Optimizing Real Estate UX: How Design Drove Higher Occupancy Rates
My Role: Sole Website Designer
Tools: Squarespace; Wix; Photoshop; Rent Manager
Context: Summer Internship
Tools: Squarespace; Wix; Photoshop; Rent Manager
Getting Started
I did some research on web builders and created a quick rundown of the pros/cons of various sites, including cost, features, ratings, and more. From that, we chose to move forward with Squarespace for both sites.
I then researched competing properties in the area and their respective websites to learn more about what people are looking for in these types of websites. I learned to include things like square footage, amenities, nearby establishments, and proximity to the nearest freeway. From there, I sketched up some quick wireframes (regrettably on paper that I did not document digitally to include here).
The Firm
During the summer of 2024 and May of 2025, I interned for a Private Equity Real Estate Company in Beverly Hills. In 2024, they had just acquired two new entities: one residential building in Van Nuys, CA, and one office park in Columbus, OH. The first step I took when designing the websites was understanding the goal of the client: what exactly did they want these websites to do?
For both the residential and office buildings, they wanted to showcase the vacancies to potential clients and build a sense of safety and legitimacy for them outside of listing on sites like Craigslist.
The Firm
During the summer of 2024 and May of 2025, I interned for a Private Equity Real Estate Company in Beverly Hills. In 2024, they had just acquired two new entities: one residential building in Van Nuys, CA, and one office park in Columbus, OH. The first step I took when designing the websites was understanding the goal of the client: what exactly did they want these websites to do?
For both the residential and office buildings, they wanted to showcase the vacancies to potential clients and build a sense of safety and legitimacy for them outside of listing on sites like Craigslist.
Later on, I created marketing material, such as brochures and billboards for the properties to advertise them.
Marketing postcards distributed to tenants at surrounding properties (top), Collective for Crosswoods, LLC logo (middle) and Delano Properties logo (bottom).
In May of 2025, I came back to the company before my summer internship started to redesign their company site. The original site was orignally built and hosted on WIx, and hadn't been updated in several years, which came across on the screen.
For this site, the goal was not to showcase their properties to everyone; just to lenders. This posed a problem, as their current site had a map with their property locations, and every time a site visitor clicked on a city, they would have to re-enter a password.
To get around this, I created a login for the website to be shared with lenders. Wix did not give me an option to create a sole login; it made it so that anyone could create an account on our website. So, instead of granting access to all account-holders, I created a special class of accounts that has access. I then created the login and granted it its permission. So, instead of having lenders creating their own logins and granting them access, the singular login streamlines access and protects the site from having nosey viewers that the company wants to avoid.
Below is an embedded link of the new website, and under that are screenshots of the site before the redesign. Feel free to explore the embed and compare!
Screenshots of the site before my redesign.
Getting Started
I did some research on web builders and created a quick rundown of the pros/cons of various sites, including cost, features, ratings, and more. From that, we chose to move forward with Squarespace for both sites.
I then researched competing properties in the area and their respective websites to learn more about what people are looking for in these types of websites. I learned to include things like square footage, amenities, nearby establishments, and proximity to the nearest freeway. From there, I sketched up some quick wireframes (regrettably on paper that I did not document digitally to include here).
Getting Started
I did some research on web builders and created a quick rundown of the pros/cons of various sites, including cost, features, ratings, and more. From that, we chose to move forward with Squarespace for both sites.
I then researched competing properties in the area and their respective websites to learn more about what people are looking for in these types of websites. I learned to include things like square footage, amenities, nearby establishments, and proximity to the nearest freeway. From there, I sketched up some quick wireframes (regrettably on paper that I did not document digitally to include here).
After finishing the first draft of each site, I gave access to my coworkers for feedback. I then tweaked it accordingly before sending it over to my manager.
Something that I noticed is that they didn't have a logo for the property yet. I took the initiative to create one that matched the theme of the site. It felt risky, as it didn't match the other logos that the company had for its existing entities, but the administrators ended up loving the sleek, more modern look that my logo had to offer and adapted it to the website.
Getting Started
I did some research on web builders and created a quick rundown of the pros/cons of various sites, including cost, features, ratings, and more. From that, we chose to move forward with Squarespace for both sites.
I then researched competing properties in the area and their respective websites to learn more about what people are looking for in these types of websites. I learned to include things like square footage, amenities, nearby establishments, and proximity to the nearest freeway. From there, I sketched up some quick wireframes (regrettably on paper that I did not document digitally to include here).
The Firm
During the summer of 2024 and May of 2025, I interned for a Private Equity Real Estate Company in Beverly Hills. In 2024, they had just acquired two new entities: one residential building in Van Nuys, CA, and one office park in Columbus, OH. The first step I took when designing the websites was understanding the goal of the client: what exactly did they want these websites to do?
For both the residential and office buildings, they wanted to showcase the vacancies to potential clients and build a sense of safety and legitimacy for them outside of listing on sites like Craigslist.
The Firm
During the summer of 2024 and May of 2025, I interned for a Private Equity Real Estate Company in Beverly Hills. In 2024, they had just acquired two new entities: one residential building in Van Nuys, CA, and one office park in Columbus, OH. The first step I took when designing the websites was understanding the goal of the client: what exactly did they want these websites to do?
For both the residential and office buildings, they wanted to showcase the vacancies to potential clients and build a sense of safety and legitimacy for them outside of listing on sites like Craigslist.
Getting Started
I did some research on web builders and created a quick rundown of the pros/cons of various sites, including cost, features, ratings, and more. From that, we chose to move forward with Squarespace for both sites.
I then researched competing properties in the area and their respective websites to learn more about what people are looking for in these types of websites. I learned to include things like square footage, amenities, nearby establishments, and proximity to the nearest freeway. From there, I sketched up some quick wireframes (regrettably on paper that I did not document digitally to include here).
Later on, I created marketing material, such as brochures and billboards for the properties to advertise them.
Marketing postcards distributed to tenants at surrounding properties (top), Collective for Crosswoods, LLC logo (middle) and Delano Properties logo (bottom).
Video animation of the assembly of the nail clipper and it's six components in motion.
Marketing postcards distributed to tenants at surrounding properties (top), Collective for Crosswoods, LLC logo (middle) and Delano Properties logo (bottom).
In May of 2025, I came back to the company before my summer internship started to redesign their company site. The original site was orignally built and hosted on WIx, and hadn't been updated in several years, which came across on the screen.
For this site, the goal was not to showcase their properties to everyone; just to lenders. This posed a problem, as their current site had a map with their property locations, and every time a site visitor clicked on a city, they would have to re-enter a password.
To get around this, I created a login for the website to be shared with lenders. Wix did not give me an option to create a sole login; it made it so that anyone could create an account on our website. So, instead of granting access to all account-holders, I created a special class of accounts that has access. I then created the login and granted it its permission. So, instead of having lenders creating their own logins and granting them access, the singular login streamlines access and protects the site from having nosey viewers that the company wants to avoid.
Below is an embedded link of the new website, and under that are screenshots of the site before the redesign. Feel free to explore the embed and compare!
Screenshots of the site before my redesign.