Rua Makham Villa is a seaside hotel located in Cha-Am, Thailand. Situated directly across from the Gulf of Thailand and Cha-Am Beach, the hotel offers a quiet, private vacation experience for those seeking a place of refuge to relax and enjoy the ocean and nature. Rua Makham Villa provides an experience that takes you down Cha-Am's historical currents, offering guests the perfect mix between local and authentic Thai culture, comfort, and relaxation.
The grounds are made up of individual, private bungalows that guests can rent out individually or as a group, taking advantage of the intimate atmosphere of small scale housing estates and combining it with a stunning ocean view.
Keeping with the relaxed and peaceful experience that Rua Makham Villa aims to offer, the branding for the hotel had to likewise project a sense of mindfulness, reflect its beachfront location and views, and subtly incorporate an element of the local culture.
Some of the main concepts that the logo were to embody were movement and fluidity as well as representing both its ocean views and the high number of tamarind ("makham") trees on the property, from which Rua Makham Villa gets its name. Tamarind is also a common ingredient featured in Thai cooking, and in the Buddhist tradition, it symbolizes faithfulness and forbearance. These two elements of land and sea were also reflected in the blues and greens chosen for the color palette.
The key was to keep the branding sophisticated and contemporary but still approachable - this was done by combining luxe touches of gold foil and a deep and rich color palette with broad areas of negative space and a simplified tamarind leaf pattern.
The logomark, specifically the shape of the "r" and the undulating, organic lines, were designed to reference waves and the ocean. The logo itself was handlettered in order to impart a more human element in addition to softening the lines and keeping it more approachable rather than too harsh or perfect. This was further paired with a traditional serif typeface to impart another element of sophistication.