If you think the idea of someone doing your marketing and paying for the privilege is too crazy, think again! Social media continues to be a major driving force behind a company’s success, and with the technology at their fingertips, customers can find your business in a matter of minutes.
Retail and hospitality industries are at the forefront of social media attention, so have quickly proved the benefits of having a high profile on Instagram, and as the Insta Craze continues, hotels and restaurants are becoming more creative, audacious and sometimes borderline kitsch with their interiors. So do not be startled by a gigantic, Damien Hirst designed Christal Pegasus overhanging your dining table at the Brasserie of Light.
However, you don’t have to go to such extremes to catch the attention of Insta stars and social media influencers. There are more simple and accessible ways of creating a visually appealing Instagrammable interior.
Any professional photographer and amateur enthusiast will tell you that light is the most important factor in the process.
Bright overhead light might give you enough lumens for comfortable navigation of space, but it does very little in terms of creating a cosy and intimate ambience and even less for rendering a good photograph of your guests.
To ensure your Insta Stars look always the best and want to post and repost the photos of themselves in your establishment, install enough of ambient and accent light fixtures to achieve an even, balanced light distribution, ensuring that there are no dark pockets or bright spots.
To further improve the photogeneity, introducing texture and features to the walls is a proved, effective way of creating character.
Our London Brick wall panels are a great example of this and they continue to be extremely popular with designers. Not only do they help to achieve a classic and stylish look, but they also work extremely well in combination with artwork, neon lighting or print writing, creating a funky mural – a feature which has been highlighted as one of the main factors when creating an Instagrammable interior.
“An Instagram wall is now the standard request by every client we’ve spoken to,” said Scott Valentine, who has worked on hotel projects across Asia and the Middle East. “They want a wall people can take pictures in front of.”
At the other end of Insta-worthy decors are opulent and eclectic schemes. These interiors are all about shrewd mixing of styles, forms and textures and often would be home to a myriad of artwork and curiosities, providing plenty of opportunities for Insta moments.
In such interiors, white walls are often swapped for more moody and characterful dark colours. They may not be an ideal backdrop for portrait photos, but they compensate by creating an intimate and luxurious atmosphere and look equally great with neon signs and other lighting.
By adding a diverse selection of aged furniture and finishes you can create an illusion of a well-lived space, filled with a collection of art and objects accumulated over the years. To stretch this illusion further, choose materials that have a worn and uneven finish. Brick is perfect for this. They add depth, richness and a touch of bohemian luxury.
The importance of ceilings can be overlooked albeit they remain the largest unobstructed visible area in any given space. And whilst the owners of hotels and restaurants know they can’t afford to have badly designed or shabby ceilings, the impact that can be made with a clever design is often underestimated.
A well-designed ceiling can become just as important a part of your interiors as the walls. Nowadays, white plaster ceilings are slowly giving way to more natural and inviting wood. Increasingly popular wooden slatted ceilings not only make it easy to conceal the unsightly services and improve acoustics but also contribute to the overall ambience and help to maintain that warm, soft light loved by many photographers.
An effective ceiling design can also help to keep your overall concept cohesive, especially when the use of wall surfaces is limited. This café in the Shard injected fun and dynamism by installing feature MaxiBeams in a pattern echoing the forms of this iconic building.
Whilst this hotel opted to fit MaxiBeams over the entire ceiling area in their restaurant which has proven to be both practical and extremely photogenic.
Some argue that such an ocular approach does not represent a thoughtful and sensible design practice, and undervalues the appeal to other senses, but with 3.48 billion people who now use social media and 1 billion monthly active users of Instagram worldwide, you simply cannot afford to negate it.
Brittney Hart – design principal at Husband Wife says “Now everybody sees good design, everybody formulates an opinion, everyone thinks about what their work looks like photographed and everyone thinks about what the Instagrammable moment is in their work.”
If you are about to embark on the design of a hospitality or retail project, we can help you make the most of the space with our unique and characterful materials that have a huge visual appeal.
