Empark Prime Logo and Visual Identity: The Character 世 as a Window

One character, one window

In 2018, Xinming Design created a logo and visual identity for Empark Hotels & Resorts, first submitted as a proposal for the group's resort brand. The logo is an upright window frame with rounded ends top and bottom, and the bars inside the frame are the character 世 (shi, "world"): three uprights, one crossbar and a U-shaped curve at the bottom. The proposal describes it as a window onto the world. The brand colours are purple and gold in a 7:3 ratio, and three supporting graphics are drawn from tree rings, sea waves and curling clouds. In August 2022, Empark Hotels & Resorts launched its luxury hotel brand 睿世 in Beijing (English name EMPARK PRIME, chosen by the client) and adopted this logo as its brand mark. It is still in use on the entrance plaque of Empark Prime Hotel Beijing.

One mark for mountains, sea and city

Empark Hotels & Resorts (世纪金源酒店集团) runs several hotel brands. Under an engagement signed in 2018, Xinming Design completed a series of brand projects for the group, one after another: Empark Grand Hotel, The Empark View Hotel, 世纪域美, and the design that later became Empark Prime.

When the design was first submitted, it was meant for different kinds of resort hotels in the group: some in valleys and forests, some on the coast, some in cities. So the question was: how can one mark hold mountains, sea and city at once? It had to be simple enough to bring different hotels together, and Chinese enough to be distinctive, while still being understood at a glance by international guests.

Simplicity, inclusive, window

The proposal sums up the logo in three keywords, each with a photograph:

· Simplicity: plain and simple; a lake and a jetty in morning mist.

· Inclusive: the world takes in all rivers; an open sea.

· Window: viewing the world; a long corridor lined with lattice windows.

The three words describe one idea: a simple shape that can hold the whole world, and holds it by being a window.

The character is the window bars

The logo is an upright window frame, rounded at both ends like an arched window. The bars inside the frame are the strokes of the character 世: three vertical bars, one horizontal bar, and a U-shaped curve at the bottom joining the three uprights.

The bars are the character, and the character is the window. Chinese lattice windows divide space with straight lines, and the horizontal and vertical structure of 世 reads directly as a window grille, without any distortion to make it fit. The proposal's logo description says the mark takes the Chinese character 世 as its main element and forms a window, meaning a view of the world through a window onto it; it combines the classical and the modern, carries the brand culture of the group, and remains highly recognisable across applications.

The construction drawing sets the proportions and arcs of the frame with a series of diminishing circles. The lines are of even weight, so the mark can be foil-stamped on deep purple paper or made into a dimensional sign on a glass door.

One window, five views

The proposal includes an animation: the same window mark is laid over five landscapes in turn: forest, distant mountains, rolling hills, karst peaks and a sea of cloud. Inside the window the view is in colour; outside it, purple.

The animation shows why the mark suits a brand spread across many destinations: the window stays the same, the view outside changes. In the mountains, the window holds mountains; by the sea, it holds the sea; in the city, it holds the city. Without depicting any one landscape, the mark can hold them all.

Sky, land and sea: three supporting graphics

Numbered one, two and three in the proposal, the supporting graphics are set against sky, land and sea, one for each type of resort:

· One, tree rings: trees are nature's longest-lived beings, a symbol of endless life; layer upon layer of rings express vitality, for hotels in valleys and forests.

· Two, sea waves: lines of waves with different amplitudes extend without end, creating a calm, far-reaching, relaxing mood, for hotels by the coast and the beach.

· Three, curling clouds: clouds stand for openness, freedom and dreams, and their turning shapes for a changing rhythm, for hotels in the city.

All three are made of fine gold lines that read on deep purple like contour lines, ripples or fingerprints. Printed on envelope linings, door hangers, menus and guest-room items, they give each type of hotel its own texture within one brand.

Purple and gold, seventy to thirty

The brand colours are Purple (PANTONE 7448 CP, C84 M91 Y62 K46, R46 G32 B54, #2E2036) and Gold (PANTONE P 24-13 C, C24 M42 Y61 K0, R207 G161 B107, #CFA16B), used in a ratio of 70% to 30%. Deep purple is the large ground, calm and restrained, close to the colour of night; gold is used for the logo, wordmark and supporting graphics, often foil-stamped on deep purple paper like light showing through a window. The mood image for purple is a composed middle-aged man with arms folded, which can be read as the guest the brand wants to serve.

From guest room to dining table

The proposal extends the logo, colours and graphics into applications: envelopes and letterhead, business cards, door hangers, key cards, menus, guest-room amenities and a sign on a glass door. Business cards are gilt-edged, envelope linings carry gold tree-ring lines, and one side of the door hanger shows deep purple and a mountain view.

At proposal stage, the logo was paired with "EMPARK hotel & resorts"; after it was adopted for Empark Prime in 2022, the lockup became "EMPARK 睿世 PRIME HOTEL".

The office, guest-room, dining and entrance images on this page are application mock-ups from the proposal stage. The words "Empark Grand Hotel" in them are left over from the proposal template; names and addresses on the business cards and the letterhead text are placeholders.

From resort proposal to Empark Prime

On 28 August 2022, Empark Hotels & Resorts launched the 睿世 brand in Beijing, with Empark Prime Hotel Beijing at the Huaqiao Building on Wangfujing as its first hotel. The launch release called it the group's "urban luxury hotel" brand, with a name meaning "wisdom passed on"; the group website now describes it as a luxury hotel brand.

The group adopted this window mark built from 世 as the Empark Prime logo. The brand's Chinese name happens to contain the character 世, so a "window onto the world" first designed for resort hotels became the very name of an urban luxury brand. On the group website, the Empark Prime brand mark is the window logo with "EMPARK 睿世 PRIME HOTEL"; the entrance plaque at the Huaqiao Building carries the same lockup.

Four brands, one engagement

In the same engagement, Xinming Design delivered visual identities for four brands of Empark Hotels & Resorts. Empark Grand Hotel kept its fan logo; the other three each received a new one:

· Empark Grand Hotel: keeping the logo, filling the fan with six blessings (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3047.html)

· The Empark View Hotel: a moon gate where strangers meet (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3048.html)

· 世纪域美 (Shiji Yumei): the character 世, clouds and mountains in a single seal (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3049.html)

All three new logos find their forms in traditional Chinese architecture and objects: a door, a seal, a window. Empark Prime is the window.

Deliverables and extensions

Logo design

· Window logo built from the character 世, with construction drawing

· Logo description (simplicity, inclusive, window)

Core visual identity

· Brand colours: purple and gold (7:3)

· Supporting graphics: tree rings, sea waves, curling clouds

Applications

· Office: envelopes, letterhead, business cards

· Guest room: door hangers, key cards, amenities

· Dining: menus

· Signage: dimensional sign on a glass door

Looking back eight years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. Let character and shape be the same thing. The horizontal and vertical strokes of 世 read directly as window bars, so the mark never has to distort the character to look like a window.

2. Design for an uncertain future. A window depicts no particular view, so it can hold mountains, sea and city; that is also why a proposal designed for resort hotels could later become the logo of an urban luxury brand.

3. A good logo can wait. A design completed in 2018 found its brand name in 2022, and the name happened to contain the very character 世.

The window has hung on the entrance of Empark Prime Hotel Beijing since 2022 and is still in use. The best logo does not depict a view; it is simply a window through which every view can be seen.

How to verify

· Client: Empark Hotels & Resorts (世纪金源酒店集团), www.empark.com.cn (the Empark Prime brand mark and a photograph of the Huaqiao Building entrance under "Our brands")

· Brand launch: PR Newswire Asia, release on the launch of Empark Prime, 30 August 2022 (launch event on 28 August 2022 in Beijing)

· First hotel: Empark Prime Hotel Beijing (北京华侨大厦睿世酒店), Wangfujing Street

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3061.html

Further reading

· Empark Grand Hotel Visual Refresh: Keeping the Logo, Filling the Fan with Six Blessings (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3047.html)

· The Empark View Hotel Logo and Visual Identity: A Moon Gate Where Strangers Meet (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3048.html)

· 世纪域美 Resort Hotel Identity: The Character 世, Clouds and Mountains in a Single Seal (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3049.html)

FAQ

Who designed the Empark Prime logo?

The Empark Prime (睿世) logo was designed by Xinming Design in 2018 for Empark Hotels & Resorts, together with the core visual identity and applications. When the group launched the Empark Prime brand in 2022, it adopted this design as the brand logo, and it is still in use.

What does the Empark Prime logo mean?

It takes the character 世 ("world") as its main element and forms a rounded upright window: three vertical bars, one horizontal bar and a U-shaped curve at the bottom make up the character, meaning a view of the world through a window onto it. The proposal sums it up in three words: simplicity, inclusive and window.

Was the logo designed for Empark Prime from the start?

No. It was first submitted as a logo for the group's resort brand, and the three supporting graphics were designed for three types of resort: forest, coast and city. In 2022 the group adopted it for its newly launched luxury brand Empark Prime. The names 睿世 and EMPARK PRIME were chosen by the client.

What are the Empark Prime brand colours?

Purple (PANTONE 7448 CP, #2E2036) and gold (PANTONE P 24-13 C, #CFA16B), used in a ratio of 7:3.

What are the Empark Prime supporting graphics?

Three sets: tree rings, sea waves and curling clouds, set against sky, land and sea, one each for valley and forest, coast and beach, and city hotels.

Which companies can learn from this case?

Hotel groups launching a new brand; brands whose hotels sit in very different destinations and need one mark to bring them together; and service brands that want a Chinese character to give cultural distinction while staying legible to international guests.

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