When hospitality is done right, there's something magic about it. You walk into a place, and for a moment the rest of the world disappears. Someone with a love of hospitality has thought about the light, the music, the way your glass feels in your hand. Nothing about it is accidental. And that’s what makes it so addictive to design for.

From the moment you book, to the moment you leave

A guest’s journey doesn’t start when they walk through the door. It starts with the booking email, the welcome sign, the smell of the lobby. Every detail nudges the story forward. When it all clicks, you feel it. (And when it doesn’t, you feel that too!)

When it comes to branding, getting these details right are often the difference between a good and great experience.

A pause from real life

The best restaurants, bars and hotels give people a break from the everyday. They shift the mood, spark something, make time feel slower. Maybe it’s the light, the music, or the way someone smiles as they pour your drink. For a moment, everything feels easy.

It's from this perspective that every branding project for hospitality needs to start. At the end of the day we are in service to our guests, and we need to ensure they have as good a time as possible. And it all depends on the tone that you want to set. Should the branding, design and interiors take a back seat? Working away in the shadows? Or does the branding need to work harder and be the life of the party? Taking these decisions and setting the mood is on of Dennis' strengths.

Storytelling everywhere

Hospitality is a storyteller’s dream. There’s a message hidden in everything: the playlist, the door handle, the copy on the bathroom mirror. It’s not about plastering a logo on every surface, it’s about leaving little moments for people to find and enjoy.

We love finding those opportunities to say something in just the right moment, leaving a little something for guests to remember you by.

The devil is in the detail

Designers are detail addicts. We obsess over textures, colour temperature, spacing on a wine label, the typography of a menu. These things sound small, but they’re what make an experience unforgettable.

That’s why we love hospitality. It’s alive. It moves. It gives you a hundred ways to make someone smile, even for a second. And that’s the best kind of design there is.