HUAYI SPACE Brand Upgrade: The Letters h and y Laid Down as Furniture

The letters h and y laid down as furniture

In 2016, Xinming Design completed a brand upgrade for HUAYI SPACE (华意空间), a premium home furnishing brand. The first page of the design shows the side profile of a chair, which is exactly a lowercase h. The new logo grows from there: the initials h and y are laid down as two pieces of furniture standing on the same floor line, one long and one short, in a ratio of 10 to 5. The English wordmark HUAYI SPACE and the Chinese logotype 华意空间 were redesigned at the same time. The brand colours are copper orange, black and grey. The identity extends to foil stamped cards, dimensional facade lettering, a metal logo, letterhead, business cards and brochures. It is still in use: the website header uses the wordmarks, and the store facade carries the symbol.

A home brand named after space

HUAYI SPACE was founded in 2007 and positions itself as modern integrated home furnishing with an original spirit, covering living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, studies and tea rooms. Its brand philosophy speaks of strength within softness, power within calm and an edge within restraint, with Be water as its guiding metaphor.

The logo of a premium home brand has to do two things at once:

· Carry the brand: make people remember the name HUAYI SPACE;

· Carry the home: show at a glance that this brand makes furniture and spaces.

The usual answers are a drawn chair, a lamp or an ornamental pattern. These easily look ordinary, and they do not fit a brand that values an edge within restraint.

So the upgrade had to answer: how can the brand's two initials themselves be furniture?

The chair is an h

The design found its answer in three steps:

· Step one, the chair is an h: draw a chair in side profile; the back is the stem of the h, and the seat and legs are its arch. The side of a chair is a lowercase h.

· Step two, h and y: the two key letters of HUAYI are H and Y. The y, too, can be drawn as the side of a piece of furniture.

· Step three, lay them down: lay the h and the y on their sides and stand them on the same floor line. The design sketch marks two lengths, 10 and 5. The h becomes a long table, the y a side table; one long and one short, like a group of furniture arranged in a room.

The letters are the name, the furniture is what the brand makes, and the floor line is the space. The logo draws no actual furniture, yet people see furniture in it.

Every stroke of the logo is a straight line or a right angle, with small square breaks at the corners, like the joints of furniture or the parts of a building.

Wordmark and Chinese logotype

In the English wordmark HUAYI SPACE, HUAYI is set bold and SPACE light; the A loses its crossbar and becomes a Λ, in keeping with the straight lines of the symbol.

The Chinese logotype 华意空间 was redrawn with strictly horizontal and vertical strokes, with a distinctive structure for the character 意. Thin vertical rules separate the four characters, like a row of spaces side by side.

Copper orange, black and grey

There are three brand colours:

· Copper orange: the main colour of the logo, like copper and leather;

· Black (CMYK 0/0/0/95, #312725): paired in the design with black marble;

· Grey (CMYK 0/0/0/70, #727171): paired in the design with a concrete wall.

The design gives CMYK and RGB values for black and grey; the HEX values above are converted from the RGB values in the design. No value is given for copper orange.

All three colours come from materials: copper, stone and concrete. They match the stores, showrooms and products of a home brand, so the logo never looks out of place on any wall.

From foil stamping to the facade

Materials

· Foil stamped card, rose gold metal dimensional logo, dimensional letters on a concrete wall

Office

· Letterhead, business cards, brochure leaflet

Store

· Facade: the symbol and 华意空间 HUAYI SPACE on a white elevation

The foil stamping, metal logo and stationery on this page are proposal-stage mock-ups; the photographs of the store facade are real.

Deliverables and extensions

Logo design

· HUAYI SPACE symbol (h and y laid down)

· English wordmark HUAYI SPACE, Chinese logotype 华意空间

· Symbol and bilingual lockups, logo construction

Core identity

· Brand colours: copper orange, black, grey

· Material references: marble, concrete wall

Applications

· Materials: foil stamping, metal dimensional logo, dimensional letters

· Office: letterhead, business cards, brochure leaflet

· Store: facade

Looking back ten years on

Three points are worth taking from this project:

1. Find the letter in the product. The side of a chair is an h; this discovery lets the logo state both the name and the industry.

2. Use proportion instead of ornament. The 10 to 5 relationship, straight lines, right angles and small breaks carry no decoration, yet have the measure of furniture.

3. Take the colours from materials. Copper, stone and concrete keep the logo convincing when it moves from paper into stores and showrooms. Ten years on, the same symbol still hangs on the facade.

A home brand's logo need not draw furniture; it is enough to let the letters stand like furniture.

How to verify

· Client: 深圳市华意空间实业有限公司 (the company name at signing); the brand now belongs to 深圳市华意整体家居有限公司

· Brand: HUAYI SPACE (www.huayispace.vip, which uses this wordmark in its header)

· This case page: www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3197.html

Further reading

· Guangming Yuandi Brand Upgrade: Three Strokes of 光 Turned into Rays of Light (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3127.html)

· Weiye Ceramics Brand Upgrade: One Plate That Spells 业 (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3055.html)

· SUNORSHOP Womenswear Brand Upgrade: A Sun Held Inside the Letter S (www.xinming.sg/en/portfolio/3172.html)

FAQ

Who designed the HUAYI SPACE logo?

The brand upgrade of HUAYI SPACE (华意空间) was completed by Xinming Design in 2016, signed with 深圳市华意空间实业有限公司; the brand now belongs to 深圳市华意整体家居有限公司. The logo is still in use.

What does the HUAYI SPACE logo mean?

The design starts from the side of a chair, whose outline is a lowercase h. The logo lays the initials h and y on their sides as two pieces of furniture standing on one floor line, in a 10 to 5 ratio. The letters are the name, the furniture is the industry, and the floor line is the space.

What kind of brand is HUAYI SPACE?

Founded in 2007, HUAYI SPACE is a premium home furnishing brand positioned as modern integrated home furnishing with an original spirit, covering living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, studies and tea rooms.

What are the HUAYI SPACE brand colours?

Copper orange, black (#312725) and grey (#727171); the HEX values for black and grey are converted from the RGB values in the design. The three colours correspond to copper, stone and concrete.

What did the project include?

The symbol, English wordmark and Chinese logotype, brand colours and material references, and applications including foil stamping, a metal logo, letterhead, business cards, brochures and the store facade.

Which brands can learn from this case?

Furniture and integrated home brands; manufacturers whose logo must convey both the name and the industry; and premium consumer brands whose stores and showrooms are key touchpoints and need a logo that works across materials.

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