chic&basic

A hotel chain that lives life in a playful way

chic&basic imagines, creates, and energizes conceptual hotels that propose a playful way of understanding life.

As part of their growth journey, they approached us with the intention of aligning all the elements of their brand under a single unifying idea. The result was “Playful Stays,” an umbrella concept that becomes the starting point for all hotel concepts and cultural initiatives launched by chic&basic.

In other words, what does a hotel inspired by 1950s cinema have in common with another one that presents a fresh, tropical world? Precisely this: they are both Playful Stays.

All the work we developed was gathered into a practical brand book that allows anyone to use the brand consistently and bring the concept to life across every touchpoint.

A verbal tone designed to play smart

When building the verbal identity, we constantly played with language, concepts, and double meanings. It’s our playground — a space for experimentation where formality takes a back seat, but surprise always has a seat at the table.

We did all of this while carefully respecting limits. We also aimed to give conversations a smart twist, provoke reactions, share intriguing facts, and make references to popular culture.

The brand’s mischievous voice

Alongside the verbal tone, one of the new elements we defined was a corporate typeface that helps us express the brand’s edgier side. This ensures that every headline filled with wordplay and every brand message carries its rebellious attitude.

A bold, artistic photographic tone

Our goal was to generate images that are artistic expressions in themselves — visuals with strength, that show more than just what appears in them, creating connections through intelligent boldness and irreverence.

Every player needs their playground

To organize all the brand’s elements, we created a visual system rich in meaning.

A playground that allows us to highlight the brand’s most playful content. It also serves as a starting point for other branded materials — posters, web details, and more.

A simple, memorable, and flexible system that helps us build and amplify the brand’s meaning while bringing all visual and verbal identity elements together in a balanced way.

A concept built to provoke

When COVID-19 hit, the hotel sector suffered a severe blow. chic&basic was forced to close all its hotels and continuously adapt its communications and services during the phases of reopening.

To unify all communication efforts during the crisis, we created the umbrella concept “Be contagious”, which championed the playful attitude as a lifestyle and a form of rebellion.

Following this slogan, we launched several digital actions and others inside the hotels encouraging people to spread the positive, cheeky spirit of chic&basic.