Julio simón

This is the rebrand for Utopic Villa, a short-term rental company with properties across California, Miami, Arizona, and San Sebastián.

I worked as Art Director on this project, leading all visual execution and translating brand strategy into cohesive experiences across digital and physical touchpoints. This included visual identity development, art direction for photography and video, social media content strategy, and translating the rebrand into physical villa experiences.

Utopic Villa is a short-term rental company with properties across California, Miami, Arizona, and San Sebastián. The brand needed a refresh that could translate its positioning into a visual system strong enough to work across multiple locations and touchpoints.

This rebrand covered brand strategy, visual identity, digital presence, and physical applications across all properties.

The brand concept centers on selling the "permanent vacation feeling" across every touchpoint, regardless of season or location.

We drew from the environment itself: sun, cocktails, pools, warm light. These elements became the brand's visual language, creating an aspirational yet tangible identity.

The idea was simple: even before booking, the brand experience should feel like vacation. Not just a place to stay, but the feeling itself.

The art direction focused on creating a sensorial experience through visuals and language. Every application, from website to social media, reinforced the same message: these aren't accommodations for your vacation: the villas are the vacation.

I developed the visual system to feel warm, aspirational, and experiential. Photography direction, color palettes, and layout systems were designed to evoke that "always on vacation" state of mind.

Destination is the first decision in any vacation, so we made location identity a core brand element.

Drawing from the "hotel stars" concept, we created flower-based icons representative of each city. Each location has its own visual marker, creating differentiation while maintaining brand cohesion.

Being involved early in each villa's development allowed us to translate the brand into physical spaces. The goal was to highlight each property's unique features while maintaining a cohesive brand experience.

I led the visual translation to interiors, working with the architecture and design teams to ensure brand consistency across all properties. This included art direction for property photography, styling guidance, and spatial applications of the visual identity.

To make the experience fully sensorial, I created mood boards and curated Spotify playlists for each villa. The idea: guests should feel the vibe before they even book.

Social media became a key driver of traffic to the website and booking pages. I led content strategy and visual direction for Instagram, mixing property highlights with lifestyle content that reinforced the brand's essence.

The feed was curated to feel cohesive and aspirational, translating the "permanent vacation" concept into scroll-stopping content that brought the brand to life.