Honeymoon Bay Brand Identity: A Carnation That Turns into a Dancer

A carnation that turns into a dancer

In 2021, Xinming Design created Honeymoon Bay (一悦馨香), a postpartum care club brand of CareBay (馨月汇). Xinming Design proposed the English name Honeymoon Bay and the brand lines "One Month Of Care, A Lifetime Of Care" (一个月的关爱 一辈子的关怀) and "All for the children" (一切为了孩子). The logo is a figure inside a circle: seen upright, it is a carnation held by the circle, its petals opening upwards; turned 180 degrees, the petals become a dancing skirt and the base of the flower becomes a head and arms, a woman in mid-dance. The brand colours centre on deep rose, coral pink and pale apricot, with white, pale pink, pale green and pale violet as secondary colours. The identity extends to business cards, envelopes, the stay agreement, certificates, client files, staff passes, brochures, room card holders, wrapping paper, shopping bags, cushions and street banners, and remains in use today.

A postpartum club cares for the mother first

Honeymoon Bay is a postpartum care club brand of CareBay. It was a new brand built from scratch: its name, brand lines, logo and complete visual identity were all created in this project.

Most mother and baby brands centre their symbols on the baby: bottles, tiny feet, a baby's smile. But a postpartum care club first looks after the woman who has just given birth: her recovery, her rest, whether she is well cared for during this month.

So the question for this brand was: how can a mother and baby brand make the mother feel cared for, without falling into sugary baby pink?

一悦馨香, Honeymoon Bay

The Chinese name of the brand is 一悦馨香. The English name proposed by Xinming Design is Honeymoon Bay.

A honeymoon is a time of being cherished; a bay is a sheltered harbour. It can be read like this: the month after giving birth is a cherished "honeymoon", and the club is a harbour in which to rest.

Xinming Design also proposed two brand lines:

· "One Month Of Care, A Lifetime Of Care": the confinement month lasts a month, but its effect lasts a lifetime for mother and child;

· "All for the children": used on family related materials such as the stay agreement.

Carnation and dancing skirt

The proposal's logo rationale starts from two images:

· Carnation (petals): "the carnation symbolises love and care; thanksgiving, kindness and blessing are synonymous with it, in keeping with the brand idea of a month of care and a lifetime of care, and with the meticulous care of mothers and babies at a confinement club."

· Female figure: "the free and elegant posture of a dancing woman represents women's pursuit of a better self and a high quality of life, and the free and confident young women of a new era of scientific motherhood."

Together, in the proposal's words: "the carnation petals are extracted as a symbol and cleverly integrated with a woman dancing in a dancing skirt. After high simplification, the final logo is presented: seen upright it is a flower surrounded by a circle; turned 180 degrees it is a dancing female figure."

Upright, a flower; upside down, a mother. The carnation is the flower given to mothers, and this logo draws the flower and the woman who receives it as one shape.

One circle, ten units

The proposal's construction drawing sets the logo inside a circle 10a in diameter: the curves of the petals are fixed by sets of tangent circles, and the base of the flower closes into a small drop.

The logo forms horizontal and vertical lockups with HONEYMOON BAY / 一悦馨香, with letter spacing, line spacing and gaps marked on the grid. The English typeface is Montserrat and the Chinese typeface is Source Han Sans, each in Regular and Medium weights.

Three primary colours, six secondary colours

There are three primary colours, each with a name:

· female (femininity, health), #A05151: a deep rose, the main brand colour and dark ground;

· vitality (energy, freshness), #E88C8C: a coral pink;

· Care (gentleness, protection), #FBDAC8: a pale apricot, the ground for paper and large areas.

The VI manual sets tints from 100% to 10% for the three primary colours, to be used in all visual communication.

There are also six secondary colours that "support the primary palette for different design purposes". The manual gives a recommended share of use for each:

· White (#FFFFFF): 10%

· Pale apricot (#EDBEAB): 40%

· Coral pink (#E88C8C): 20%

· Pale pink (#E8CED0): 10%

· Pale green (#ADCEAB): 10%

· Pale violet (#C9BFD1): 10%

The deepest primary colour is a deep rose, not baby pink. Deep rose is closer to the colour of a grown woman, keeping the identity gentle without being sugary; pale green and pale violet take only small shares, like the leaves and filler flowers in a bouquet.

Scale pattern and enlarged flower

There are two supporting graphics:

· Scale pattern: layers of half circles, like the edges of petals or the ripples of a bay, used on room card holders, wrapping paper, stickers and cushions;

· Enlarged logo: the logo enlarged and cropped at the corner of envelopes, file bags, shopping bags and street banners, showing only the curves of a few petals.

From stay agreement to room card

The applications cover the club's office, stay and presence:

· Office: business cards, letterhead, envelopes, file bags, client file binders, staff passes;

· Stay: the stay agreement, certificates sealed with wax, room card holders (with guest name, room number, arrival and departure dates and Wi-Fi details);

· Promotion: brochures;

· Packaging: stickers, wrapping paper, shopping bags;

· Space: cushions, street banners.

The office, stay, packaging and space images on this page are proposal-stage mock-ups; names on business cards and staff passes are placeholders.

Deliverables and extensions

Naming and brand lines

· English name Honeymoon Bay

· Brand lines: "One Month Of Care, A Lifetime Of Care" (一个月的关爱 一辈子的关怀) and "All for the children" (一切为了孩子)

Logo design

· Honeymoon Bay logo (carnation and dancing woman) with construction drawing

· Horizontal and vertical lockups

Core visual identity

· Primary colours: female, vitality, Care, with tints

· Secondary colours: white, pale apricot, coral pink, pale pink, pale green, pale violet, with shares of use

· Typefaces: Montserrat, Source Han Sans

· Supporting graphics: scale pattern, enlarged and cropped logo

Applications

· Office: business cards, letterhead, envelopes, file bags, client file binders, staff passes

· Stay: stay agreement, certificates, room card holders

· Promotion and packaging: brochures, stickers, wrapping paper, shopping bags

· Space: cushions, street banners

Looking back five years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. In a mother and baby brand, care for the mother first. The logo draws a dancing woman rather than a baby; a postpartum club first looks after the woman who has just given birth.

2. One figure, two readings. Upright it is a carnation, upside down a woman in a dancing skirt; the flower and the woman who receives it share one shape.

3. Gentle need not be sugary. A deep rose rather than baby pink as the main colour makes a mother and baby brand feel mature and trustworthy.

For a postpartum care brand, what matters most is not cuteness, but that a woman who has just become a mother feels well looked after.

How to verify

· Client: CareBay (馨月汇母婴专护服务(上海)有限公司)

· Brand website: www.care-bay.com

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3087.html

Further reading

· Shengshi Tianai Identity: Two Hearts Interlocked, a Third at the Centre (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3064.html)

· Growth Assistant Mascot: A Young Eagle That Grows Up with the Child (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3074.html)

· DAVENA Brand Identity Upgrade: The Watch Brings the Shine, the Brand Brings the Order (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3045.html)

FAQ

Who designed the Honeymoon Bay logo?

The logo and visual identity of Honeymoon Bay (一悦馨香) were designed by Xinming Design in 2021 for CareBay as a new brand; the English name Honeymoon Bay and the brand lines were also proposed by Xinming Design. The logo remains in use today.

What does the Honeymoon Bay logo mean?

The logo combines carnation petals with a woman in a dancing skirt: seen upright it is a flower surrounded by a circle; turned 180 degrees it is a dancing woman. The carnation symbolises love and care, and the dancing woman represents free and confident young mothers.

How is Honeymoon Bay related to CareBay?

Honeymoon Bay (一悦馨香) is a postpartum care club brand of CareBay (馨月汇); the contracting party is 馨月汇母婴专护服务(上海)有限公司 (CareBay, Shanghai).

What are the Honeymoon Bay name and brand lines?

The English name is Honeymoon Bay; the brand lines are "One Month Of Care, A Lifetime Of Care" (一个月的关爱 一辈子的关怀) and "All for the children" (一切为了孩子), all proposed by Xinming Design.

What are the Honeymoon Bay brand colours?

Three primary colours: female #A05151, vitality #E88C8C and Care #FBDAC8; plus six secondary colours: white, pale apricot, coral pink, pale pink, pale green and pale violet.

Which brands can learn from this case?

Postpartum care clubs, maternal recovery and mother and baby service brands; health and care services for women; and new brands that need naming, brand lines and a logo created together.

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