At this time of social distancing, staying indoors and generally “touching less stuff”, I thought I’d write a post on some of my favourite design touchpoints. That is “any interaction (including encounters where there is no physical interaction) that might alter the way that your customer feels about your product, brand, business or service”.
I’m talking about the physical stuff here folks, as that’s what gets me most excited.
The Jane’s lobby. Photo courtesy of The Jane.
The last two nights of my honeymoon last year were spent at The Jane in New York City - a sailor’s hotel built in 1908 turned into a Wes Anderson dream.
Hotels are the perfect setting for well-designed objects worth musing over. Think about how many interactions you have with a hotel as you walk from the street to your bed. The first time you hold your room key, the lift buttons up to your floor, the water glass on the desk to refresh yourself after a long journey.
Restored with a 1920’s aesthetic, The Jane has skilfully used a variety of typefaces, colours and materials, rather than putting the same logo on everything, to create an authentic, historic experience without being too cheesy.
The Jane’s branded notepad, pencil and debossed drinks coaster designs.
Bottled water in each “cabin”. Photo courtesy of @rougeyourknees, Instagram.
The Jane’s restaurant, Old Rose, has a navy, wavy identity in apparent homage to the hotel’s sailing history. It works because the restaurant itself isn’t anything like this - too much of a nautical aesthetic would be laying it on too thick. I love the use of a matchbook as a touchpoint. No one really seems to smoke in NYC anymore but the little packet evokes romantic ideas of sailors sitting at the bar, having a drink and a cigarette. Plus who doesn’t love a little freebie?
Another hotel with memorable ephemera is The Fife Arms Hotel in Braemar, Scotland. The hotel is owned by renowned gallerists Iwan & Manuela Wirth, who restored and reopened this Victorian coaching inn in late 2018, boosting the population of the town by a third. I haven’t been - yet - but Louise Bourgeois and Lucian Freud artworks aside, any hotel that has 70 different types of wallpaper is a must-see for me.
An old postcard showing the Fife Arms Hotel. Image courtesy of Wallpaper*.
“Designing a brand’s identity can spill over to product design, interior design and even architecture.”
The identity for the hotel was created by Here Design, an agency who often focus on the physical. I was fortunate to listen to Creative Director Mark Paton speak about their design approach last year. You can read my blog post about it here - https://jinnyblom.com/blog/post.php?s=2019-02-06-jinnys-tonic-no-5
Solid bronze Scottish freshwater mussel room keyrings for The Fife Arms. Photo courtesy of Under Consideration.
You can also see more of Here Design’s identity (including nine logos!) for The Fife Arms here - https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_and_identity_for_the_fife_arms_by_here_design.php
What I like about their work for The Fife Arms is that it balances playfulness and luxury. It touches on regional nuances and High Victoriana. It is bold and experimental, and yet everything ties together to create a clear and easy to understand package of materials for guests.
Here Design’s package for The Fife Arms, including door tags, menus, stationery and 46 different room books. Photo courtesy of Under Consideration.
So what’s the difference between thoughtful product design and just branded “stuff”? Or as Paula Scher, seasoned partner at Pentagram New York calls “crapola”?
Paula cheekily defines crapola as “the stuff that makes people remember who you are, when they think they’re getting something - when it’s really something they’re gonna throw away”. So branded merchandising and touchpoints like t-shirts, badges, tickets, tote bags. Not all of her examples are throwaway, but they probably aren’t treasured, either.
Perhaps one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Not everyone is going to get excited about a hotel drinks coaster, but these things can subtly reinforce a brand’s identity and memorability.
Paula Scher gave a comprehensive talk for Adobe on some of her favourite identity design projects (and some crapola). You can watch it here - https://youtu.be/HUx-bmZQsS8