Pod help us: Designworks’ no-nonsense brand for pod-style hostel LyLo embraces simplicity and soul

In an active effort to reinvent the public image of hostels, following not only the general misconceptions behind the sociable lodging but the travel industry’s necessary financial recovery following COVID, Australasian hotelier LyLo offers what the savvy traveller is looking for – a quality place to stay that won’t burn a hole in your pocket. Manifesting in beautifully crafted, pod-style accommodation, LyLo hopes to appeal to a broad spectrum of patrons, from both local and international travellers, in part due to the democratisation of quality accommodation, and likewise due to its no-nonsense identity, courtesy of Auckland-based creative studio Designworks.

Led by the notion of simplicity with soul, Designworks’ approach to branding LyLo mirrored the hostel’s own restrained methodology – only ever including what feels necessary, whilst simultaneously conveying the character and candour expected from the organisation. As such, the studio implemented an elementary yet ultimately engaging amalgam of system, colour and type, led by Agipo from Radim Pesko as the hero typeface for the brand.

“We wanted a typeface that could channel the energy and youthfulness behind the name,” Senior Designer Liam Ooi tells us, recalling the reasoning behind the brand’s choice of typeface. “The Bold Condensed style is a perfect match for Lylo’s punchy, rhythmic brand language,” he adds, noting the personality-driven verbal identity integral to the hostel’s tone of voice, a vibe mirrored in the welcoming colour choices. “The strength of Agipo means it can do a lot of the heavy lifting and makes it easy for the LyLo team to use day-to-day,” Ooi continues, concluding, “I’d also been wanting to use Agipo for a while, so it was great to finally find the right project for it!”

Due to the tactility of Lylo’s brand, whereby the majority of its touchpoints exist physically within the hostel’s spaces, Designworks ensured the material choices of the signage were satisfying, and the iconographic system behind them was equally engaging and practical – resulting in a bespoke numeral and icon set, powerfully crafted to exist IRL. “LyLo’s pod rooms are the main differentiator in the local Australia/New Zealand market,” the studio details, whereby curves are engineered across the interior spaces.

“We wanted our wayfinding system to be sympathetic to this, rather than competing for attention,” they continue, explaining their process of drawing the custom numbers based on the same custom grid system as the wayfinding icons. “It’s helped us draw a strong distinction between the consumer face of the brand,” Designworks suggest, “and the physical experience of staying at LyLo,” noting the necessity for LyLo’s practicality and personality to sit together harmoniously. “Moments of human interaction, like the Check-In desk, bring Agipo through for a bit more fun,” Designworks conclude, “but otherwise the wayfinding system is a separate (but connected) layer of the brand system.”

Designworks