Role
Contract Brand Designer
Client
Hula
Goal
Expanded and systematized an existing brand foundation for a Burlington co-working space, creating a functional design system that empowered the in-house team to create on-brand work confidently.
Challenge
Hula is a beautiful co-working space in Burlington, Vermont: state-of-the-art workspaces, activities, healthy food, and a hub for the local startup community. But the team was struggling. They had a logo, three colors, a font, and brand documentation that spoke only to feeling without providing concrete direction.
They initially reached out for help creating templates. But templates alone wouldn’t solve the problem. What they really needed was a bridge: a design system that would transform scattered brand pieces into a puzzle they could solve themselves.
The challenge wasn’t just creating assets. It was creating clarity, confidence, and capability for the team.
Process
I started with a discovery call that included all stakeholders: the CEO, content creator, program manager, and creative director. From there, I provided three distinct visual directions with examples applied to specific templates.
Once we aligned on a direction, I got to work. I expanded the existing color palette by adding a warm beige tone that created a friendly, welcoming warmth the brand had been missing. I codified clear guidelines on when to use the primary and secondary logos, and established a typography hierarchy with specific rules on when to use which of the two fonts.
Solution
The final brand guidelines document now serves as a guiding star (not just inspiration, but instruction). A full set of iconography prepares internal creators for every possible messaging need and feels uniquely Hula. A starter set of 30 templates spanning social media, printed in-house pieces, brochures, out-of-home designs, emails, and presentation decks, jump starts content creation for future needs.
The real work was in the system itself: building rules and patterns that the team could follow, adapt, and own.
This project was about brand expansion: taking pieces and building a puzzle. The team went from feeling stuck to feeling empowered, and the brand went from scattered to systematic.
Results
The impact was immediate and measurable:
- Increased membership sign-ups following the rollout
- Feedback from current members noting clearer, more cohesive communications
- In-house team feedback that the templates were significantly easier to use and adapt