︎
Capella Sydney
Capella Sydney, a premier property within the Capella Hotel Group, is located in a heritage-listed building in Sydney, Australia. The property features three ground-level food and beverage outlets: Brasserie 1930, McRae Bar, and Aperture.
Named for its light-bathed openness to the sky, Aperture offers an all-day dining experience curated by Executive Chef Gabriele Taddeucci.
Parable’s visual branding outcome articulates the gentle impressions of light and movement guests are surrounded by, as they dine beneath moving blooms and skylight from sunrise to sunset.
With its combination of historical elegance, modern amenities, and a focus on cultural authenticity, Capella Sydney offers an unparalleled experience for both business and leisure travellers. For more information, visit their official website: Capella Sydney.
Summary of Work:
-
Collaborated on brand strategy and visual identity development for Capella Sydney's signature dining venues, and led storytelling and visual branding for Aperture
-
Conducted on-site research in Sydney to incorporate cultural and historical context into brand direction
-
Developed brand positioning using brand archetype framework, creating a distinctive brand persona that aligned with luxury positioning
-
Created key brand stories and archetypal keywords that serve as a guide for Aperture's internal marketing team's strategy and customer service philosophy
-
Led naming process resulting in "Aperture," reflecting the space's natural light features and culinary concept
- Designed comprehensive visual identity system and brand guidelines optimized for international clientele
Visual Strategy Development
Before any visual direction was set, the brand team conducted on-site research in Sydney — not to visit the restaurant space itself (it was still under construction), but to analyse the competitive landscape.
We visited comparable luxury F&B venues to study their physical brand touchpoints: menu design, OS&E, branded collateral, and spatial identity. That research informed both the strategic positioning and the visual benchmarks for Aperture.
To compensate for not being able to experience the space directly, we requested interior design mockups and FF&E and OS&E specifications from the client — ensuring the visual identity would be designed to cohere with the physical environment it would eventually live in.
From here I selected the brand’s colours, and created brand narratives to guide the visual branding process.
Typeface Pairing Selection
TT Hoves was selected after identifying a clear pattern across luxury F&B competitors: the dominant typographic choice at this tier was the humanist geometric sans-serif. The category had a visual language, and legibility within that language mattered for positioning. TT Hoves aligned Aperture with that typographic culture without being derivative.
Exposure, designed by Federico Parra Barrios, was chosen for its conceptual resonance. The typeface borrows its name and central principle from photography — its variable axis adjusts the intensity of light affecting the letterforms, ranging from underexposed (heavy, dark, counterforms collapsing) to overexposed (the outline dissolving as if burned by light).
TT Hoves was selected after identifying a clear pattern across luxury F&B competitors: the dominant typographic choice at this tier was the humanist geometric sans-serif. The category had a visual language, and legibility within that language mattered for positioning. TT Hoves aligned Aperture with that typographic culture without being derivative.
Exposure, designed by Federico Parra Barrios, was chosen for its conceptual resonance. The typeface borrows its name and central principle from photography — its variable axis adjusts the intensity of light affecting the letterforms, ranging from underexposed (heavy, dark, counterforms collapsing) to overexposed (the outline dissolving as if burned by light).
“A sensorial showcase of art, nature and cuisine.”
The logomark was not treated as a separate element from the wordmark — it was designed to be part of the same visual language.
The aperture logomark’s line properties were modified to reflect the characteristics of Exposure, ensuring that the logomark and the wordmark felt like they came from the same hand rather than sitting beside each other.
A uniformly weighted vector version was tested against the modified version to validate the decision visually.
Initially, I experimented with more interesting grid systems and type layouts that created a sense of swaying movement, reminescent of light and greenery shifting in the breeze.
As a luxury restaurant updates its menu seasonally, a solution that allowed for ease of updating and operational realities was prioritised.
The final print direction suggested the client use Colourplan Pistachio for all the menu pages. This was a paper stock we confirmed would be easy to source in Sydney by the team managing aperture at Capella Sydney.
END OF DOCUMENTATION