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Pixnut

Brand Creation, Identity & Digital

ZTAYO

From an idea to a complete brand experience.

ZTAYO stationery: letterhead, cards and a purple folder

One brand idea. A consistent system across every expression.

Client
ZTAYO, a hospitality brand for stays and property management.
Engagement
Zero to One. Strategy & Identity, Digital & Experiences, Campaigns & Content.
Pixnut’s role
Positioning, voice, identity, guidelines, brochure, marketing and creative direction, website design and development.
Status
Live at ZTAYO.com.

The question

What does a hospitality brand need when nothing about it exists yet?

Project

The brief.

ZTAYO is a hospitality brand Pixnut built from zero: its positioning, voice, visual identity and guidelines, the “You need a break” campaign, and the website.

A zero-to-one assignment: nothing existed yet, so every part of the brand had to be decided, from what it stands for and how it speaks to how guests would first meet it.

  • Brand development, positioning and communication
  • Brand voice
  • Visual identity: the Z symbol, wordmark, colour and typography
  • Brand guidelines
  • Marketing and creative direction, including the “You need a break” campaign
  • Website design and development

Brand thinking

Key decisions.

The symbol
A Z that merges with a lightning bolt, for energy and momentum, with a hint of a mountain peak for elevation.
The voice
Confident, clear and approachable. The guidelines themselves are written in it.
Colour and type
A bright primary purple (#8830FF) grounded by a deep purple (#341263); Lexend for headings, Poppins for text.
Rules
Clear space, contrast-use logotypes, partner lock-ups and a list of things to avoid, so the identity holds as it spreads.

Identity

The marks.

The finished ZTAYO wordmark in white on deep purple, at the same size and position as the sketch
The ZTAYO wordmark constructed in pencil on a grid. The wordmark, from hand-drawn construction to finished form.

The system

Two purples, two typefaces, clear rules.

What lets the identity hold on a billboard, a key card and a booking site alike.

The ZTAYO wordmark on navy with its clear-space bars and construction grid
Clear space, measured from the letterforms.

Colour

  • Primary purple #8830FFEnergy: the symbol and key moments.
  • Deep purple #341263Grounding: backgrounds and depth.

Type

  • LexendHeadings and emphasis.
  • PoppinsBody text, with a defined hierarchy.

What the guidelines rule out

  • The ZTAYO symbol stretched horizontally
    Don't stretch it
  • The ZTAYO symbol with bevel and glow effects
    Don't add effects
  • The ZTAYO wordmark in yellow
    Don't recolour the wordmark
  • The correct ZTAYO wordmark in white on deep purple
    Use the wordmark as drawn

From the ZTAYO brand guidelines Pixnut wrote and delivered.

Visual language

The rules, end to end.

The ZTAYO brand guidelines website on an open laptop, opening on the title Brand logo guidelines.

About this website

The ZTAYO brand guidelines Pixnut wrote, published as a website: the Z symbol and its meaning, the wordmark, the two purples, the Lexend and Poppins pairing, clear space, contrast-use logotypes, partner lock-ups, things to avoid, and applications from the billboard to the room key card.

The website

The identity, live.

Sections of ZTAYO.com, the website Pixnut designed and built, as it runs today.

  1. One promise, first

    The homepage leads with what a guest gets, in the brand’s two purples and Lexend, with the campaign artwork beside it.

    The ZTAYO website homepage: Authentic Experiences Beyond Stays, with Book ztays and Gift an Escape buttons beside a collage of stays and ZTAYO campaign artwork

  2. Stays, booked direct

    Each offer gets its own section, written in the voice the guidelines set out.

    The ZTAYO website section Handpicked stays, booked direct with ZTAYO, beside a photograph of a glamping dome

  3. Two audiences, one brand

    Guests and property owners are spoken to separately, so the same identity carries both the stay and the management service.

    The ZTAYO website section Own a property? We will help run it, end to end, for the ZTAYO 360 management service

  4. The same site, on a phone

    The system holds on a small screen.

    The ZTAYO website homepage on a phone

Print

The brochure.

Twelve landscape pages that explain the business to property owners, in the same purples, type and lightning-bolt motif. Five of them, from the print file.

  • ZTAYO brochure cover: the ZTAYO logo in white on purple, with the line Bold Hospitality. Delivered.
  • ZTAYO brochure page: Helping boutique stays grow bigger, faster, beside a chat message and the lightning symbol
  • ZTAYO brochure page: Introducing ZTAYO, the wordmark filled with a photograph of a pool at dusk
  • ZTAYO brochure page: Why ZTAYO, with a list of reasons beside a glass question mark that ends in a key
  • ZTAYO brochure back page: the symbol in white on purple and the line You bring the keys, we bring the thunder.

Brand applications

  • A ZTAYO billboard in the hills reading You need a break
    The campaign: “You need a break.”
  • A ZTAYO room key card on a wooden tray by a pool
    Guest touchpoints.

Applications, shown as concepts.

In the client’s words

Pixnut brought clarity and character to the way we wanted ZTAYO to be seen. They went beyond designing a logo to create a visual identity that felt intentional, consistent and true to the brand we wanted to build.

Avinash V PPartner, ZTAYO
On recordWhere each claim on this page comes from.
  • DeliveredPositioning, voice, visual identity and brand guidelines.The ZTAYO brand guidelines, written and delivered by Pixnut.
  • DeliveredZTAYO.com, designed and built.Live at ZTAYO.com; captures taken from the running site.
  • DeliveredA twelve-page brochure for property owners.The print file.
  • ConceptBillboard, key card and mug applications.Shown as brand applications, not as documented deployments.
  • Not claimedBookings, revenue or growth after launch.No post-launch results are on record.

Related

How this kind of work is done.

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