Haiding Baihualing Identity: Six Leaves Opening into One Flower

Six leaves opening into one flower

In 2019, Xinming Design created the logo and visual identity of Haiding Baihualing (海鼎百花岭) for Qiongzhong Haiding Tourism Investment and Development Co., Ltd. The logo is made of six leaves: each is drawn as an outline with a single vein, its tail sweeping towards the next leaf, and the six are arranged clockwise around one centre, so the whole ring reads as a turning flower. Each leaf has its own colour: fresh green, bright yellow, deep blue, cyan, red and teal. According to the proposal, the flower is based on the character 百 (bai, "a hundred") in calligraphic form, broken into leaves and recombined into a flower. The supporting graphic enlarges and crops the leaves into coloured diagonal stripes; a second visual language is a set of rainforest watercolours. The identity extends to stationery, promotional materials, merchandise and scenic area signage.

A place called "a hundred flowers" should not be drawn as a bouquet

Baihualing is in Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan. It was listed in 1988 among Hainan's first provincial scenic areas and is known for its tropical rainforest and Li and Miao culture; the Hainan Baihualing Tropical Rainforest Cultural Tourism Area is a national 4A tourist attraction. Qiongzhong Haiding Tourism Investment and Development Co., Ltd. develops tourism projects here and, in the same period, also commissioned Xinming Design to create the identity of Haiding Village Hotel, the resort hotel in the area.

When a place has "a hundred flowers" (百花) in its name, the easiest route for a logo is to draw a bouquet. But a drawn flower is only one kind of flower, while the "hundred" of Baihualing means many: the plants and birds of the rainforest, and the landscape, villages, hot springs and resort hotel of the tourism area. The logo had to express not one kind of flower, but many things growing together.

Begin the flowers with leaves

So the logo begins with leaves rather than petals.

· Bai (a hundred): according to the proposal, the logo starts from the character 百 in calligraphic form, broken apart and rebuilt into the shape of leaves.

· Leaf: each leaf carries a vein, pointing to Baihualing's tropical rainforest.

· Flower: six leaves arranged around one centre form a flower.

The tails of all six leaves sweep in the same direction, so the flower is not still but turning and growing. Six leaves in six colours together make "a hundred flowers": varied, but gathered around one centre.

The logo also has two single-colour gradient versions: a blue-to-violet gradient and a light-to-deep green gradient. The first can be read as night and water, the second as the rainforest itself; when an image already holds plenty of colour, the logo can appear in one.

Enlarge a leaf and it becomes a stripe

The supporting graphic comes straight from the logo: the leaves are enlarged until only an arc remains, then set diagonally and cropped at the edges of the page. The corner of a letterhead, the spine of a folder, the side of a shopping bag, the top of a staff pass and the side panel of a poster all carry a set of coloured diagonal stripes.

The stripes can be recognised without the full logo, because their colours and curves come from the same flower. The logo is a flower; the supporting graphic is the leaves that fall from it.

A second language: rainforest watercolours

The geometric leaves keep order; the proposal also prepares a second, livelier language: watercolour illustrations of the tropical rainforest. Toucans, flamingos, hibiscus and monstera leaves crowd around the three large lines BAI HUA LING, on paper cups, tote bags, T-shirts, umbrellas and posters.

The brand line in the proposal images is "Lifestyle Goes For Nature", with the Chinese 山舞水韵·自在百花岭 ("dancing mountains, rhythmic waters, at ease in Baihualing"). The two languages divide the work: leaf stripes where things need to be orderly, such as letterhead, contracts and staff passes; rainforest watercolours where people need to want to go, such as posters, cups and umbrellas.

From letterhead to scenic area signs

The applications cover office, promotion, merchandise and the site itself:

· Office: business cards, letterhead, envelopes, folders, contracts, staff passes;

· Promotion: leaflets, posters, bus shelter ads;

· Merchandise: paper cups, shopping bags, tote bags, T-shirts, umbrellas;

· Scenic area signage: dark brown timber signs, with a pillar reading "Baihualing Scenic Area" vertically under the coloured logo, a main board with an area overview and a tourist map of the wellness tourism area, and a visitor notice in Chinese, English and Russian.

The signs are timber-coloured rather than bright, with colour kept for the flower at the top: in a rainforest, the logo should stand out, not the sign itself.

The office, promotion, merchandise, advertising and signage images on this page are proposal-stage mock-ups; names, addresses, web addresses and dates in them are placeholders.

One client, two marks

Haiding Village Hotel (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3040.html) is the same client's resort hotel in the Baihualing tourism area. Seen together, the two marks divide their roles clearly:

· Haiding Village Hotel: a few gold lines drawing mountains and eaves, with a red seal reading 鼎 at the centre; restrained and quiet, a place to stop and stay;

· Haiding Baihualing: six coloured leaves turning into one flower; lively and varied, an area to walk into.

One says "stay", the other says "come in". Two brands from the same developer use the amount of colour to mark their different roles.

Deliverables and extensions

Logo design

· Haiding Baihualing logo (a turning flower of six leaves)

· Chinese and English lockups (海鼎百花岭 with the English name)

· Full-colour, blue-violet gradient and green gradient versions

Core visual identity

· Supporting graphic: coloured diagonal stripes from enlarged, cropped leaves

· Illustration language: rainforest watercolours

Applications

· Office: business cards, letterhead, envelopes, folders, contracts, staff passes

· Promotion: leaflets, posters, bus shelter ads

· Merchandise: paper cups, shopping bags, tote bags, T-shirts, umbrellas

· Scenic area signage: pillar sign, overview and map board, visitor notice board

Looking back seven years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. "A hundred" means many, not one. For a place called "a hundred flowers", the logo draws no single flower; six leaves of different colours gather into one.

2. Take the supporting graphic from the logo. An enlarged leaf becomes a stripe, so even without the logo, colour and curve say Baihualing.

3. One identity, two tones of voice. Leaf stripes keep things orderly, rainforest watercolours bring warmth; office materials and posters each use what suits them.

A tourism area's logo need not draw its most beautiful view; it should draw what it looks like when many things grow together.

How to verify

· Client: Qiongzhong Haiding Tourism Investment and Development Co., Ltd. (琼中海鼎旅游投资开发有限公司)

· Location: Baihualing, Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, Hainan (listed in 1988 among Hainan's first provincial scenic areas; the Hainan Baihualing Tropical Rainforest Cultural Tourism Area is a national 4A tourist attraction)

· Same client: Haiding Village Hotel, www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3040.html

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3063.html

Further reading

· Haiding Village Hotel: Drawing the Mountains of Baihualing in a Few Lines (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3040.html)

· Putuo Village Logo: The Character 普 Drawn as a Temple Gate (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3051.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 Haiding Baihualing logo?

The Haiding Baihualing logo and visual identity were designed by Xinming Design in 2019 for Qiongzhong Haiding Tourism Investment and Development Co., Ltd., with applications across office, promotion, merchandise and scenic area signage.

What does the Haiding Baihualing logo mean?

The logo is made of six leaves in different colours, arranged in a turning ring around one centre to form a flower. According to the proposal, the leaves are based on the character 百 in calligraphic form: bai for cultural heritage, the leaf for the tropical rainforest, and the flower for many activities coming together.

Is Baihualing a national scenic area?

No. Baihualing was listed in 1988 among Hainan's first provincial scenic areas; the Hainan Baihualing Tropical Rainforest Cultural Tourism Area is a national 4A tourist attraction.

What are the Haiding Baihualing supporting graphics?

Two kinds: coloured diagonal stripes made by enlarging and cropping the leaves of the logo, for office and promotional materials; and rainforest watercolour illustrations, for posters, cups, tote bags and umbrellas.

How is Haiding Baihualing related to Haiding Village Hotel?

Both belong to the same client, Qiongzhong Haiding Tourism Investment and Development Co., Ltd. Haiding Baihualing is the tourism area brand and Haiding Village Hotel is the resort hotel within it; Xinming Design created both identities.

Which projects can learn from this case?

Scenic areas and cultural tourism destinations; tourism developments with many kinds of activity that need one logo to hold them; and developers who need to distinguish a tourism area brand from a hotel brand.

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