Hotel Live
The Hotel Live by Curio, a subsidiary of Hilton Hotels, approached us to build their brand in Wilmington, North Carolina. We helped bring a fresh modern vibe to a historic part of Wilmington.
Services Provided
Brand Strategy
Communications
Visual Identity
Brand Support
Wayfinding
Package Design
The Hotel Live by Curio, a subsidiary of Hilton Hotels, approached us to build their brand in Wilmington, North Carolina. We helped bring a fresh modern vibe to a historic part of Wilmington.
Services Provided
Brand Strategy
Communications
Visual Identity
Brand Support
Wayfinding
Package Design
Our Approach
We wanted to show that the Hotel Live is far more than a modern hotel renovation: It’s part of Wilmington’s historical story. The Live mark, for instance, echoes a modern twist on the mid-century era, when the hotel was originally constructed. Steeped in Wilmington’s rich
history, the Live brand gives a strong sense of time and place. To capture that exclusive sense of time and place, we designed a brand that keys on a modern vibe, while giving a nod to the Wilmington of yesteryear.
Logo
With concepting rounds and strategy blessed by the client, the brand architecting and visual refinement could begin. We chose the typeface Futura, for its modern styling, and
customized it from here. Using Futura afforded the functional benefits of a unified system and the visual appeal of individually designed styles.
Visual Identity
Our exploration led us to a natural sans-serif logotype approach that evokes provocative sophistication, which reflects the inviting experience the hotel creates. We created an
elaborately storied system around it that feels friendly, heritage-rich, and community-focused with vibrant colors that capture the comfortable, laid-back style of Wilmington.
Typography:
When it came time to create a visual system for The Live’s future product names, the team kept it simple, structured, and elegant. As stated above, it’s a geometric sans that nods
to a bygone era of letterforms, but doesn’t cut corners with its ultra clean modernization.
Imagery:
For Hotel Live, we combined two distinct photography styles: youthful and fun. With young professionals being the primary client demographic, we wanted photography that
felt warm, professional, and inviting with authentic expressions and colorful neutral items such as food and decor.
Sub Brand | Willow Spa
Willow Resort and Spa is a sub-brand of Hotel Live. It was critical that that the Willow brand relate to that of the Hotel’s brand itself. A modified version of Futura was used to develop this very clean stand-alone brand.
The hotel wanted their guests to feel as if they
were taking a piece of Hotel Live home with them after their stay. With a black and white logo, we didn’t detract from the hotels focal color, lavender. We were able to help Hotel Live achieve the sophisticated subsidiary brand that they needed.
