With just five large rooms and “invisible service,” the new 404 Hotel in Nashville is a high-design hideaway just a few blocks away from the city’s bustling downtown scene, which makes it exactly the kind of place you’d want to stay to be in heart of the action but away from the noise.
Better still, you don’t have to brave crowds or tourists to tuck into a meal at one of the country’s best new restaurants, just take a few steps over on the hotel’s property to 404 Kitchen, which was a semi-finalist in the Best New Restaurant category of the 2014 James Beard Awards.
The graphic design for the hotel’s signage, print materials, and restaurant menus were created by Nashville studio Peck & Co. (New Yorkers will know their work for Lulu Cake Boutique, and we’re partial to their fun, illustrative work for Belgium’s Banana Jam, which manages to make baby food seem kinda cool.) We admire how designer Benji Peck created a cohesive visual identity with a handmade feel without veering into twee territory. The clean color palette is set off nicely by a bright red handstamp and tactile elements like a wooden clipboard. The whole system perfectly communicates the hotel and restaurant’s spare-yet-comfy vibe, a welcome antidote to the neon-studded nightlife Nashville is better known for.
