On the Bowery in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood, a historic 1917 building has been thoughtfully transformed into Now Now, a newly opened sleeper cabin hotel designed for the curious, the creative, and the solo traveler. Conceived by hospitality collective Dovetail + Co—known for detail-rich boutique properties like Urban Cowboy Lodge and The Wayfinder—Now Now is their most conceptually ambitious project to date. It reimagines hospitality as a form of presence and possibility, where travel becomes an act of self-discovery.
To bring this new venture to life, Dovetail + Co enlisted New York creative studio Saint-Urbain, whose hospitality portfolio includes projects for Hilton and The Henson.
“This one felt personal,” says Saint-Urbain founder Alex Ostroff. “Some of the most meaningful experiences of my life have happened while traveling solo—meeting people in lobbies, wandering through cities, barely spending time in the room. Designing a brand that speaks directly to that kind of traveler was really special. It tapped into something deeper.”
Shifting colors and architectural silhouettes play a central role in the identity, with logo forms referencing keyholes and cinematic framing. Saint-Urbain developed an emotionally driven color palette designed to shift based on context and mood from soft neutrals to vibrant brights, each tone aligned with the hotel’s physical interiors, designed by ISLYN Studio.
When asked whether working across so many brand touchpoints was creatively challenging, Alex Ostroff, founder of Saint-Urbain, responded with enthusiasm. “Hospitality is one of those rare industries where everything is brand from the key cards and robes to the tone of voice on the signage,” he said. “For us, that’s a dream. It means we’re not just designing a logo, we’re building a world people actually inhabit.”
The challenge—and the opportunity—is creating a system that feels cohesive without being rigid, one that stays recognizable but still has room to breathe. It needs to meet people in all kinds of states: jetlagged, energized, reflective, alone. That’s why flexibility was key.
“We designed a brand system with three variations of a stackable logo, framing devices that shift depending on use, and a broad, expressive color palette that even morphs into gradients to reflect mood,” he continued. “It’s consistent, but never the same.”
In addition to the modern feel of the brand, the hotel honors the building’s layered past, as a lodging house, tavern, and dry goods store, while offering a distinctly modern, forward-facing stay. It’s hospitality not just for where you’re going, but for who you are when you get there.
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