filed under: branding design, identity design, interior design, presentation design. // tools: Illustrator, inDesign, Photoshop, AutoCAD
DBA was approached to design the interiors and identity for a top-floor, 8-room, keyless hotel in Fort Worth. The building shell had already been designed and was in construction but the hotel program had yet to take shape.
The initial phase of this project was largely conducted as material-swatch-gathering and moodboarding exercises. What was the nature of this thing we were designing? What did it feel like? What did it smell/sound/taste(?) like? We needed the answers to these questions before we could name and brand it.
BLURB
I came up with a working blurb. It would come to change, but it got us a long way towards realizing the potential that this project has to changing the way people look for in FW hospitality.
“Your art-filled, radically-utilitarian, architect-designed pied-à-terre in Fort Worth’s burgeoning Near Southside cultural district.”
SCHEMATIC
As the scope of work was largely schematic, the drawings we generated needed to convey a feeling rather than being solely technical. While I used CAD to make the underlays, a heavy reliance on Illustrator for the linework and InDesign for the mood lead us to a rather richer drawing set.
IDENTITY
The naming and branding process is still underway, but we aim to create a brand that distinguishes itself in the market as playful, modern and warm yet elegant enough not to alienate a more traditional potential guest.
Watch this space, Fort Worthers and guests.
TLDR: Get involved early to inflect the longterm direction. Be a steward of the spirit of the place.
see also: Red Bluff Residence, The Long Times, Gold TX, Turn Out
