Responsive website · Brand identity · Sales materials
Responsive website · Brand identity · Sales materials
Aiva. A responsive website that makes hotel AI feel like hospitality.
Aiva’s first site was built for investors and scared the hoteliers it needed to sell to. In under three weeks I designed a new one for every screen, and the brand underneath it.
Aiva’s first site was built for investors and scared the hoteliers it needed to sell to. In under three weeks I designed a new one for every screen, and the brand underneath it.
Client
Client
Aiva, hospitality tech.
Aiva, hospitality tech.
Role
Role
Sole designer, working directly with the founders.
Sole designer, working directly with the founders.
Scope
Scope
Research, brand, web, responsive, sales materials.
Research, brand, web, responsive, sales materials.
Timeline
Timeline
Sept to Oct 2026.
Sept to Oct 2026.
The website
The website
Show the evening. Don’t explain the algorithm.
The site leads with the guest, not the tech. Instead of explaining Aiva, it lets a hotelier live one rainy evening at a resort and watch it become the best dinner of the stay.
The site leads with the guest, not the tech. Instead of explaining Aiva, it lets a hotelier live one rainy evening at a resort and watch it become the best dinner of the stay.
The founders wanted a postcard for conferences. My answer: small pills on each guest, threaded through every section until they become insights. The page shows what Aiva does: it connects everything.
The founders wanted a postcard for conferences. My answer: small pills on each guest, threaded through every section until they become insights. The page shows what Aiva does: it connects everything.
The brief
The brief
The product worked. The way it was explained lost the buyer before the first call.
Aiva connects the systems a hotel already runs and turns them into the right offer at the right moment. Its first site spoke to investors: agents, intelligence layers.
Aiva connects the systems a hotel already runs and turns them into the right offer at the right moment. Its first site spoke to investors: agents, intelligence layers.
The buyer is a hotelier who has trusted the same systems for decades. To him, AI talking to guests sounds unluxurious.
The buyer is a hotelier who has trusted the same systems for decades. To him, AI talking to guests sounds unluxurious.
An invisible product
An invisible product
Everything happens behind the scenes.
Everything happens behind the scenes.
The wrong audience
The wrong audience
Every asset spoke to investors.
Every asset spoke to investors.
A real deadline
A real deadline
A conference, and nothing to hand out.
A conference, and nothing to hand out.
“We really want to not feel like a vibe-coded startup.”
Aiva co-founder
Here is how I got from that brief to the site, told backwards.
Here is how I got from that brief to the site, told backwards.
Rewind · Refinement · Layer 3
Rewind · Refinement · Layer 3
Every iteration moved one step closer to the hotelier.
Iteration 1 led with numbers. It still sounded like a pitch.
Iteration 1 led with numbers. It still sounded like a pitch.
Iteration 2 led with the guest and one evening.
Iteration 2 led with the guest and one evening.
The final site kept the story and added the stack, the conversation and the insights.
The final site kept the story and added the stack, the conversation and the insights.
Rewind · The brand
Rewind · The brand
Before the site could speak hospitality, the brand had to.
The mark
The mark
A star that borrows the dot from the i, next to a wordmark in Forma DJR Display. The founders' "sixth star" kept its meaning and lost the caption. Petrol and sage: calm enough for a five-star lobby, never a tech logo.
A star that borrows the dot from the i, next to a wordmark in Forma DJR Display. The founders' "sixth star" kept its meaning and lost the caption. Petrol and sage: calm enough for a five-star lobby, never a tech logo.
The explorations
The explorations
Before that, bolder directions. Each palette was tested on the logo, the symbol, a guest moment and an ad, so the founders could choose by feeling, not by swatch. The bold ones looked like a lifestyle app. The quiet one looked like a hotel.
Before that, bolder directions. Each palette was tested on the logo, the symbol, a guest moment and an ad, so the founders could choose by feeling, not by swatch. The bold ones looked like a lifestyle app. The quiet one looked like a hotel.
What stayed
What stayed
Petrol for trust, cream and blue grey to breathe, and one rule that carries the story: sage only appears when Aiva arrives. On the site, on paper, everywhere.
Petrol for trust, cream and blue grey to breathe, and one rule that carries the story: sage only appears when Aiva arrives. On the site, on paper, everywhere.
Petrol
#1C4457
Sage
#BCD2A7
Blue grey
#C6D1D9
Cream
#F6F3EB
White
#F6F6F6
The same system, on paper
The same system, on paper
Two one-pagers for the founders' conferences, each telling one evening instead of a feature list: a rainy Tuesday at the buffet, a massage asked for before check-out. Same illustrations, same sage moment, same voice as the site.
Two one-pagers for the founders' conferences, each telling one evening instead of a feature list: a rainy Tuesday at the buffet, a massage asked for before check-out. Same illustrations, same sage moment, same voice as the site.
Rewind · Co-creation · Layer 2
Rewind · Co-creation · Layer 2
Drafts first, so we debate the message, not the colour.
Low-fidelity drafts first, then options with a clear recommendation.
Low-fidelity drafts first, then options with a clear recommendation.
Scope
Scope
Brand first, site on top. Nothing redone.
Brand first, site on top. Nothing redone.
The star
The star
A logo that needs no caption.
A logo that needs no caption.
The story
The story
The founders’ pitch, told without them in the room.
The founders’ pitch, told without them in the room.
Rewind · Empathy · Layer 1
Rewind · Empathy · Layer 1
It started with listening for the hotelier’s vocabulary.
The biggest finding was language: the same product can sound like a threat or like good service.
The biggest finding was language: the same product can sound like a threat or like good service.
Words that lose him
Words that lose him
AI agents
AI agents
Automation
Automation
Intelligence layer
Intelligence layer
Operating system
Operating system
“Talks to your guests”
“Talks to your guests”
Words he already uses
Words he already uses
Guests
Guests
The stay
The stay
Your team
Your team
The right moment
The right moment
Nothing new for your team to learn
Nothing new for your team to learn
Insight 01
Insight 01
The value is the intelligence, not the channel.
The value is the intelligence, not the channel.
Insight 02
Insight 02
Nothing gets replaced.
Nothing gets replaced.
Insight 03
Insight 03
One story beats ten features.
One story beats ten features.
How I work
How I work
Played forward, it is three layers and one conversation.
01 Empathy
01 Empathy
Listen to the business and the buyer.
Listen to the business and the buyer.
02 Co-creation
02 Co-creation
Validate the message before the visual.
Validate the message before the visual.
03 Refinement
03 Refinement
Turn every conversation into design.
Turn every conversation into design.
Reflection
Reflection
Reflection
The hardest problem was vocabulary. Once I found the hotelier’s words, every visual decision followed: teach a complex product through one good story.
The hardest problem was vocabulary. Once I found the hotelier’s words, every visual decision followed: teach a complex product through one good story.