Lucky Dip revives a historic icon from Narai Hospitality Group’s archive and readies it for the future

Since making an impact with the scale and grandeur of their inaugural hotel, Narai Hotel, in the 1960s, the portfolio and influence of Narai Hospitality Group have continued to grow and expand. With ambitious plans and a goal to build equity in the group name, rather than its individual properties, they enlisted the help of Lucky Dip to enhance their image. As the starting point, in order to craft a visual language to see the Narai Hospitality Group into the future, the team at the UK-based branding studio took a journey into the past, exploring the hotelier’s rich archives. “We discovered a postcard on eBay that had a version of their logo we hadn’t seen before,” Co-founder & Creative Director Katie Cadwell recalls, describing it as “very modern” in comparison to the other lockups of the ‘NH’ logo they’d found. “And the fact it still felt strong after all these years meant it was timeless,” she continues. Created originally for their flagship hotel, the abstract ‘NH’ emulates the building on the Bangkok skyline, and has remained a consistent motif throughout the company’s history. “There have been so many versions of the icon over the years, but never one designed for a digital space,” Cadwell adds, which meant that the revised logo would be created to maintain legibility at any size with a balance to its proportions, making it easier to use.“ Although the team at Narai Hospitality Group had originally said they didn’t want to alter the logo much, they loved our update when they saw it. That set the tone for a bigger change in the brand.”