Meet the business
Holly Hudson spent four years building The Beauty Room into the kind of business regulars recommend without being asked. Somewhere around year four she admitted the thing business owners usually only admit to themselves in the bathroom mirror… she’d outgrown it. The room was built for aesthetics and tailored to women, while her vision had grown to cover the whole person, regardless of gender.
So she moved, rethought everything and planted something new in East Keilor’s Centreway, HUB Skin Wellness Pilates, where skin science, movement and social inclusion share one very intentional roof. A space for everyone, from the toe-dippers to the serious-results crowd, built on one belief… wellness looks different on everyone (and her clients’ version of success isn’t just encouraged, it’s the whole purpose).
The moment
In Holly’s words, “After trading in the beauty industry for four years, I made the decision to relocate and undergo a complete rebranding and conceptual overhaul.”
Most rebrands change how a business looks, this one changed what the business was. New name, new suburb, new concept, new offering, and in the branding discovery, we uncovered the kind of care that tells you everything about the founder. Her three favourite brands (for the record), Aesop, Mecca and (hear her out) McDonald’s. Restraint, considered service and knowing your audience stone cold, a founder who admires brands that don’t shout has already told you exactly how to build hers.
What was really going on
Underneath the confident concept sat a real tension. She wanted HUB to feel elevated and she flat out refused to let it feel exclusive… a warm front door for the person dipping a first toe into wellness (and serious enough for the person chasing clinical results). She’d watched her clients drown in the confusing heaviness of wellness advice, a market busy selling quick fixes to slow progress problems and she wanted HUB to hand them calmness and clarity instead. Competitors nearby had polish, budgets and renowned interior designers. What they lacked, in her words, was a heartbeat.
So the brand had a double brief, hold the quality and never lock the door.
"Having observed Sarah's work on previous projects and engaging in conversation with her, I felt confident that she truly comprehended my needs and had the expertise to help me realise my vision."
The discovery
Holly arrived without a mission statement (her answer: “I have not created one yet but want to”), but in the discovery we found the one she’d been running on all along… HUB exists to provide wellness that lasts beyond the appointment – sustainable, real results achieved by many contributors under one roof. Her values (which she’d asked for help naming) landed as three she recognised on sight, integrity, empowerment, commitment.
She knew her target audience like the back of her hand. A woman in her late forties who moves every day and fears the day she can’t, walks and yoga on the weekend, Lorna Jane on the school run, previously sold quick fixes when what she wanted was a plan. Holly’s services and pricing are designed around the drop-off and pick-up rhythms of the three big schools nearby (that’s a founder who knows her community down to the bell times).
The brand feels the discovery locked in, elegant, timeless, wholesome, fresh, approachable, welcoming, connected. Elegant AND approachable, held together ON purpose (it’s a double brief).
Behind the name
Holly arrived with HUB already on her mind and the discovery’s job was to prove the name was carrying its weight (it was). A hub is the point everything turns around, many contributors, one roof, one client at the centre. The tagline does the juicy labelling underneath, “Skin – Wellness – Pilates”, three doors into the same sanctuary. She’d built a place devoted to the whole person and the name had quietly been saying so the entire time.
Behind the logo
Here’s the part you’d never guess from the outside… the mark is the client.
The circle in the logo is her, mid-journey. The h is the portal she walks in through, one state of mind, one kind of tired. The b is the portal she walks out through, transformed from the inside out… positive, uplifted, empowered. A full Elle Woods arc, minus the LSAT. And the continuous line encasing the letters never breaks, not even between the h and the u, because her journey doesn’t pause at neat exits and the brand refuses to draw her any stops. Curves for trust, circles for continuity, all of it processed at a level no client will ever consciously clock.
Turn the mark upside down and it reads as a person slumped over a desk, not very happy at all. Flip it the right way up and they’re walking through the door… frown (quite literally) turned upside down. That’s the entire business in one rotation.
Beneath skin, wellness and pilates sits the quietest shape in the whole mark, a simple rectangle. HUB’s clients are the heart and soul of why the business exists and every decision answers to them, the way the client journey is curated, the services and products chosen, the finer details of the experience before, during and after a visit. The rectangle is that promise drawn, a solid foundation, a haven, a safe and inclusive space where clients arrive exactly as they are and get to be themselves.
The details fought intentionally for their places. HUB in capitals kept impersonating another Melbourne business entirely, so lowercase it stayed. A serif was tried and retired for reading too regal, HUB had to be luxe the way Aesop and Mecca are luxe (Holly’s own favourites), never so polished the everyday person feels underdressed at the door. The palette landed as nude, sage, emerald, charcoal and linen. Greens in near-monochrome for natural harmony, trust and health, the nude bringing skin and softness, masculine and feminine energy in deliberate, delicate dance because HUB was never a women-only room. Even the charcoal is a decision, black text shouts (and nothing at HUB shouts).
The system
Full visual rebrand
The logo overhauled and built into a complete suite of variations, fonts, colours and imagery.
Visual style guidelines
Defining the application rules of the brand’s look and feel.
A suite of illustrations and graphic elements throughout
Patterns for the supporting layer
Social media Canva templates
Creative direction for styling graphics across multiple platforms, keeping the vision and the aesthetics consistent
"Not being particularly tech-savvy, I initially had concerns about engaging in a fully digital arrangement. However, working with Sarah proved to be incredibly smooth and seamless. We utilised user friendly apps and prompts that made it easy for us to interact and provide feedback, including digital presentations."
The outcomes
Holly’s own summary of the launch: “Thanks to our revamped digital presence, we’ve seen a major boost in brand awareness, increased booking numbers, and increase in revenue.” In a word… bloominous.
“Each element from colours, visuals, logo and messaging authentically represents who we are and resonates with our ideal clientele.”
Increased booking numbers, per her summary above.
A major boost in brand awareness
“I am absolutely thrilled and I couldn’t speak anymore highly of my experience with you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me bring my vision to life.”
The season now
Holly’s horizon is refreshingly her own. The go-to wellness destination in Melbourne’s north-west within a year, a city-wide reputation for tailored results within five (and no empire plans, ever). Her brand discovery groundwork says it plainly… no goal to expand to multiple locations or spread the brand thin, just a consistently positive experience for her clients. Her ambition runs deeper rather than wider, one place, tended properly, known across a city.
HUB is young in its new soil and already flowering, and Holly walked in knowing exactly what she was building. The brand just had to be brave enough to match her. If you’re standing where she stood, with a bigger idea than your current brand can hold, a groundwork call is where that idea starts taking root. 🌱