Brand + Concept Creation
Every engagement starts with the same question: what does this brand actually need to do? The answer shapes everything — identity, language, how it flows into the spaces and products it touches.
Aja is a music-led bistro and bar in Phuket — named after the Steely Dan album. Warmth, texture, character. A place built around the idea that a good night starts with the right atmosphere before a dish arrives.
The brief was to build a brand that matched the concept: something with personality, looseness, and a point of view. The kind of identity that tells people, before they've sat down, what kind of place this is going to be.
The work covered brand identity, visual language, and a programming strategy — giving the venue a creative framework it could run with. Events with their own look. Collateral that felt like the brand had opinions. A weekly rhythm that gave people a reason to come back beyond the menu.
Form follows function. Aja needed to feel convivial, open, and human — and the brand needed to carry that in every touchpoint.
The original identity. Clean and considered — but more aligned to a wellness brand than a music-led bistro.
Handwritten, confident, immediately warm. A visual language that matched the energy of the room.
Niran is a horse farm and boutique hotel. The brief wasn't just a logo — it was a mark that could move across touchpoints: fabrics, merchandise, uniforms, horse equipment. Something that could repeat, tile, and live on product as naturally as it lives on a sign.
That requirement changes the design brief entirely. A silhouette logo doesn't tile. A wordmark doesn't work on a saddle pad. The solution had to start from where it was going to end up.
The horseshoe motif was chosen because it repeats, scales, and carries meaning. It works at any size, on any surface — from a digital header to embroidered linen.
The horseshoe tile mark with a structured earth palette — warm creams, terracotta, sage. A palette that works outdoors and indoors, on linen and leather, in a guest room and on merchandise.
Three directions were presented. The selected route was chosen because it had the most range — the mark could stand alone, tile across a surface, or break into a pattern without losing its integrity.
The font system (DM Sans) kept things grounded and legible at small sizes — important for product labelling and signage where ornate type breaks down.
The result is a brand built to travel: across a boutique hotel property, into merchandise, and eventually into the kind of equestrian lifestyle product range the client had in mind from day one.
Two briefs. Two completely different answers. That's what brand work should be.