For Good Design Lab creates a tactile brand world for Heartful packed with warmth

Heartful wants to do things differently. In “welcoming a new era for short-term accommodation,” Heartful is creating space for rentals that are focused on community and are thoughtful about their impact on the environment. It’s a home for short stays that are different from the rest – they’re warm and welcoming, carefully put together, and are gentle on the land they stand on. To reflect its committed approach, Heartful reached out to For Good Design Lab to not just craft its brand story, but also bring it to life through a tasteful visual world.

For Founder & Creative Director Daniel Sammut, the entire exercise began with outlining why Heartful matters and what they’re best at. “The visual approach was deeply rooted in Heartful’s purpose – reimagining the way we stay for a sustainable and inclusive future,” Sammut tells us. For him and the team, it was important to reclaim the sense of connection that’s been lost in the commercialisation of holiday rentals. “The visual approach needed to reflect being part of a community – connecting with your host, immersing yourself in the local area, and creating a space where everyone feels at home,” Sammut explains. It was also important for Heartful to stand out, as he says, “not only from major players but also from competitors focused on “nature-based” aesthetics. To do this, we leaned into Heartful’s distinct personality.”

The story behind the brand led Sammut in many directions, exploring the vast possibilities before arriving at a solution that’s beautiful in its simplicity. Case in point – a heart icon, made up of parts, that only reveals itself when four of the abstract shapes come together. The shape itself is based on a lowercase ‘h,’ and to some, could even look like a house or a chair, “both fitting symbols for Heartful,” says Sammut. “I wanted to symbolise the idea that the community is greater than the sum of its parts, which is represented in the revealing of the heart in the negative space,” he adds. “I also wanted to build on Heartful’s memorable name, so incorporating a heart in the logo was the obvious, but correct approach.”

The patterns also become great vehicles to add colour or texture, bringing more nuance to the visual take. At the same time, they add a vibrancy to the brand that speaks to its approachability. It can be turned into an abstract tesselated pattern, or a strip made up of a single row of hearts that holds the wordmark within it. The wordmark itself is set in a customised version of Family from Klim Type Foundry. “Family is a beautiful typeface that, to me, displays a warm and welcoming tone, whilst still feeling mature and sophisticated, which are the exact characteristics we needed to communicate through the brand,” says Sammut. The characters were tended to – for example, the ‘rt’ and ‘fu’ ligatures were crafted with care, and the slab serifs of the ‘H’ were built to mirror the shape of the edges of the icon.

Through the rest of the brand, Sammut paired Family with Commercial Type’s Graphik for smaller copy, and introduced painterly illustrations by Jackson Joyce to create a sense of warmth. The illustrations go a long way in building the brand world; scenes of homes and a family gathered around a dinner table speak poignantly to what Heartful offers – essentially a place for gathering and sharing memories. “These illustrations tell stories of community – like a family holiday or the genuine connection between hosts and guests – bringing the brand’s values to life,” Sammut explains. “Through these visual elements, we aimed to capture the personal, human side of Heartful, reinforcing its focus on inclusivity and meaningful relationships.”

Jackson Joyce, as Sammut points out, was the perfect collaborator for this project, with his hand-painted illustrations adding a touch of tactility to the brand. “His rich use of colour added vibrancy and warmth, while his style created a sense of personality and approachability,” says Sammut. Joyce’s thick strokes of colour, patchy mixes between hues, and strong, vibrant shadows add a filmic quality to the scenes that makes the brand’s story that much richer to experience.