OUR WORK
BAROS
Honing a Legend
Baros Maldives is an undisputed legend. This luxurious island resort has been a beacon of Maldivian hospitality for more than four decades. After starting out as a dive resort, today Baros represents the standard for luxury in the Maldives. How do you improve upon a brand with that kind of pedigree?
That was our challenge.
SERVICES
Brand Culture
Visual Identity
Tone of Voice
Website Development
BRAND CULTURE
Reimagining Baros
Forty years ago, when many were saying the Maldives could never succeed as a major tourism destination, Baros had already opened its doors. When the archipelago was still communicating with the outside world via Morse Code, Baros was wowing the Maldives’ earliest guests with warm hospitality and a vibrant house reef.
In 2017, Baros entrusted QUO with the task of encapsulating this rich heritage and unrivalled reputation in a new brand identity that also reflected its progressive spirit.
QUO worked closely with Baros to help refine its forward-thinking vision in a way that stayed true to its past. While the resort didn’t need a radical change in culture, there was a need, after more than 40 years, to ensure Baros didn’t become stale or content to rest on its laurels.
The result is an evolution of the brand that seamlessly blends its position as one of the Maldives’ original and best resorts with an enterprising, ever-evolving spirit.
VISUAL IDENTITY
Letting Natural Beauty Shine Through
How do you create a visual identity for a place so stunning it defies description? For our design department, the answer was to give Baros’ beautiful natural scenery and cosy interior decor plenty of room to breathe. Earthy greens and subtle browns communicate the hues of Baros’ natural palette, giving the brand a sophisticated, down-to-earth feel, while gold foil adds a glint of luxury and makes the logo ‘pop’ on print applications.
For the new logo, the ‘B’ mark features wave or shell patterns to reflect the resort’s island identity. The gold foil used for the mark reflects Baros’ lasting legacy as a ‘statesman’ of Maldivian hospitality, and of course, communicate luxury status. The rich green shade reflects the property’s towering palm canopy—a rare attribute in the Maldives, where many islands still have younger, less-developed gardens.
A resort that has been around for decades has a lot of well-established collateral, so naturally part of the Baros rebrand involved redesigning day-to-day operational items. A factsheet, brochure and spa menu were first to be produced with the new visual identity and brand voice. Items to follow included everything from name cards to flip-flops.
TONE OF VOICE
Giving Baros a Voice
To reflect Baros’ rich heritage and inherent warmth, QUO’s content department sought to develop a brand voice that was engaging in a classic way. The goal was to create a voice that would reinforce Baros’ status as a Maldivian legend, while conveying the island’s beauty in a traditional-yet-modern way.
The new brand voice recreates the magic of the Baros experience by appealing to the senses with imagery-rich prose that creates naturally spellbinding scenes. Elegant but warm and welcoming, this voice works seamlessly with the brand’s visual elements.
WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
Bringing Baros to the World
As one of the world’s leading luxury resorts, Baros didn’t ‘need’ an urgent website update to generate bookings—but to stay relevant in a market where competitors have sleek, modern sites, Baros had to make the change.
QUO’s digital team combined stunning imagery with a user-friendly interface, including high-res images, interactive galleries, crucial resort information and a floating booking button.
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