Solmar Development Corp

User Experience & UI Design

Solmar Development was a client project while working at Elite Digital. Solmar came to us looking for a website redesign, ongoing social ads, and email campaigns. The client’s goals were to brand Solmar as a land developer rather than just a condo builder, build trust & confidence with buyers and financial institutions, and showcase their high-quality craftsmanship.

Process

Research
Research on this project began with an online search of GTA real estate trends, statistics, and new mortgage rules (2018) to better understand the real estate market and why buyers buy what they do. I conducted user interviews with first time buyers, people looking to buy, baby boomers, and parent/children co-sign buyers. From this research patterns began to emerge, affordability and location were the 2 largest factors when purchasing a new condo.

User Personas
We created 3 personas based on our research and trends the client has seen with their business. First time buyers, Baby boomers looking to downsize, and parents investing money into real estate for their children.

Site Map
We organized the site information in a way that made sense to each persona, while also making sure we met the client’s goal of branding as a ‘land developer’. It was decided it was clearest when we grouped the type of building then sorted by location. We wanted to make sure that new visitors to the site understood where each building was located - as the location was a key factor.

Wireframes
For the skeleton of the website, we wanted to give the client lots of opportunities to showcase featured buildings and show plenty of images of the beautiful interior & exterior design. We also wanted to design a search functionality that would be scalable if the company had many more buildings to sell.

UI Design
Through the UI design, we wanted to build trust with the users and financial institutions. We wanted to create a professional and high-quality tone. We created this by using high-quality imagery, serif fonts, and natural color tone with a subtle pop of brand colours.