Building reputation: web design for the real estate business

People often talk about owners resembling their pets. In the TikTok era, this usually arrives with a readymade set of outlandish video proof, usually involving an upside down cat or extremely disgruntled bulldog. While I’m not one for crazy pet memes, I do think there’s an (admittedly tangential) metaphor to draw between the pets/owners trope and something that occurred to me at the weekend: namely websites being a stylistic reflection of the businesses they belong to. This thought was inspired by a project we’ve just completed, a web design for real estate business London & Oriental. As a company they are particularly proud of their attention to detail, so we felt the need to rise to that challenge ourselves. The end result is that every aspect of the site’s layout has been considered and then re-thought, the end result being the most perfect, almost architecturally structured layout.

From micro to macro

From the opening image pairing, one of the things I like best about this site is the way in which close-up imagery is paired with the pulled-back big picture. In a world of pinch-and-zoom, this approach tends to answer the question you were about to ask, before you got there. It might even give an answer you weren’t expecting – in the best sense.

It also means that this way of pairing images can be used to showcase contrasts in image, colour and texture. Given London & Oriental apply so much thought to their projects, these contrasts tend to be in colour or finish but also act to highlight the flow of the design approach. A good example is above, where diamonds on the brick pattern are carried through to the interior woodwork.

Later on, we use a wide range of the project photography which focusses on stitching, signage and all kinds of other examples of the fit and finish to further back up London & Oriental’s detail-first ethos with visual examples of the end result.

Complex techniques applied in an elegant way

One of the key features at the centre of the site is the way the pages flow, allowing parts of the page to remain static while others move. We had seen this technique used in sites for galleries and nightclubs but not on a corporate website before.

Persuading London & Oriental that this was the right approach for them was a challenge mainly because we couldn’t find an example where the dynamic layout had worked in a business setting. It’s safe to say they were deeply unsure about the idea. This is a tough moment for us as a designer mainly because we have to project confidence in our ideas while not being able to completely demonstrate them. A chicken and egg situation. It didn’t help that this vital page focussed on all their projects in one setting.

So in the end, I decided that my confidence in the ideas we had was such that we’d take the risk on the chin. If the client didn’t like the end result, we’d revert to a more staid programming technique at our expense. Sometimes you have to have to move forward and make the best decisions and take the chance. In this case it paid off handsomely. The end result makes sense and works perfectly because the layout chimes with the content, meaning it truly represents the brand. And that’s the heart of this project.

Our work creating web design for real estate businesses

If you’re considering a new web design for your real estate business, why not get in touch to discuss a wide range of different approaches. We can work on designs from the simple to the sensational, depending on your brief and budget. Call us on 020 7351 4083 or email us direct.

Find out more about this project

Visit the London & Oriental website

Our work in property and real estate graphic and web design