10/06/20151 Comment

Hostelworld rebrand opinion

Hostelworld, as the name cunningly suggests, is an online hostel booking site. Since it started way back in 1999 the company has gone from strength to strength and is now the leading hostel booking provider.

When backpacking around Latin America, the Hostel World app became my favourite means of booking a bed for the night. Far superior than dubious recommendations from the Lonely Planet, plus with the space saved by not carrying a guide book, I could fit another bottle of tequila into my already bulging rucksack. However, their brand seemed to blend into the noise of their competitors and felt detached from the people using it. The rebrand aims to combat these issues.

The new look focuses on how people's experiences of hostels and traveling are very much determined by who they meet. This is reflected in the strapline ‘Meet the world’, hand rendered in a paint brush script, conveying the spontaneous nature of its customers. This fluid, rough-and-ready style sits well with the experience I had while backpacking.

The new photography features ‘real’ people - yes, you can even see their bellies are a bit wobbly as they jump into lakes with the new best mates they met in a hostel last night. I can almost hear them scream, "YOLO!" The photos are still pretty polished but that does reflect how many modern hostels are actually quite stylish these days. The photography on their website is described as ‘gritty’, although I’d have to disagree with this. I couldn’t see any photos of backpackers being chased out of town by a Colombian drug dealers or photos of couples having sex in a hostel toilet while someone throws up in the cubical next to them. But perhaps that would be a little too real.

Web

The H logo is made up of two arrows facing each other that symbolises the idea of two people meeting each other or a starting point for an adventure. The concept is pretty simple and effective, although the actual icon feels a little rigid and corporate, which is a contrast to the headline typography. The icon also feels very static, where as meeting people while backpacking is far more coincidental, more bumping into people by chance than a set place and time that it suggests. So the logo feels a bit too Heinrich from Dusseldorf who gets immensely pissed off when your 5 minutes late, when it should be more Juan José from Bogotá who is just so chilled he didn’t notice you were late.

The new orange featured throughout the site feels a lot more youthful and spontaneous compared to the dominant blue used by many accommodation booking sites. It’s good to see a brand take a step away from the norm.

Overall the rebrand is a big improvement on the old version. Although on the website when you get away from the header image the site feels bit generic. Sites like AirBnB go the extra mile with details like custom designed icons giving their look and feel a strong presence throughout the site. So a step in the right direction but the application and follow through of the idea could be better.

05/09/2014No Comments

6 tips for new design students

1. Side projects

Is it enough just to turn up to class and get a good grade? In these hyper competitive times it helps to set yourself apart.

Perhaps a friend of a friend is running a club night for which you could design some flyers, or perhaps you could design something for a local cafe, there are lots of opportunities to take advantage of while helping others.

While I was studying I started working for a record label, the money was a joke but it gave me valuable experience that played a major part in landing my first job as a designer in London.

2. Start with a pencil not Google

Computers have a tendency to suck out creativity plus its very easy to get distracted by the internet.  It's much quicker to jot down rough ideas on paper than to endlessly wander the internet looking for inspiration among the 20 browser tabs you have open. What was that thing that... oh look, that video of a man crashing his motorbike at 97mph looks like a laugh...

3. Share your work with other students and get critical feedback

Don't ask things like, "do you like it?" to which the answer will probably be "yeah sure man, now do you wanna grab a beer?". It's far better to ask "what would you improve or change?" (And then grab a beer)

4. Simplify your concepts. No one is there to explain things to the viewer

Can you explain your idea in one line? One problem I had at university was that I tried to cram every idea I had and into one project which in turn diluted the end result. James Cameron famously summed up Aliens in one line, he described it as Jaws in space. 

5. Experiment, make mistakes, learn

University is a great time to experiment without the burden of clients, budgets or a hovering art director.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes but when you do listen to the feedback and learn. It took my slightly arrogant 19 year old self a while to realise this. I still feel a bit of inner rage when someone criticises  my work but after a few minutes I realise that sometimes they are actually right. The trick is knowing when to progress with something that you believe in, even though you're being told it's a bad idea.

6. Give a shit

Put your own personal twist on your work, turn up on time, ask questions and be positive. I've interviewed quite a few recent graduates for design jobs and without fail I have always employed the most enthusiastic over the ones that are technically good but who thinks they are doing you a favour by turning up.

More tips from other industry professionals

Jonathan Bowen, Jones & Bowen, London
"Being creative is hard work. There are no shortcuts. Do your ten thousand hours of practice.  Inspiration is the product of hard work searching and learning. It's not magical. It's a solution to a problem that you have been thinking hard about."

Jonathan is the co-founder of Jones & Bowen whose clients include Hyundai, Jaguar and Maitres du Temps. www.jonesbowen.com

Victoria Weill, Click Clap, Buenos Aires
"Seek alternative references and immerse yourself in the world outside of design. Go beyond reading design blogs. Build a greater in-depth knowledge of typography, look further than the obvious fonts like Helvetica, even though they have their merits.”

Victoria is a partner at Click Clap and has worked for Coca Cola, EMI Music, Sony, MTV and VH1. www.clickclap.tv