Inchcolm Hotel

Branding
Tourism & Hospitality

Approach

Brisbane’s iconic heritage-listed Inchcolm Hotel underwent extensive refurbishment in late 2014, and we aligned their brand with the building’s 1920’s historic design and neo-georgian roots. It was vital that the Inchcolm brand paid homage to its rich history, and inspired by the terrazzo at the building’s entrance, we crafted custom typography for the logotype.

Award Winning Hotel Brand

From a design perspective, the Accor and MGallery partnership came with some challenging style guide restrictions. Working in close collaboration with the team we were able to push boundaries to deliver a visual identity that was original and stayed true to the building’s aesthetic and history. This creative and design work received the 2015 Queensland PICA Award for corporate identity.

We also received a gold PICA Award in Typography and Illustration for our work on the stationery and ‘read me’ books that captured and communicated the hotels rich heritage and historic design in an interesting yet subtle way.

Inchcolm Hotel - Business card- custom typography

Inchcolm Hotel - Booklet example-Custom typography

Inchcolm Hotel - Stationery branding example

The New Inchcolm Hotel and Suites has a diverse and facinating backstory in the lives of the site’s first occupants, the extraordinary Dr Jack Thomson and his socialite wife (circa 1870s). Dr Thomson was something of a genuis – he was a cross-field medical expert, Astrologist, co-founder of the university of Queensland and St John’s Ambulance service, prominent freemason, RAC motor club member and sleuth. Mrs Thomson was a vibrant character of the time as well, appearing over 400 times in the newspapers as a prominent socialite. The building itself also holds many stories within its walls, as does the Scottish Isle of Inchcolm, from which the hotel draws its name.

We created a suite of saddle-stiched ‘read-me’ books to be left around the hotel, each holding anecdotes about the building’s past, from the stories of Dr Jack Thomson, right down to the heritage-listed elevator. The Socialites Bar and Thomson’s Reserve restaurant also pay tribute to Dr Jack Thomson and his wife, and in keeping with the roaring twenties feel, we named the function rooms after popular dances of the time period – The Charleston and The Foxtrot. Custom, contemporary Art Deco typography speaks to the time period without making the function rooms feel antiquated.