Ross Ponder came to DesignGood looking to upgrade his real estate brand. Having quite a bit of success buying and selling homes in the Austin area, he was hoping to solidify and expand the look and feel of his business to support further growth. One of his biggest requests was the inclusion of family-related elements throughout the brand; his wife worked under his real estate group and the pair were generally very family-oriented. They were also looking to refine their clientbase more towards working with families.
We started by helping the client determine the best name for his brand. He was previously going by his own personal brand for real estate, but he wanted to shift towards an identity that could include his family and other agents. Ross fell in love with the name OIKOS, a greek word that roughly translates to 'family', 'home', and/or 'household'.
My work began with creating visual identity options for the client (see slideshow towards bottom of page). When I do identity options, I like to provide a range of styles to raise the likelihood of hitting something my client loves. For Ross, I created a mix of identities that included some more rugged elements, whimsical options, some scandi elements, as well as a more muted, modern option just in case.
Ultimately the client selected the identity that felt more rugged and natural. He was very drawn to the rooted home logo, given his focus on family. He also chose to pull some of the brighter colors from one of the other identity options.
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As the project progressed, the branding changed and adjusted itself. The rugged photography and minimal icons morphed into more more whimsical styling. The OIKOS website ended up being very visual and colorful, with repeating bokeh elements and quite a handful of duo-toned icons. I love designing sites that are very visual, with large photography and graphic elements. I was lucky that the client had a really lovely photoshoot done; their photos really solidified the design.
Another big part of their package was the creation of an information packet for their clients. This packet was essentially 28 pages chock-full of helpful information for both buyers and sellers. As with the OIKOS website, the packet needed to be very visual with infographics, icons, and large photos.
Additionally I created the brand's business card templates as well as extensive social media templates for the client to work with in Canva.
OIKOS was a fun project – not only was the client quirky and interesting, but because they were a client I was able to design beginning to end. Designing in this way allows me to be consistent with the branding across the project which is great for establishing brand trustworthiness. But I also love it because I get the opportunity to design a wide variety of deliverables. It worked out well for all of us in the end.
As a designer and illustrator, I'm always looking for new ways to create magic for others. Whether you're looking for a rebrand, a new website, or even a new long-term designer, let's make the connection.
