BRAND IDENTITY • BRAND STRATEGY • SIGNAGE • WAYFINDING
The Inn at Meadowbrook is a beautifully-appointed boutique hotel in the Kansas City suburb of Prairie Village, KS. We designed the brand identity for The Inn, as well as the brand identities for its two restaurants, Verbena, an upscale dining experience, and The Market at Meadowbrook, a casual market/restaurant.
Serving the hotel guests and the residential community, Verbena called for an identity that would fit nicely into the upscale atmosphere of The Inn and complement the surrounding 80-acre park with trees, lakes and trails.
Our branding process begins with wide exploration and then, as we develop the brand personality and strategy, we begin to narrow. In this case, the name Verbena heavily influenced our direction. Chef Owners Patrick and Joanne Quillec selected the name of the lovely, lemon-scented herb that grows on the Quillec farm and is incorporated into many of the main dishes, particularly seafood, desserts and cocktails.
Hummingbirds are plentiful in the Midwest, beginning in late Spring and into early Fall. Verbena is one of their favorite flowers, so we created a custom version of the brave and graceful little bird.
Inspired by the shape of a verbena leaf and the humming bird wing, a pattern began to emerge. We evolved the yellow of lemon verbena into a more modern citron while the V and N of Verbena were altered and made softer and more reminiscent of a verbena leaf. A foundation tone of midnight blue completes the mark and is also used in patterns, signage and other collateral.
