01. The Role of Story-telling in Hospitality Branding
When it comes to branding restaurants and hotels, a strong identity needs to do more than look good. It needs to tell a compelling story that people actually want to be a part of.
Hospitality brands live in a world of experiences. Guests aren’t just buying food, drink, or a place to stay for the night, they’re investing in a feeling, a want to be part of something. That feeling is brought to life through the details: the type-setting on a menu, the texture of a box or the way the craft in a logotype speaks to heritage or place. Each design decision is a chance to connect with a customer’s emotion, beyond what’s physically infront of them.
I’ve seen how important it is to design in a way that roots everything in culture and narrative. For Legado, the typography and system were inspired by the Basque region, Nieves’ home. That layer of meaning added authenticity and depth to the overall brand system, without it, the brand identity wouldn’t have worked.
Storytelling doesn’t have to look like overt signalling or gimmiky language. Instead, it can be in the subtle details: colour that recalls a place, illustration that captures a tradition, or a logo that reflects the feeling of being somewhere.
For hospitality brands, the goal is always to create spaces and moments that people remember. Design will always be part of that memory. When a system is backed by a story, it resonates much more deeply, and lingers long after the meal or the stay is over.
02. The Importance of Finding Community
Freelance life can be an absolute gift. The flexibility, the chance to shape your own days, the freedom to spend more time with friends or family, and yes, sometimes even that extra hour of sleep. But it also has another side: the quiet and, for many, freelance isolation. The lack of those everyday connections that come so easily in other types of work.
Since COVID, so many of us have found ourselves working more alone, adjusting to a new kind of post-COVID working life. In the UK, people now average almost two days a week working remotely, and research shows that freelancers and remote workers are more likely to experience loneliness. Nearly half of remote professionals report feeling isolated, and one in four say their social skills have slipped since spending less time with others.
And yet, I think we’re beginning to see a shift. In London (my hometown), and in so many cities, there’s a growing thirst for real-world connection. Over the past five years, and especially since COVID, too much of our time has been spent digitally. I’m now starting to notice a backlash. Communities are sprouting up everywhere: sauna clubs, bird watching groups, walking collectives. And it’s not just the domain of retirees anymore. A lot of younger people are seeking out these spaces, searching for ways to be part of something bigger than a screen.
I know I’m not the only one who feels this. Most freelancers I talk to feel the same at some point: the highs of independence balanced with the lows of solo working. And in a city like London, where everyone feels busy all the time, it can sometimes feel even harder to reach out.
But the smallest gestures can change everything. Whether that’s meeting one person a week to co-work in a café, sending a quick message to someone you’d like to collaborate with or showing up to a talk or gallery opening. These tiny acts of connection can impact how we feel, how we create, and how we move through the week.
Humans are wired for connection. And as creatives, we need it more than we sometimes admit. So maybe our work shouldn’t always be just about projects and deadlines, maybe it’s about making sure we don’t lose the threads that tie us to each other.