Pocket Design. The Exchange Hotel. Newcastle NSW

THE EXCHANGE
HOTEL

Services
Hand Drawn Logo
Brand Identity
Lettering Design
Illustration
Environmental Design
Gold Leaf Signage
Sign Painting

The Exchange Hotel is an iconic hotel in the Hunter Region operating since 1880. The hotel has a rich history in the area but needed a stronger brand position. They required a strong link to the community that visited the hotel regularly but also was searching for a new audience.

The Exchange Hotel Initially engaged Pocket Design to collaborate on the design of their entrance signage. Realising they needed more than this, Pocket were selected to provide a welcoming brand identity and gold leaf gilded signage for the interior and exterior of the hotel.

Learn more about the project

The Exchange has always been an iconic local to share a few laughs and quiet beverages with your closest of mates. It has seen generations of tradesman and young party goers frequent the hotel since it's early years of trade. We briefed the client on this mateship being the centre of the hotel's existence, which called for the humble Blue Heeler Cattle Dog to be introduced to share that strong sense of companionship and a good link to the history of the region.

Within the same year of The Exchange Hotels opening in 1880, the birth of the very first Blue Heeler Cattle Dog was bred within The Hunter region. The loyal and affectionate Blue Heeler was a fitting logomark to accompany the logotype.

A unique hand-drawn approach to the brand was created as a correct use of traditional lettering design. The custom typography within the logo uses a minimal spur serif to match a popular style of lettering used during the hotels birth but also in relevance to iconic Australian beer label design. Blocking and Shade effects were added in honour of traditional Australian pub signage but also to accentuate the lettering within the logotype.

A 23 karat Gold Leaf and Enamel logo was hand painted and gilded on the glass entry with two 23 karat gold with matt centre Blue Heeler Cattle Dogs on each door to welcome customers in. Gilded lettering was produced on 6 hanging sign panels to immediately advertise the hotel's core service of Beer, Burgers and Good Times.

Hand-painted and gilded 12 karat white gold lettering with decorative background effects on glass were created to run around all four sides of the front bar. Another iconic letter style was created using a slab serif to accentuate the history of the hotel while the amber liquid effect in the background fits perfectly well with the main beverage of choice enjoyed throughout the establishment.