Studio X rebranded Mulian Hotels for KWG - one brand and signage system across 20 hotels in China.

Twilight view of The Mulian Hotel's entrance facade with illuminated canopy signage, storefronts, and street traffic in the foreground

Studio X rebranded The Mulian Hotel, an established mid-sized hotel group in China owned by developer KWG, and wrote the branding and signage guidelines its network was upgraded against.

Process

Pre-Concept

Concept Design

Schematic Design

Detail Design

Tender Documentation

Tender Management

Construction Support

Guideline Package

Post-Completion Review

The work covered the new logo and a tailor-made wordmark, brand graphics, print applications, brand tone of voice, and the website and overall digital look and feel - then the wayfinding and signage system that carried it into the buildings.

The tree icon was deliberately drawn asymmetrically to feel natural rather than corporate, and shown in fruit to signal the brand's confidence in its own future. The wordmark is built from a series of lines that create a rhythm, with rounded edges and minimal form. Because the point was never a single hotel, Studio X delivered guidelines for both the branding and the signage systems, so that KWG's own teams could execute an extensive upgrade across the network without us being present on every site.

Daytime view of The Mulian Hotel's facade and entrance canopy framed by trees, with street-level signage and parked cars

Integrated hotel signage extends across the façade, entrance canopy and freestanding wayfinding, creating a consistent bilingual identity from street to arrival.

Night view of The Mulian Hotel's illuminated ground-level signage reading THE MULIAN among landscaped trees

Studio X signage and branding define the hotel’s street presence, combining illuminated bilingual identity, layered monument signage and integrated landscape lighting.

Long-exposure dusk skyline view of The Mulian Hotel tower with light trails from traffic on the street below

Large-scale illuminated façade signage gives The Mulian Hotel a strong presence on the city skyline, extending the brand identity from street level to the building crown.

Design one hotel and you have a hotel. Write the guidelines and the client can build the rest without you - which is the point.

Daytime view of The Mulian Hotel's entrance canopy and glass facade with illuminated signage and street-level landscaping

Daytime street-level view of The Mulian Hotel's entrance canopy with illuminated signage and a colorful lattice-panel storefront beside it

Selected views

Brand marks, applications and signage elements developed for the Mulian identity and its rollout across the group.

Daytime street-corner view of The Mulian Hotel's facade with balcony windows, ground-floor entrance canopy, and street-level shopfronts

Close-up of The Mulian Hotel's illuminated canopy signage and glass entrance doors at night, with wood-slat ceiling detail

(Approach)An asymmetric tree, drawn in fruit. A brand mark for a hotel group that intended to grow.

Evening exterior of The Mulian Hotel's curved entrance canopy with illuminated signage and street-level storefronts

Guideline package

Extracts from the branding and signage guidelines issued to KWG for network-wide application.

Architectural elevation drawing proposing exterior sign placement on The Mulian Hotel's low-rise and tower building facades

Façade signage studies for The Mulian Hotel, coordinating large-scale illuminated branding across the building elevations for visibility at both street and city scale.

Signage design drawing for The Mulian Hotel showing a safety glazing graphic decal specification beside a glass entrance door elevation

Safety glazing graphics developed as part of the hotel’s wider signage language, using a simplified botanical motif to integrate compliance requirements into the interior design.

Signage design drawing for The Mulian Hotel showing restroom pictogram specifications beside a wood-paneled door elevation

Custom restroom identification signage uses a minimal graphic language and integrated material finish to sit discreetly within the hotel interiors.

Twenty Mulian hotels were in operation by 2024, built to guidelines Studio X wrote.

Daytime close-up of The Mulian Hotel's glass facade and entrance canopy with illuminated signage

The brand refresh and signage system were completed ahead of a major expansion programme, and many hotels have since been renovated using our design guidelines. KWG Group Holdings' 2024 ESG report records twenty Mulian-branded hotels in operation, thirteen directly operated and seven franchised. Studio X's scope ran from concept through schematic and detail design to the guideline package itself. The value to the client was never a single completed interior - it was a set of rules precise enough that a property team in another city could apply them without ambiguity, and consistent enough that a guest would recognise the brand wherever they encountered it.