We all know the buzzwords: authentic, experiential, hyperlocal. But achieving that in a hospitality project is easier said than done. In fact, a good portion of the success lies in weaving the story through every touchpoint. Here, we check in with four branding studios who are helping companies define their message, hone their image, and craft a strong visual identity.

FINE

FINE’s collateral for aparthotel company Bode

“Branding has the power to make things happen if you treat it as a compass heading across all you do,” says Josh Kelly, partner at San Francisco- and Portland, Oregon-based FINE. That strategic, methodology-driven approach is one of Fine’s most distinctive characteristics, helping the studio grow in stature and renown since its founding in 1994—an eternity in the cut-and-thrust industry of identity building.

In the time since, it has helped chart a course for more than 400 clients, launching some of the earliest commercial websites during the first wave of the dot-com era. “The level of user-centric thinking required to do good work on the web is what led to a further company evolution,” says Kelly. “Design thinking now informs our approach to branding, both online and off.”

Quotes from Beat poets adorn guestroom walls at Hotel Emblem San Francisco, designed by Studio Hatch

Formative collaborations with the likes of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and emerging lifestyle companies like scooter-sharing platform Lime have led FINE to refine its own branding processes, with a renewed emphasis on openness, clarity, and storytelling.

“It’s never been more important to be clear with all of your stakeholders as to who you are and what you do for people,” says Kelly. “There’s too much transparency and noise in the marketplace to try and fake your way ahead with clever sales pitches and visuals. You can’t just say how you’re different and better through words and pictures, you have to be how you’re different and better.”

B&Co.

Guest materials at the Last Hotel in St. Louis, designed by ESG Architecture and Design, convey the building’s shoemaking history

Part of B&Co.’s tagline describes the studio’s work as “creative strategy with a dash of wit.” With an emphasis on storytelling and personality, B&Co. bakes that credo into each project, with collaborators running the gamut from boutique hotels and craft breweries to nonprofits and food-centric ecommerce.

Brigette Breitenbach launched the Milwaukee-based studio in 2008 having developed something of a love affair with hotels. (In her early days, she even chose to take equity in a property in lieu of payment.) “We’re hotel and F&B junkies,” she says, evidenced by the more than 70 the firm has branded or marketed over the years.

The spiced-up rebrand of the Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee, crafted by Kubala Washatko Architects, features witty copy and a rebellious style

Recently, Breitenbach has been working with hotel companies like Marriott and Hilton to help craft singular messages for soft brands including the Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Curio Collection, and Tapestry Collection. Further, the studio is also fine-tuning captivating narratives for a midcentury modern resort in Greece; the Dubble Dutch, a 17-room historic Milwaukee inn; and a one-million-square-foot bank building-turned-lifestyle hotel in Oklahoma City.

B&Co.’s branding process, Breitenbach explains, is deceptively straightforward: “We focus on uncovering what’s special and rare, and tell those stories through messaging, visuals, and guest experience. It’s simple but powerful.”

Revolver New York

The fun and whimsical Sant Ambroeus visual identity

Revolver New York began unconventionally, as its founder Vincent J. Ficarra readily admits. Originally a New York graffiti artist before segueing into hospitality, he slowly assembled a collective of like-minded freelance designers to collaborate on projects with more depth. When the group became a preferred branding partner for Marriott’s Autograph Collection, Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, and Hilton’s Curio Collection, it coalesced into a full-service studio.

“Street art forced me to be authentic,” he says. “My toughest critics were other graffiti artists, and the only way to earn their respect was to be original and continuously evolve my skills.” This has driven the firm to push creative boundaries by exploring new realms of digital and onsite activation, primarily embedded in providing guests with meaningful content alongside experiences.

“We look to craft hospitality brands with soul—that are honest and come from a pure place,” explains Ficarra. “Whether by way of design or voice, having a little grit offers a sense of realness that integrates well into an experience, and our clients respect that.”

Double Decker

The design of Dot art magazine, curated by Double Decker

Based in London’s perennially hip East End, Double Decker, helmed by cofounders Melita Skamnaki and Wilhelm Finger, is a creative powerhouse—specializing in F&B identities and curating artwork collections for hotels, cruise ships, and cultural institutions.

Its diverse family of clients includes the Crowne Plaza, Hyatt, and Poland’s Puro Hotels, for which it developed an expressive new design vernacular that is credited with revolutionizing the country’s hospitality scene. For the Puro Gdansk, as with many of their others, they focused on modernizing classic tropes—such as referencing the region’s seafaring past in contemporary brand iconography.

The collateral for Puro Hotels’ Prisma Spas is inspired by the rainbow refraction of light through a prism

Skamnaki and Finger credit their backgrounds—which span advertising, fashion, and art history—for a broad scope of references that allow them to conceive and execute brand strategies centered on human connection. Whether they’re crafting the visual identities for the upcoming Rosewood Hotel Munich (designed by Tara Bernerd & Partners) or working with Adam D. Tihany on a series of F&B identities for Cunard’s new ocean liner, “we bring a curatorial approach,” says Skamnaki. “Graphic language and branding, generally, are a dialogue with consumers and a tether to their surroundings.”

Photography courtesy of FINE, B&Co., Revolver New York, and Double Decker

This article originally appeared in HD’s  August 2020 issue.