Rumah Padi
Rice Field Resort, Jatiluwih, Bali
Concept project · Brand identity · Marketing strategy · Guest experience design
A self-initiated passion project, built to show how I think when I get to make every decision.
The Challenge
Rumah Padi, “rice house” in Indonesian, is a small villa resort in the terraced rice fields of Jatiluwih, away from the crowds of southern Bali. The setting sells itself: slow mornings, mist over the paddies, nothing on the agenda. But it had no brand to carry that feeling online, and no way to reach the guest who comes to Bali looking for less, not more.
So I set myself three jobs: a full identity, a plan to sell direct instead of through Booking.com and Airbnb, and a way to turn a quiet, hard-to-explain location into the whole reason to book.
The answer: lead with the location
Most Bali listings compete on beaches and nightlife. Rumah Padi is an hour from all of it, so I made that the reason to come. “Bali minus the noise” tells the right guest they’ve found what they wanted, and lets everyone else keep scrolling.
Brand Identity
A logo that traces the terraces: It follows the curve of the rice fields, it’s calm, organic and impossible to mistake for anywhere else, set next to the Rumah Padi name in an elegant typeface.
Colours from the landscape: Deep green, warm rice cream and the gold of late-afternoon light.
Hand-drawn icons from the property: A banana leaf, a frangipani and a dragonfly, plus a repeating pattern built from the logo itself.
I could have made something that just looked calm and expensive, but it would have suited any resort in Asia. Taking everything from this particular place is what stops it looking like everywhere else.
Who I designed for: the well-traveled guest who chooses calm over spectacle.
Content Strategy
An optimized Instagram profile, highlight covers, a clear content calendar so the resort always knows what to post, and a plan for answering comments and messages. I identified four content pillars: Bali content (40%), tips on how to switch off (30%), guest stories (15%) and reminders that booking direct can be cheaper (15%).
Booking Strategy
Selling direct, not through Booking.com and Airbnb: A “Book your stay” page in the resort’s own branding, a newsletter sign-up offering 10% off the next stay to collect guest emails, and a welcome drink for anyone who books direct. That way direct feels like the better option, not just the cheaper one.
Earning more from every stay: Beyond the room, the resort has things to sell: breakfast made from what’s grown nearby, meditation classes, a private pool and a view over the rice fields. The small spa gets its own flyer offering 15% off any treatment booked during a stay. The “At Home in the Rice Fields” welcome book puts the extras and the trips nearby into a guest’s hands the moment they arrive.
Each extra gives guests more of what they came for, so none of it needs a hard sell. Someone who booked for quiet mornings doesn’t take much convincing about a slow breakfast.
