Swire Hotels develops and manages world-class commercial properties. They planned to open a new food and beverage concept, Public, in Swire’s headquarters in one of Hong Kong's major business districts. This new restaurant, coffee shop and cafeteria are planned to be a place where communication would thrive. Public needed a visual identity that matched this sense of open communication.

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Process & Design

The ability to recreate letters and symbols was the beginning of our modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses. Inspired by these technologies we've created for communication, we produced a visual identity that pays homage to one of the earliest forms of printing. We used a pattern of different P’s in various typefaces to represent type blocks. These designs were sourced from London and are inspired by the Victorian era but with a new age twist, such as the coral red colour.

For the header, we used a mixture of fonts to recreate a letter block feel. We also wanted to avoid an overuse of the logo and instead we showcased other assets of the brand throughout the collaterals and the space.

We also went back to basics for the art installations and brand collateral – sourcing original woodblock letters for the handmade restaurant signage and screen printing 50 apple crates for food storage and decoration. Last but not least, there is a 5-metre high wall typographic installation, which is a homage to Lou Dorfsman and the wall he designed for the CBS cafeteria in the 1960’s.

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Impact

Public has become a popular lunchtime destination for office workers in the One Island East office building and wider Quarry Bay business district.