XpresSpa: Elevating an Airport Retail Brand
Art Director | Brand Identity, Packaging & Campaign Production
XpresSpa is an airport-based wellness and retail brand offering travelers a place to relax, recharge, and rejuvenate between flights.
As Art Director, I identified opportunities to strengthen the brand's visual identity, product presentation, and marketing communications. I initiated and directed creative projects spanning logo refinement, product photography, packaging design, and large-scale advertising campaigns.
My work focused on building a more cohesive, premium, and production-ready brand experience across airport retail locations.
During my tenure, XpresSpa expanded from 26 to 55 airport locations.
Redesigning the Identity: Going Against the Flow
XpresSpa offered something unexpected in an airport: an oasis of relaxation in an environment defined by stress, crowds, and discomfort.
I identified and initiated a logo redesign to solve critical legibility and production challenges while preserving the brand's established recognition.
My goal was to create an identity that could withstand demanding real-world applications while reinforcing XpresSpa’s distinctive positioning: going against the flow of the conventional airport experience.
Preserving Recognition. Reinforcing Meaning.
The identity refinement preserved XpresSpa's recognizable typography and gray-and-orange color relationship while replacing the irregular brushstroke with a precise airplane-inspired streak.
The original logo featured an expressive orange brushstroke beneath the wordmark. I replaced it with a controlled geometric treatment that incorporated an existing airplane-inspired design element.
The airplane deliberately travels from right to left—against the direction viewers might intuitively expect.
This choice reinforces XpresSpa's positioning as a brand that goes against the flow of the conventional airport experience. Where travelers expect crowds, stress, and discomfort, XpresSpa offers an oasis of relaxation and rejuvenation.
The redesign retained the brand's recognizable character while giving the identity a clearer, more purposeful expression.
Making the Identity Work Everywhere
Separating the lowercase “p” from the underline improves legibility in one-color applications.
The original brushstroke intersected the descender of the lowercase “p,” making it resemble a “D” in one-color applications.
I corrected the letterform collision by separating the “p” from the airplane streak and replacing the irregular brushstroke with controlled geometry.
These refinements improved legibility and made the identity more practical for fabricated signage, embroidery, print, and other demanding applications.
The Business Value
The redesign preserved XpresSpa’s established brand recognition while addressing the practical demands of a growing airport retail business.
By improving legibility, simplifying reproduction, and reinforcing the brand’s positioning, I created a more consistent and adaptable identity for use across physical and digital environments.
The result was a strategic refinement—not change for the sake of change.