks was the central power source for rapid economic growth that put Belfast at the heart of Victorian Commerce. Coal gas created on the site powered the city’s street lights and the huge number of factories that were central to the city’s economic success at the time. It’s profits were a major source of funding for building Belfast City Hall. By the end of the Second World War, 120,000 customers were being supplied with gas. By the 1960s, production had declined and the site stopped gas production in 1985.

 

Brief
Brief requested a brand inspired by the history of the gasworks area, while still keeping a modern and contemporary edge.

 

Process
Firstly, researched the history of the gasworks thoroughly learning about the legacy of the area. In particular, I studied photos, both past and present, of the gasworks and the surrounding area. I took inspiration from this photography to drive the design into a modern industrial direction, as seen in my moodboard above. This allowed me to answer the brief by staying true to the hotel’s historic routes, while bringing the look and feel forward into the modern era.

 

Challenges
On one of the biggest challenges of this project was executing the tower illustration. This illustration was based on the main gasworks building itself. The structure in real life is long and horizontal, which didn’t mesh well with the follow of the typographic logo. Focusing just on the tower section of the building allowed me to keep the integrity of the motif in tact, and keep the feel of the piece fresh and modern.

 

Conclusion
This was the successful concept chosen for the hotel, the client loved the bold modern take on the brief, that still respected the historic roots of the Belfast Gasworks.