Harlow Hotel
Roles:
Brand Strategy
Creative Direction
Visual Identity
UX/UI
Partner:
CoHo Services
The newly restored historic Harlow Hotel is a boutique hotel built in 1882, that re-opened in 2019 in downtown Portland, Oregon. Nestled on the east side of Portland's north park blocks, Harlow is right in the center of it all - walking distance to many of downtown's finest galleries, restaurants, and museums.
Inspired by the geometric and streamlined attributes of the Art Deco movement, I developed an identity that allowed for a modern spin on the popular 20s era. Starting first with a deep discovery session, I helped Harlow define their ideal customers, researched competitors, set business development priorities, and defined their market position to lead the design process.
Explorations
The Mark
The main mark was inspired by the famous stained glass windows of the era. I designed the double crossbar seen in the H to emphasize the double h's found in the name Harlow Hotel while speaking to the time period while aligning the stroke width stylistically with the shape of the mark and enclosure weight. The condensed typography chosen for the room numbers is both expressive of the period and functional.
