Plum Orchard Inn Branding, Print, & Web Design
Plum Orchard Inn was the undertaking of my senior year Capstone course at the University of Illinois. What culminated in a fully fleshed-out brand system, collateral, website, and museum exhibition all began as a love letter to a island in Georgia where I spent many summer days as a kid, admiring the history and wild horses around me.
Plum Orchard is a historic mansion nestled in the Live Oak trees of Cumberland Island, a Georgia barrier island. 85-90% of the island is owned by the National Parks Services, making it a haven for wildlife and nature, as well as the legacy of the island’s storied history. Plum Orchard was once owned by the Carnegies, used as a winter home to escape from the city. It was a hub for entertainment and community. Now, it serves as a walk-through exhibition, however, it it vastly underutilized, and a lack of funding means a constant threat of the home falling into disrepair.
Brand System
Print Design
A Historic Reimagining
The Plum Orchard Inn project reimagines the home as a return to its glory days of being a hosting center for visitors of the island. Taking inspiration from the success conversion of another former Carnegie mansion on the island, Greyfield Inn, and the many historic hotels which previously thrived on Cumberland Island, Plum Orchard’s conversion to a hotel would enable funding for the preservation and maintenance of the space. This reimagination is centered around respecting both the history of and nature of the island, while also breathing new life into its legacy.
Web Design
Exhibition Design
When beginning to design the museum installation for Plum Orchard, the goal was to create an immersive space that replicated the feeling of a check-in desk at a boutique hotel. To create that look, I began by designing a full-scale recreation of an original wallpaper—a custom pattern created just for the Carnegies—to use as the backdrop. I then wanted to integrate a display of the room cards. I hand-produced 18 cards, printing, attaching the paper onto the cards, then attaching a gold tassel and vintage key. The goal was to emphasize the historic yet playful feeling of the property through this display. Vintage props such as the suitcase and telephone were carefully curated to match the brand image and colors. Museum guests can interact with the printed pieces to connect with the hotel and view the website live. The installation ultimately became an extension of the brand itself, inviting visitors to not only view the project, but to experience the atmosphere, history, and sense of escape that inspired Plum Orchard Inn.
