International Newland Property Identity: Towers, Land and Road in a Single Hexagonal Badge

Towers above, land below, the name in between

In 2015, Xinming Design created the logo and visual identity of International Newland (新陆国际), a residential project developed by Guizhou Xintianhong Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. on Xinlu Avenue in Sansui County, Guizhou. The logo is an upright hexagonal badge: a group of geometric towers at the top, a ribbon across the middle reading NEWLAND, and diagonal lines below forming a piece of land. The brand colours are deep blue and gold. There are two supporting graphics: a house pattern built from the hexagonal frame, and branching gold lines that stand for roads. Xinming Design also proposed the tagline 品质缔造生活 ("quality creates life") and extended the identity to stationery, sales and reception materials and marketing. The logo is used on the real project and is still in use.

Before the homes are built, the brand has to be trusted

International Newland is a residential project on Xinlu Avenue in Sansui County, Qiandongnan, Guizhou, developed by Guizhou Xintianhong Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. The project name echoes the avenue it stands on.

A property brand starts work long before the buildings are finished. What buyers see first is not a home but a name, a logo, a sales office, an invitation and a poster, and from these they have to judge what kind of place this will be, and whether it is worth handing over a large sum.

For a new project in a county town, the question is even more direct: with no building yet to look at, what makes people trust it? The logo had to look good, but also read at once as property, convey stability and quality, and tie itself firmly to the name Newland.

Inspiration: a cluster of towers, a long road

The proposal's inspiration page holds just two photographs. One shows a cluster of newly built towers, labelled "towers"; the other shows a straight road running across open country into the distance, labelled "land".

The two photographs match the two characters of the project's Chinese name: 新 (new) for new towers rising from the ground, 陆 (land) for a broad stretch of land. It is worth noticing that the proposal expressed "land" not with a field but with a road. That road later became the second supporting graphic, and it also matches the avenue the project stands on.

A hexagonal badge

The logo rationale page sets out what each part does:

· Symmetrical hexagon: a symmetrical geometric shape gives a sense of trust and solidity, and the squared frame makes the mark visually compact.

· Towers inside: minimal lines and open space at the top form geometric towers, saying plainly that this is a property mark.

· The English name in the middle: the flowing ribbon carries the English name, making the mark specific and unique to the project.

· The land below: the diagonal lines at the bottom form a piece of land, standing for nature, ecology and environment.

One badge says three things at once: these are homes (the towers), this is which project (NEWLAND), and this is what the land is like (the stripes). The badge and ribbon are also the language of Western heraldry, which the proposal calls a more Western design element; it can be read as a visual answer to the word "International" in the name.

The proposal also kept two pencil sketches and a logo animation: first the hexagonal frame and the NEWLAND ribbon appear, then the towers rise, and finally the land is laid down. The name stands first, the towers go up, the land spreads out last, which is the very order in which a property project is told.

Wordmark and tagline

The four characters 新陆国际 were redrawn. In the proposal's words, the turns of the strokes are measured to express the boldness and openness of land, and the wide, flat proportions make the characters more stable and comfortable to read; the wordmark can also be used on its own.

Xinming Design proposed the tagline 品质缔造生活 ("quality creates life"), set in traditional characters beneath the wordmark in the proposal, completing the project's identity together with the logo.

From one frame, a whole neighbourhood

The first supporting graphic comes from the logo. The proposal lays out the derivation clearly: the original logo, plus the extracted frame, plus a figure combined into a house form, equals the final graphic:

1. Only the hexagonal frame is taken from the badge;

2. Four hexagons overlap to form a figure with the character of a house;

3. That figure is repeated into a continuous pattern.

Once repeated, the edges of the hexagons interlock and read like rows of cube-shaped houses, or a tidy block of streets. One frame grows into a neighbourhood. The pattern is used on business cards, envelope linings, folders, paper cups, umbrellas and shopping bags.

A branching road

The second supporting graphic is a set of branching gold lines standing for roads, echoing the road in the inspiration photograph and the avenue the project stands on. The lines appear as broad, flat gold bands across letterhead, folders, file boxes, staff passes, badges and T-shirts, like a road network seen from above.

The two graphics divide the work clearly: the house pattern is fine and quiet and fills a surface; the road lines are bold and few and give the image its direction.

Deep blue and gold

There are two brand colours, and the proposal marks their use in the page corner: gold (C15 M44 Y64 K0) for the logo and deep blue (C100 M98 Y63 K51) for the background. Deep blue conveys stability, professionalism and trust, the ground of the whole identity; gold conveys quality and value, used for the logo, wordmark and both supporting graphics. Deep blue below and gold on top keep the project steady rather than showy among property advertising. The proposal gives CMYK values only.

Deliverables and extensions

Logo design

· International Newland symbol (hexagon, towers, NEWLAND ribbon and land stripes) with construction drawing

· Chinese wordmark 新陆国际, English wordmark INTERNATIONAL NEWLAND and lockup rules

· Tagline 品质缔造生活 ("quality creates life")

Core visual identity

· Brand colours: deep blue, gold

· Supporting graphics: hexagonal house pattern, road lines

Applications

· Stationery: letterhead, envelopes, business cards, folders, file boxes, forms, staff passes

· Sales and reception: VIP cards, invitations, paper cups, CDs, badges

· Branded items: umbrellas, T-shirts, shopping bags

Marketing materials

· Posters and advertising

The stationery, sales and reception, branded item and poster images on this page are application mock-ups; names, amounts and English copy in them are placeholders.

Looking back eleven years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. A property logo must first earn trust. A symmetrical hexagon with clear towers and land relies on stability, not decoration.

2. One badge can say it all. These are homes, this is the project, this is the land: three things in one shape.

3. Supporting graphics grow out of the logo. One frame becomes a neighbourhood, and the road in an inspiration photograph becomes a set of lines, so the whole identity always belongs to the same project.

Completed in 2015, the logo is used on the real project and is still in use. Before the homes are built, the brand is the first building buyers can see.

How to verify

· Contracting entity: 贵州新天宏房地产开发有限公司 (Guizhou Xintianhong Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.)

· Location: Xinlu Avenue, Sansui County, Qiandongnan, Guizhou

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3050.html

Further reading

· VIP GALAXY: Arranging Nine Letters into a Night Sky (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3041.html)

· Ritmüller: Making a 1795 Crest Readable Today (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3035.html)

· Xianlin SciCity Group: A Brand Identity for a Science City That Keeps Growing (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3480.html)

FAQ

Who designed the International Newland logo?

The logo of International Newland (新陆国际) was designed by Xinming Design in 2015 for Guizhou Xintianhong Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. It is used on the real project and is still in use.

What does the International Newland logo mean?

It is a symmetrical hexagonal badge: geometric towers at the top show that this is a property project, a ribbon across the middle carries the English name NEWLAND, and diagonal lines below form a piece of land, standing for nature, ecology and environment.

Who proposed the tagline "quality creates life"?

Xinming Design proposed 品质缔造生活 ("quality creates life") for the project; in the proposal it is set in traditional characters beneath the wordmark.

What are the International Newland supporting graphics?

Two sets: one takes the hexagonal frame from the logo, combines four hexagons into a house figure and repeats it into a pattern; the other is a set of branching gold lines standing for roads.

What are the International Newland brand colours?

Gold (C15 M44 Y64 K0) for the logo and deep blue (C100 M98 Y63 K51) for the background.

Which companies can learn from this case?

Residential and property projects that need to build trust before they are built; developers who want a logo that reads as property at once while belonging to one project; and new projects in county towns and new urban districts.

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