Sant Francesc by Mucho, Spain

Opinion by Richard Baird.

Sant Francesc is a 5-star hotel located in the Placa Sant Francesc, beside the Church of the Templarios, within the city of Palma on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The hotel is set inside the walls of a restored historical landmark built in a neoclassical style during the 19th century and has 42 rooms and suites. Some of these rooms include wood-beamed ceilings, original frescos and moldings but also feature modern renovation, furnishings and interior design.

Drawing on the symbol of the Templarios, and taking inspiration from the colours and textures of the island, design studio Mucho developed a brand identity for the hotel that conveys something of its modern urban interior, its history and location. This comes through in type and marque, colour and pattern, and in the variety and combination of materials.

Mucho manage to strike a balance between conveying something of the history of the building, its surrounding area (the oldest quarter of the city) and a carefully crafted and contemporary urban hospitality experience. This can be discerned initially in the logo, which is modern in its reduction and form but retrospective and regional in its references, and the handcrafted and traditional qualities of logotype, characterised by the small serif flourishes and calligraphic qualities of Linotype’s Brewery. These form the basis of much of Sant Francesc’s brand identity, either expanding out into pattern, influencing the construction of image or interior design detail in the case of the logo, and the consistent use of Brewery to deliver information consistently across stationery, menus and door hangers.

There is a strong material quality to identity, both in its graphic expression—made up of patterns, motifs and logo with a shared woven quality—and in its implementation which features a variety of boards, wood, fabric, twine, blind emboss and metal. Even colour palette has some material association in its earthy Mediterranean mix of something close to linen, light clay and red tiles.

Together, these manage to weave together a sense of historical time and place with a contemporary eye for a distinctive, modern and structured identity system. There a lot of ideas here that draw on traditional material craft and contemporary graphic design. Particular highlights include the logo cast as a drain cover for sinks, door numbers and WC signs that play with perspective, and images of the interior detail of hotel set with fabric covers.

The patterns and motifs, based on logo, move from the decorative to the communicative, with silverware and chalices woven together and used across menu covers, and business cards and door hangers featuring a close up linen quality. Although clearly grounded in concept, it does, occasionally, feel like there are a few too many ideas going on, particularly between the menu covers and the pricelists. Type, pattern and material all have their own subtleties but these larger motifs do not appear as sophisticated or restrained, often simply filling space where material or type is of interest.

The result is a neat balance of traditional and local material detail and modern graphic expression rooted in hotel experience. There are moments of continuity and contrast, details that both link and differentiate a number of assets. These are is varied and interesting, grounded in some nice ideas that are clearly and more subtly referential and applied consistently, linking print, signage and interior design. More work by Mucho on BP&O.

Design: Mucho. Opinion: Richard Baird. Fonts Used: Linotype Brewery.

What do you think of Mucho’s brand identity for Sant Francesc? Share your thoughts in the comment section below or get the conversation started on Twitter.