The Beat Hotel: a small, run-down hotel in the Latin Quarter of Paris, gaining fame as the home of the extended family of Beat writers and artists who stayed there in the late 1950s and early ’60s. The likes of William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso, amongst others.
It’s modern-day equivalent, The Beat Hotel, taking both its name and inspiration from the original Paris spot, first opened as a stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2011. Since then, it’s acted a welcoming sanctuary for anyone who stumbles inside, with drinks, DJ’s line-up and chefs. Now, it’s heading to Morocco for a four-day festival in Marrakech in 2019, with local culture alongside international acts, chefs, artists and speakers.
Design studio Land of Plenty was brought on board to come up with a brand identity for the festival to cut through the saturated, cookie-cutter festival market and inspire a discerning audience.
The inspiration for the visual identity comes from both the Beat writers and poets who stayed at the original Paris hotel and the festival’s host city of Marrakech.
The brand logo is inspired by the fold-in technique developed by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin during their stays at the original hotel; the master typeface, Univers, was released by the French type foundry Deberny & Peignot in 1957, the first year that the writers took up residency at the Beat Hotel, and quotes from famous Beat writers, including Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, set the overall tone and language for the brand.
The secondary colour palette, headline typography and image selection meanwhile, reference the location, with rich, earthy tones, and Plaket, a typeface that takes cues from the original hand-painted sign of the TANGERINN, a Moroccan bolthole of the original Beats.
“Land of Plenty over-delivered and created stand out branding in a crowded marketplace,” says Dan Blackledge, Beat Hotel Director. “The website concept and social media assets helped us build a high impact launch that instantly resonated with our target audience."
