Recess Hotel
Disconnect, together.
Disconnect, together.
Disconnect, together.
(about project)
Recess Hotel is a concept I developed independently: a hotel built entirely around disconnecting from the digital world. I wrote the brief myself and developed it end to end, from brand identity through to the guest experience touchpoints that brought it to life.
Recess Hotel is a concept I developed independently: a hotel built entirely around disconnecting from the digital world. I wrote the brief myself and developed it end to end, from brand identity through to the guest experience touchpoints that brought it to life.
(services)
Brand Identity
(client)
Self-initiated
(roles)
Katelin Smith
Designer
(PROBLEM)
A hotel built around switching off risks feeling sterile or exclusionary, more like a retreat for one type of person than somewhere genuinely open to anyone. The brief was to make disconnection feel welcoming rather than cold, and to build a brand that read as inclusive of introverts and extroverts alike, not just people who already like sitting in silence.
A hotel built around switching off risks feeling sterile or exclusionary, more like a retreat for one type of person than somewhere genuinely open to anyone. The brief was to make disconnection feel welcoming rather than cold, and to build a brand that read as inclusive of introverts and extroverts alike, not just people who already like sitting in silence.
(STRATEGY)
The identity centres on a stamp-shaped logo pairing a lean, elongated typeface with a plump, wide one, two very different forms working as a single mark. That same idea of unity in diversity carries through an abstract graphic system of overlapping shapes standing in for a community of different personalities, and a gender-neutral, high-contrast palette that keeps the whole thing feeling considered rather than sparse.
The identity centres on a stamp-shaped logo pairing a lean, elongated typeface with a plump, wide one, two very different forms working as a single mark. That same idea of unity in diversity carries through an abstract graphic system of overlapping shapes standing in for a community of different personalities, and a gender-neutral, high-contrast palette that keeps the whole thing feeling considered rather than sparse.
(RESULT)
Every piece was built around the same question: how do you get strangers talking? The A3 activity posters turned practical information into something worth stopping for, scattered sticker icons and all. The drink cans became a built-in icebreaker, a matching game you can only win by tracking down the guest holding your other half. Even the gifting kit swapped the usual amenities for a disposable camera and journal, because the best souvenir from unplugging is one you make with someone else.
Every piece was built around the same question: how do you get strangers talking? The A3 activity posters turned practical information into something worth stopping for, scattered sticker icons and all. The drink cans became a built-in icebreaker, a matching game you can only win by tracking down the guest holding your other half. Even the gifting kit swapped the usual amenities for a disposable camera and journal, because the best souvenir from unplugging is one you make with someone else.
OTHER WORKS
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