Tucked inside The Promissory Hotel, you are beckoned to enter a world of rich terracotta, barreled ceilings, and greenery dripping from soaring ceilings creating an open yet intimate setting to toast over tapas and paella.
Inspired by these inviting interiors, Watermark developed a full identity system rooted in authentic Spanish flavors: a hand-lettered word mark with warmth and movement, a single, continuous-line drawing of an owl that nods to Spanish folklore and good fortune, and a menu suite that feels as considered as the food itself.
Every touchpoint carries the same spirit ~ ¡A disfrutar de la buena!
Meet Sue! Since joining Watermark in 2019, she`s brought years of project management experience across photography, design, and creative services to the team. After building her career in Boston, Philly, and NYC, Sue brought her Northeast hustle to Charlottesville. She is quick on her feet, calm under pressure, and always ready to keep great ideas moving. As Account Director, she`s all about building strong relationships, solving problems, and helping clients bring their vision to life.
Now based in Charlottesville, she enjoys getting outside with her family and working her way through the city`s ever-evolving food scene....
Our process always begins when pencil meets paper. We sketch a wide range of ideas, then whittle them down to the one solution that best captures the brand’s vision.
For Henceforth, that idea came from a simple story, a declarative statement quickly jotted on a napkin after a night out with friends.
But it doesn’t stop there. Additional marks, patterns, illustrations and print pieces are intentionally crafted to build a complete brand world, one that draws people in and connects them to the experience of the space itself.
Inspired by the winding roads, wooded hills, and quiet stretches of Kentucky that invite you to keep wandering, Kentucky Rambler was created to feel like a bottle found somewhere off the beaten path. Rooted in place, rich with story, and made for the journey....
When Watermark partnered with Friends of Cville to brand Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall, we knew the logo was only the beginning.
A place this loved needed an identity that lives where the community does. So we built a full system around it: a custom illustration suite drawn from the mall itself ( the lampposts, the café tables, the storefront arches, the mountains in the distance), a palette inspired by its lively energy, and an anniversary lockup marking 50 years since 1976.
Now it’s out in the world, from banners down the brick-paved strip, to storefront windows, utility boxes, merch and more. The new Cville brand doesn’t just represent this place, it lives here now.
For the 2026 Virginia Theatre Festival, Watermark developed a show art series built on a single tension: Momentum & Misdirection
Every story this season moves fast, but never the same way twice. Newsies surges on collective force. Frida races on emotion and identity in flux. Moriarty advances through strategy, traps, and the slow click of a puzzle clicking into place.
The throughline? Forward motion under pressure, where the stakes climb and the pace tightens.
The Virginia Theatre Festival runs on exactly that kind of range, drawing artists from across the nation alongside the local talent that keeps Virginia`s stages alive. #theatre #theatreproduction...
