Being an Italian graphic designer, it frequently happened to me to design brands for travel destinations. Among the various works produced through the years, one that involved me the most is undoubtedly the brand I designed for Favignana. The project is now featured at the Ampersand International Logo Exhibition in Budapest. I take this opportunity to tell you a little about my project and the 8 key factors I always consider when designing a travel destination brand.
Brand Design for a travel destination: Favignana
Favignana is one of the most beautiful and welcoming islands in the Mediterranean. It is located west of Sicily, half an hour by hydrofoil from Trapani. In recent years, the island has experienced a significant increase in tourist flows, becoming one of the main seaside destinations in the Italian Mediterranean. Anyone who wants to visit it can organise their trip through www.favignana.sicilia.it, a website that collects the best of Favignana’s offers and allows you to book hotels and holiday homes, exclusive restaurants and experiences.
To design the new brand for the Island’s website, I considered some crucial aspects you should always keep in mind while developing a brand design for a travel destination.
8 Key factors to consider for a travel destination brand design
Designing a brand for a travel destination is a delicate job that can last months. It requires a balance of creativity and strategy, considering the destination’s unique characteristics, target audience, and competitive landscape. With the Favignana brand, I focused on 8 key aspects:
1. The destination’s unique characteristics
The brand should reflect the unique characteristics of the destination, such as its natural beauty, cultural heritage, or historical significance. This will help to differentiate the destination from other travel options and make it more appealing to potential visitors.
2. The target audience
We should design the brand with the target audience in mind. If the destination is looking to attract young, adventurous travellers, the brand should express that peculiar quality. Since Favignana is a perfect destination for families, I designed the brand to appeal to both parents and children.
3. Competitive landscape
It’s important to understand the competitive landscape and identify the key players within it. This will help to inform the design choices and messaging used in the brand so that the destination can stand out from the competition. Here, the competition comprises other family-friendly beach destinations, so I made extensive research on their brand.
4. Brand Personality
The brand should have a clear and consistent personality that reflects the destination’s values and positioning. To achieve this, I hand-picked colours, typography, design imagery, and other graphic elements to convey the same message.
5. Consistency
The brand must be consistent across all touchpoints. The visual identity and messaging should be consistent in all marketing materials, including the website, advertising, print and packaging. This is especially true for Social Media, where different media formats must play as a whole.
6. Positive association
The brand should aim to create positive associations with the destination in the minds of potential visitors. We can achieve this through the use of colours, imagery, and messaging that evoke feelings of adventure, relaxation, or cultural discovery.
7. Flexibility
The brand should be flexible enough to adapt to changing market conditions, such as trends in travel or changes in the target audience. A brand for a territory has an average life of at least ten years and must be able to adapt to its territory’s evolution. As an example, while Favignana is famous for its collection of beaches and crystalline waters, many visit the island to taste Sicilian gastronomy or to explore the inland countryside of the island. More recently, given the renewed interest in the Florio family, the island has developed a new wave of cultural tourism.
8. Emotion
A strong branding strategy should tap into the emotions of potential visitors. People decide to travel based on emotions. They want to feel something special, and the brand should reflect that.
The Ampersand International Logo Exhibition in Budapest
Ampersand is one of the most famous international exhibitions dedicated to Logo Design. It is an annual event that occurs at the end of each year in Budapest, at the Nador Gallery, in the historic centre of the Hungarian capital. The 2021 edition will open on December 2nd and there is time to visit it until January 17th 2022.
