We started with conversation, not design. Through a collaborative workshop, we explored how the client defined luxury, evaluated examples from elevated brands, and identified the visual behaviors that felt authentic to Santa Monica.
Those insights became a new digital art direction built around restraint, editorial pacing, immersive imagery, and intentional motion. Existing brand assets were treated differently rather than replaced, including a new approach to typography and photography that created a more elevated visual language.
The experience was then structured as the journey of a luxury stay, from arrival to nightcap, allowing the page to tell a story rather than simply collect luxury offerings.
This project is actually a really good complement to Green Bay for the Curiosity application. Green Bay says I can develop an expressive campaign idea. Santa Monica says I can walk into an ambiguous creative problem, help define the direction, and then art direct the execution across UX, UI, imagery, typography, and motion.