Whitewater
Background
Whitewater Property Management is a student housing management company serving the students attending the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. The properties consist of individual homes ranging from 1-5 bedrooms, each with unique charm and amenities. Most homes are located within a five-minute walk from campus. Whitewater has earned a solid reputation as being the best landlords in town. They get a lot of renewals, resident referrals, and word-of-mouth promotion.
Website & Logo Refresh
Whitewater Property Management turned to the Student Housing Experts at Serendipit for a design refresh for their brand and new website design. Team members felt that their old website was “too corporate” and didn’t feel youthful enough to resonate with and attract students seeking off-campus housing.
The fan icon in their existing logo was an essential element to keep as it was the most recognizable portion of the brand mark within the Whitewater community.
Challenge & Opportunities
The Whitewater team wanted a clean, easy to navigate showcase for their properties and make it easy for students to narrow down possible homes. Overall they were looking for professional sophistication, updated content, and contemporary design without sacrificing a youthful, approachable tone, and enhanced user experience.
Overall we found that all of their local competitors tended to look and sound alike, allowing the Serendipit team to make Whitewater stand out from the competition.
Serendipit
Our first step was to conduct a brainstorm session with key decision-makers from Whitewater Property Management to fully understand their goals and objectives.
We began the creative process with the logo design refresh. Our design team incorporated youthful colors, softened the design, and refreshed the fan icon and typeface. The result? A fresh, new look that paid homage to the company’s history while improving the mark’s overall appeal to the company’s target demographics.
While the logo was being refreshed and going through the review and approval process, our digital and content team went to work on the new website.
Serendipit:
-Researched competitive student housing websites in and out of state.
-Researched the best website functionalities to create a better user experience.
-Reworked the site map and wireframe structure of the website.
-Updated all the copy to standardize property listings and improve search
-Presented three design concepts for the client to review and discuss
-Built-out a full dev-site, tested functionality and launched within the timeframe allotted to complete the project.
The new Whitewater logo and website launched in September 2019.
