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Branding

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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.

Cliste Marketing Studio Brand

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Context 
Cliste Hospitality is a hospitality management company. As the company expands it’s operations and services further, it became necessary to brand individual departments so our expertise could be marketed to consumers. I was tasked with the visual identity of  the Cliste Marketing Department.

Brief
To design a fresh, modern and funky brand to represent Cliste Hospitality’s marketing department, which covers digital marketing, social media, web and graphic design. The chosen brand name was “Cliste Marketing Studio”.
Process
I did extensive research on other digital design agencies and their branding to analyse how they appealed to their target audience. I also brainstormed with my colleagues about what we felt was our department’s common goal. Time and time again the word “communication” came up. Although we all worked through different channels, the end goal of the department was to communicate and sell hospitality offerings to the public. This informed the decision to use the speech bubble as part of the final design.

Challenges
The challenge here was to design a slick, minimalistic design that communicated all the department’s services under one logo. It was also essential that the brand could compete with existing digital agencies, as it was identified that these were our main competitors. As mentioned above, narrowing down all the services the Marketing Team provides under one image required a clear focus.

Conclusion
This project did not get implemented, as it was decided that Cliste Hospitality scrapped it’s plans to brand individual departments of the company. However, this proved to be an enjoyable project, as my team were both the designers and the clients in this unique scenario.

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.

People & Culture Rebrand

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Context 

Post the COVID19 Pandemic, the landscape of the Irish Hospitality industry had changed drastically. In order to address the changing needs of their employees, The iNUA Collection’s HR Department was rebranded to “People and Culture”. The iNUA Collection is one of Ireland’s leading hotel groups, with four and five star properties located across the country.

 

Brief
This brand needed to be vibrant energetic, sincere and “people first” while still maintaining a sense of professionalism. The “People and Culture” messaging needed to translate both within internal and external platforms.

 

Process
My priority with this piece was to communicate visually why the hospitality industry could be an attractive area to work in. I spoke with my colleagues who had experience working in hotels, bars, and restaurants. The responses spoke about “energy”, “fun” and how much of a “buzz” they felt from working in a fast paced environment, where they interacted with a wide range of people. This feedback was integrated into the colourful, light-hearted colour palette. A crisp black and white was also included, allowing the brand adapt as appropriate between internal documents and external recruitment advertising. Photos of actual hotel colleagues were used to emphasis the “people first”, nature of hospitality. The collateral also invites the audience to imagine themselves as part of this growing and dynamic business.

 

Challenges
One challenge with this project, was that the brand needed to be able stand alone, and with the main iNUA Collection brand. I kept the logo simple and sleek with a sans serif typeface. Then designed the look and feel in a modular fashion, so that both brands could comfortably sit together, or apart, as needed.

 

Conclusion
The roll out of the new People and Culture brand has been very successful, with both internal employee retention and external recruitment reporting a significant increase since it’s launch. The iNUA Collection, and it’s sister company Cliste Hospitality, have been continuing to expand at a rapid pace, so this brand played a pivotal role in business’s long term strategies. Working on the brand was a very interesting and educational experience.

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.