Natalie wanted a brand identity design and marketing strategies for her startup. For this project, I was responsible for doing the design work. Even though this was not the logo direction she chose, I still love this concept and wanted to develop it more and share here.
/ BRAND DISCOVERY & CREATIVE BRIEF /
BACKGROUND. Nat Knows Real Estate, but she’s also an expert in all things Florida. Any agent can help you find a house, but Nat will help you create a home. Her knowledge of local activities and hot-spots will provide a warm welcome for new-comers and bring a fresh perspective for veteran-Floridians. Her values are: health and wellness, family, and living in a place that you love and that will uplift your entire life.
OBJECTIVES. The objective of this project is to combine Nat's projects into one life-style brand. It is to brand her as a Floridan-know-it-all who has the services to support her expertise. It is to also grow Nat's following and clientele through promoting the brand.
TARGET AUDIENCE. Nat's real estate business is located in South Florida and caters to people moving to or within the state, but her lifestyle brand will speak to: working professionals, active/health-minded individuals, families, and South-Florida residents.
DIRECTIVES. Since this was her startup, she was open to change her business' name (the chosen final logo went with a different name actually). Nat wanted her brand to be bright and airy; minimalist; classy and professional but fun and friendly; and accessible. She loves heart shapes and feminine colours, specifically light pink, gold and white.
DELIVERABLES. Nat wanted a logo and stationery design for her startup. I also expanded my work further by creating other design materials for print and digital for a full branding effect. This includes: company logo, brand development, logo spec sheet, business card, presentation folder, animated banner ads, customer email template and app design.
/ CHALLENGES & DESIGN SOLUTION /
RESEARCH. After the initial client meetings and brand discovery, I then started off the design process with more research about the client as well as their competitors. Based on the competitive analysis, I could learn about their patterns and think about creative solutions that would help Nat's brand stand out from the crowd. I then found more relevant online inspirations which helped me creating moodboards.
LOGO/BRAND DEVELOPMENT. Initial logo concepts were created based on moodboards and research. Throughout this process, I played around with typography and shapes inspired by buildings; the business' initials N, K, R; petals and heart shapes. I tried to stay away from the mainstream and obvious house icons which I think could cheapen the look. For this final logo concept, its icon is a combination of letter N, buildings, a heart and two petals. The icon imageries symbolized health and wellness, growth, love and real estate. Following her directions, the brand also used a bright and airy colour palette which consists of light pink, gold, white, brown and dark grey. The typefaces used are the legible, classic and elegant Plantin; and the warm, serious but friendly Lato. The logo came with multiple variations: icon, stacked and horizontal; and in different colours: full colour, one colour and black and white. They can be flexibly used in all settings.
STATIONERY. I also created other stationery materials including business card and presentation folder based on the logo specs. The designs contained brand elements, contact information and they followed the brand typography and colours.
MARKETING/ADVERTISEMENT. Animated campaign ads and email newsletter were created to attract more following and customers. The ad could be horizontal or vertical; and it contained the logo, brand building graphics and a call-to-action button. Regarding the customer email template, the sections were: masthead (logo, slogan), products (homes, new listings), about and footer (which promoted the app).
APP UI. The real estate app came with five interface screens for demo: login/registration, home feed, filters, map, homes virtual tour, and profile. With features like listings, map showing local activities and hot spots, and messaging would help her sell homes, and promote her as an expert in all things Florida, more friendly and helpful. Functions like loves/saves, filters (price range, location radius, property types, amenities) and virtual tour (3D, dollhouse, layout views and live measurements) would better user experience.
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