HAPPY CULTURE | 148 did it

A bold visual universe to stand out

Happy Culture isn’t your typical hotel booking platform. The hotels are carefully selected to be “experience distributors,” promising moments of escape and thoughtful service. They highlight human connection and eco-friendliness. To stand out in a highly competitive market, Happy Culture needed a website that was different—a visual identity that invites users into a new way of traveling. When Daphné contacted us to completely redesign Happy Culture’s site, she gave us a lot of creative freedom right from the start.

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Fields of expertise

#ARTISTIC DIRECTION
#UIDESIGN
#CONSEIL
#ILLUSTRATION

More infos

happyculture.com

A design that elevates a unique experience

This creative freedom made the project immediately exciting! Our first bold move: no hotel photos on the homepage. Instead, to spark curiosity and create a truly unique first impression, we proposed custom illustrations. Each destination was represented by its own finely drawn, pencil-like illustration, with pops of color. We also designed custom stickers for each city, similar to passport stamps, which appeared on each destination page. These small elements helped create a strong, distinct identity.

Great creativity, strong proposals, excellent client support—working with 148 Agency has been a real pleasure !
Daphné, E-commerce Manager at Honotel (Happy Culture)

The client embraced our graphic vision immediately and encouraged us to take the concept even further for the “About Us” page, called the “Happy Manifesto.” This page highlights Happy Culture’s human values. We created an animated illustration featuring various characters bringing to life the experience of walking into a hotel—being greeted at the front desk, offered a cup of coffee, or relaxing in a cozy space.

User journey: making bookings effortless

While the visual identity is essential, it ultimately serves the main goal: attracting customers. The user journey is critical. To avoid missing any booking opportunities, we made sure the “book now” button followed the user throughout their browsing. Since many visitors don’t know where they want to go when they first arrive on the site, filters were crucial for offering the most relevant results. A map of France allowed users to see all available hotels at a glance, and the most luxurious hotel selections were highlighted.

User experience is key. From button placement to a seamless, fast user journey, 148 Agency covered all the bases.
Daphné, E-commerce Manager at Honotel (Happy Culture)

We also reviewed the site’s structure with Happy Culture, prioritizing simplicity. Users should easily find the experience they want in the city of their choice. From the homepage, they can either click on a destination city or an experience (hotel, bar, or restaurant). It’s an intuitive journey that gently guides users into the Happy Culture world.

A mobile-first UX design

When a user clicks “book now,” they’re taken to a booking platform. This is a critical moment—the transition needs to be smooth and encourage additional purchases, like adding breakfast or selecting a larger room. The redesign also aimed to make the booking process as autonomous as possible. Users can easily check themselves in or retrieve their invoice.

Optimizing the mobile experience means more than just resizing the desktop design—it’s a completely dedicated task.
Victoria, Art Director at 148 Agency

Both the Happy Culture website and booking platform were fully optimized for mobile, with custom interfaces and architecture. We designed a second layout with a simplified booking process, removing filter buttons and creating individual pages for each hotel. The focus was on simplicity: easily clickable buttons and a comfortable user experience.

Crafting the perfect customer email

Lastly, Daphné asked us to design the booking confirmation email. To continue the site’s experience, this email had to feel personal and maintain a human touch. We chose a tone that blended luxury with warm customer service. The email also needed to be functional, encouraging customers to complete their check-in and retrieve their personal access code for a seamless, stress-free Happy Culture experience.