Haiding Village Hotel: Drawing the Mountains of Baihualing in a Few Lines

A few lines: a mountain and a house

In 2019, Xinming Design created the brand identity for Haiding Village Hotel, the resort hotel planned by Qiongzhong Haiding Tourism Investment and Development Co., Ltd. for the Baihualing tourism area in Hainan. The logo is made of a few fine gold lines: two undulating lines above, rising in the middle and lifting slightly at both ends, read both as layered mountains and as the eaves of a new Chinese-style building; two straight lines below support the figure; and at the centre sits a small red seal reading 鼎 (ding, the ancient bronze vessel), the only red in an otherwise gold mark. The Chinese wordmark 海鼎山居 is based on bronze inscription script, which shares its cultural roots with the ding. The palette is built on deep ink, blue-grey ink and off-white, with a gold gradient, and four gold line illustrations, "A home in the clouds", "Drifting clouds and wild cranes", "Moonlight over the lotus pond" and "Jade halls and towers", tell the story of life in the mountains.

A mountain hotel's risk: drawing only the scenery

Baihualing lies south-east of Yinggen Town in Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan. In 1988 it was among the first provincial scenic areas named by Hainan Province, known for its tropical rainforest and Li and Miao culture; the Hainan Baihualing Tropical Rainforest Cultural Tourism Area is a national 4A tourist attraction. Haiding Village Hotel was planned by Qiongzhong Haiding Tourism Investment and Development Co., Ltd. as a resort hotel for the Baihualing tourism area, in a new Chinese architectural style.

Logos for mountain resorts usually draw a mountain, a leaf or a building. The results tend to look alike and say little about how "here" differs from anywhere else.

Haiding Village Hotel needed a mark of its own that would:

· Express mountains and quiet living: a sense of stillness, far from the city, at first glance;

· Match the architecture: the hotel is new Chinese in style, and the logo had to speak the same language;

· Carry cultural weight: not just a landscape illustration, but a symbol that could serve as a signature.

Eaves and mountains: one set of lines, two readings

The proposal sets out two element notes for the logo:

· Eaves · architectural character: the hotel's architecture follows traditional Chinese style, and "traditional Chinese architecture is the most vivid and direct carrier of the country's long cultural tradition and national character, so the logo takes the eaves as a carrier to strengthen its traditional architectural character."

· Mountains · environmental character: "the fresh air among the mountains and forests lets people release the mind and enjoy freedom; the figure takes on the lines of the mountains, so the logo shows the character of its setting."

The final mark folds both notes into one set of lines. The two undulating lines above, rising in the middle and lifting at the ends, read as layered ridges when seen as mountains, and as a spreading roof with upturned eave corners when seen as a building; the two straight lines below read as a plinth, or as the ground at the foot of the hills. In the construction drawing, every curve is cut from a circle, and all lines share one weight.

Mountain and dwelling become one set of lines. That is exactly what the four characters of the name say: 海鼎 (Haiding), 山 (mountain), 居 (dwelling). The setting and the building were never meant to be drawn apart.

A red seal: ding

Among the fine gold lines there is a single small red seal, reading 鼎.

· It names the brand: the ding of Haiding sits at the very centre of the mark;

· It signs the picture: in Chinese painting and calligraphy, a seal is pressed once the work is finished. The lines are the painting and the seal is the signature, so the whole mark reads like a miniature landscape;

· It is the only contrast: between gold and deep blue, one point of red gives the eye a place to land.

The wordmark: writing ding in bronze script

The Chinese wordmark 海鼎山居 is based on a bronze inscription typeface. Bronze inscriptions were cast into bronze vessels, and the ding is the most representative of them, so the lettering and the brand name share the same cultural source. Stroke turns are rounded, and the middle stroke of 山 (mountain) becomes a small peak that echoes the mountain lines above. The English name, HAIDING VILLAGE HOTEL, is set in a widely spaced serif that keeps pace with the antique feel of the Chinese.

The brand typefaces are FZ Song San (Chinese) and Free Serif and Free Serif Bold (English). The sample line on the type page is from a Song dynasty lyric: "Reeds rustle by the little pond; after the rain, lotus scent fills the courtyard."

Deep ink, blue-grey ink, off-white and gold

The brand colours are Deep Ink (#16222B, C91 M82 Y70 K55), Blue-grey Ink (#32414D, C94 M73 Y60 K27) and Off-white (#EFEEE3, C8 M6 Y13 K0), with a gold gradient. The two inks can be read as the forest at night and the layers of distant hills; off-white provides space and a paper-like feel; gold is used for the logo, wordmark and line drawings. The palette is quiet and restrained, in keeping with a mountain retreat, and lets the fine gold lines read most clearly on a dark ground.

Four scenes: the logo subtracts, the graphics add

The logo keeps only the fewest lines; the storytelling is handed to four supporting graphics. Each is a circular composition in fine gold line, paired with a vertical 海鼎山居 seal:

· A home in the clouds: a pavilion on a hilltop above rolling hills and clouds;

· Drifting clouds and wild cranes: an arched bridge with two cranes standing in the water below;

· Moonlight over the lotus pond: a memorial archway with lotus flowers and fish in front;

· Jade halls and towers: a palace hall with a branch of plum blossom.

All four names draw on images of mountain living and leisure from Chinese poetry and idioms. In use, they take turns on posters, brochures, key card holders, tea tins and toiletries, with the brand line "亲近大自然 享受新生活 / Get Close To Nature And Enjoy A New Life".

The simpler the logo, the more it needs graphics that tell stories. The logo is there to be remembered; the four scenes make people want to stay.

Deliverables and extensions

Logo design

· Mountain-line logo with the 鼎 seal; logo construction

· Bronze-script Chinese wordmark 海鼎山居 and English wordmark HAIDING VILLAGE HOTEL

· Bilingual lockup rules; gold on dark and dark on light versions

Visual identity system

· Brand colours (Deep Ink, Blue-grey Ink, Off-white) and gold gradient

· Chinese and English typefaces

· Supporting graphics: A home in the clouds, Drifting clouds and wild cranes, Moonlight over the lotus pond, Jade halls and towers

· Applications: business cards, invitations, folders, bags, posters, brochures, outdoor advertising, key card holders, tea tins, toiletries and guest amenity packaging

The application images on this page are mock-ups.

Looking back seven years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. Local culture is not about painting the scenery into a logo, but about finding the few strokes that belong only here. A few lines are both mountains and eaves, so mountain and dwelling need not be drawn apart.

2. A seal gives minimalism its weight. The red 鼎 names the brand and turns a few lines into a finished miniature landscape.

3. The logo subtracts; the supporting graphics add. With four scenes carrying the story, the logo can stay simple.

The best mark for a mountain hotel is a landscape of only a few strokes that has already been signed.

How to verify

· Client: Qiongzhong Haiding Tourism Investment and Development Co., Ltd.

· Location: Hainan Baihualing Tropical Rainforest Cultural Tourism Area (national 4A tourist attraction), Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/portfolio/3040.html

Further reading

· Haiding Baihualing brand design (same client, tourism area brand, www.xinming.sg/portfolio/3063.html)

· Ocean Sonic Resort Sanya: how a bayfront resort open for more than a decade made itself memorable again (also a resort in Hainan, www.xinming.sg/portfolio/3036.html)

· VIP GALAXY: arranging nine letters into a night sky (www.xinming.sg/portfolio/3041.html)

FAQ

Who designed the Haiding Village Hotel logo?

The Haiding Village Hotel logo was designed by Xinming Design in 2019 for Qiongzhong Haiding Tourism Investment and Development Co., Ltd.

What does the Haiding Village Hotel logo mean?

The logo is made of a few fine gold lines: two undulating lines above that are both layered mountains and the eaves of a new Chinese-style building, two straight lines below that support the figure, and a red seal reading 鼎 at the centre, which names the brand and signs the mark like a seal on a landscape painting.

What typeface is used for the 海鼎山居 wordmark?

The Chinese wordmark is based on a bronze inscription typeface; bronze inscriptions share their cultural roots with the ding vessel. The brand typefaces are FZ Song San and Free Serif.

What are the Haiding Village Hotel supporting graphics?

Four circular gold line drawings, A home in the clouds, Drifting clouds and wild cranes, Moonlight over the lotus pond and Jade halls and towers, each paired with a vertical 海鼎山居 seal and used on posters, brochures, rooms and guest amenities.

What are the brand colours?

Deep Ink (#16222B), Blue-grey Ink (#32414D) and Off-white (#EFEEE3), with a gold gradient.

Which businesses can learn from this case?

Hotels and guesthouses attached to scenic areas and cultural tourism developments, and mountain, nature and new Chinese-style resorts that want to build recognition through local culture rather than realistic scenery.

Xinming Design is a brand systems design firm. Its work centres on systematic judgment, turning brand strategy into structures that can run and be inherited. www.xinming.sg