The Making of a Premium Travel Brand

Building the Smart Luxury Brand

When I joined Sherman's Travel as Creative Director, Smart Luxury Travel was a premium publication created for subscribers of Sherman's Travel, a discount travel website. Its purpose was to inspire customers with luxury destinations and reposition the brand beyond discount travel, showing that exceptional travel experiences could still offer outstanding value.

There was just one problem. While the publication aspired to feel premium, it relied heavily on expensive stock photography, resulting in an inconsistent visual identity that felt generic and ultimately more downmarket than luxury.

Rather than simply redesigning the publication, I rebuilt it as a cohesive brand, rethinking the photography model and visual system to create a more premium experience while significantly reducing production costs.

Changing the photography model

Photography established the personality of the publication. The visual system ensured every issue felt like part of the same brand. I developed the colour palette, typography, editorial layouts and art direction into a cohesive design language that reinforced a consistent premium experience across every touchpoint.

Every cover was treated as a story rather than a destination. Instead of simply showcasing a location, we combined travellers, fashion and place to create editorial concepts that invited readers into the experience, making the publication feel less like a travel catalogue and more like a premium lifestyle brand.

The Smart Luxury Awards shoot

For the Smart Luxury Awards issue, we had even less to work with, so we leaned into concept. The campaign followed a single jetsetter moving through the world the publication celebrated. The cover placed her on an airport tarmac beginning her journey, while each feature section created a new destination using a hand illustrated backdrop and a single hero prop.

A European street lamp introduced city escapes. A bar stool represented restaurants. An oversized lobby chair became luxury hotels. A sculpture borrowed from a local gallery defined cultural experiences. By stripping each scene back to its essentials, we created an editorial campaign that felt far more ambitious than the production budget suggested.

Branding the visual system

Creating a premium publication wasn't just about better photography. It required a visual system that could scale consistently across every issue. I developed the colour palette, typography, editorial layouts and art direction into a cohesive brand language that ensured every touchpoint reinforced the same premium experience.

The logo, monogram and supporting brand assets shown here complete the vision, demonstrating how the identity could extend beyond the publication into a broader travel brand.

Extending the Brand Digitally

As Smart Luxury Travel evolved, the company identified an opportunity to extend the brand into a dedicated section within the Sherman's Travel website. I designed responsive experiences across desktop, tablet and mobile that carried the publication's editorial storytelling, photography and visual identity into digital, expanding the reach of the publication while supporting a more connected journey from inspiration to booking

Key takeaway Brand is built through consistent experiences, not individual assets. By bringing together photography, visual identity and digital design, I transformed a publication into a cohesive brand that elevated its premium positioning while significantly reducing production costs.