User and Brand Experience Design User and Brand Experience Design
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Brand experience for a scottish castle B&B Hero Picture
About The Challenge Concept and design a brand appearance for a B&B service in a scottish castle. Leslie Castle is to be perceived by both domestic and international guests as an attractive holiday accommodation. The aim is to find a unique setting for the castle to compete with the highest density of Castle Hotels in the United Kingdom. The income is used to maintain the castle. My Action Through interviews and research I found out that guests nowadays want more than just a nice hotel: emotional and aesthetic experiences. They want to feel comfortable and personally addressed. The ambience of the castle and the dedicated service by the hostess Heike Dorsch provide an atmosphere of peace and relaxation. This is the advantage to the other Castle Hotels in the area. Leslie Castle is an ideal place for a private break and I aimed to transport this via print and digital media. The Result The design of the brand communication creates references to the history of the castle, its surroundings and its present state. The result was a branding which emotionally touches the visitors during and after their stay and allowed them to perceive the castle as their personal retreat. Role User Research Art Direction Photography Timeline March 2016 – July 2016 Methods & Skills used Research Sinus-Milieus (User) Persona Customer Benefit Matrix Competitor Analysis Market Positioning Branding Concept Tools Canon 600d Adobe CC
Project Scope: Research, Competitor Analysis, Branding Concept, Implementation
In 2016 the Scottish tourism organization "Visit Scotland" published the scottish tourism trends. On the main countries of origin of international visitors, the USA and Germany were listed as the first two places. I researched the latest travel trends for these two countries to learn more about the target group. Most important findings: Vacationers are becoming increasingly demanding. The simple all-inclusive holliday with pool is often no longer sufficient. Much more vacationers expect to be able to immerse oneself in the culture and atmosphere of a foreign country. They want to relax and sometimes even find oneself. At the same time, however, they also want to experience new things. The right choice of travel destination should meet both requirements. After evaluating the tourism trends for Scotland and the guest reviews on other castle hotels on Holidaycheck and Airbnb, I defined the following target group: - Persons between 35 and 65 years. - Traveling solo, as a couple or friends group. - Financially good situated I then classified the group into Sinus-Milieus which help to understand what moves people and how they can be reached.
Based on the research results, I created a persona that should serve as a guideline for my further work.
A guest at Leslie Castle goes through several process steps before and during their stay. To optimize the hotels service from the customer's perspective, I used a customer benefit matrix.
In order to be able to better assess the positioning of Leslie Castle I collected information about the castles competitors. - Aberdeenshire has a high density of medieval castles that are rented out as accommodation. - Most of these castles interior is pretty lavish, downright overloaded. - Most of these castles have a good to great review on booking platforms meaning they also offer a great service. - All of the castles share the same scenic advantages. I recorded my findings about the advantages of Leslie Castle over the competition in a positioning pyramid by ESCH. It visualizes the similarities and differences and thus the unique selling points of Leslie Castle compared to the competition.
For the look and feel of the visual identity of the B&B service, I took inspiration from the castles characteristics. Peacefulness Simplicity Wideness Sensuality
The logo should convey a first glimpse of the atmosphere at Leslie Castle. The formal references to a medieval font stand in a pleasant contrast to the modern appearance of the word mark. I chose a shape that reminds of a pause sign, giving an initial indication that here you'll find a place beyond time.
Three fonts are used in the design. The corporate font is Else LT, which has a classic and personal effect and conveys the character of the loving service at the castle. Roboto is used as a contrast in digital applications and in the word mark. Old English Five is a broken fracture from the 16th century and is used as a decorative element. Only texts written in scots will use this font type.
The colors for the branding result from the coloring inside the castle. Primarily used are white like the bright walls and a dark brown like the heavy furniture, doors and window frames. The secondary colors are derived from the color scheme of the individual guests rooms. In addition, close-up photographies of the various fabrics in the castle are used as further decorative design elements.
Two different language styles are used in the brand deliveries. On one hand, the hostess Heike Dorsch addresses her guests in personal speech to highlight the personal service. On the other hand, there are texts in the language "Scots". Scots was the prestigious language of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie in Scotland in between the 15th and 17th centuries. It is not easy to understand and gives the communication its own handwriting and entertaining quality.
Here, the design element is used as a cut out form and allows a first glance at the castle on the print products. The used paper has a noble and historically appealing feel. After booking a room at Leslie Castle, a guest receives a letter of confirmation by post. The layout for this letter is inspired by books from the 16th century.
The welcome package in the room ensures that the guest feels cared for and appreciated from the first minute. It consists of a welcome card as well as two postcards, which can be sent to the loved ones at home. In addition guests will find a door hanger, washing utensils and chocolate.
Leslie Castle Website
Leslie Castle Website
Leslie Castle Website mobile
Leslie Castle Facebook Page
Leslie Castle Facebook Page
The last few months have been exciting and instructive for me at the same time. I am convinced that I have done justice to the task of conveying the atmosphere of the castle. The design of the visual appearance of the castle stands out very much from the design methods of the competition and at the same time manages to convey an impression of Leslie Castle to people who have never visited this place before. Even before guests start their journey, they get to know the charm of the castle with the help of the letterhead. During their stay, the designed attentions, such as the welcome card or the lunch bag, convey a feeling of being welcome. I am very pleased to have seized the opportunity to make this topic my project and to have got to know this very special place. Challenges & Learnings The main one definitely was working on a topic that is located so far away from me. It would have made my work a lot easier if I had been able to be on site more quickly for material procurement. The fact that it was a relatively long period of time before I was able to personally experience Leslie Castle for the first time also caused difficulties since I had a completely wrong impression of the castle and lost a lot of time in which I dealt with interior design concepts that were ultimately not necessary. For the future, I have decided to be on site at least twice for projects of this kind. A first time in order to be able to get a personal impression for the elaboration of the concept as quickly as possible and a second time to procure the material required for the implementation of this concept.
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