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

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.

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

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

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.

Selected views

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

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

Guideline package

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

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

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.

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.

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.