Templo y Mar

Real estate brand design and image curation, 2024.

Softwares: Illustrator, Photoshop, Figma, Squarespace. (+ additional curation of their Instagram platform).

Company: -Personal Project-

What

I led the brand design and curation for these beautiful properties in Mykonos. This project entailed developing a brand name and logo for a company planning to rent and/or sell properties in Mykonos, creating a unified social profile, and promoting them. Additionally, I designed a website from start to finish to showcase the properties and potentially facilitate rental bookings or sales inquiries.

Why

I took on this personal project to enhance my visual design skills, relish the role of decision-maker and implementer across all project aspects, and contribute to my country’s revenue by promoting Greek tourism. Additionally, I was deeply inspired by, and fell in love with the locations, serving as incredible creative fuel.

Process

A mix of Design Thinking and Double Diamond

Discover & Empathise

I had the privilege of managing this project independently, allowing for an agile and iterative approach based on my pace and direct communication with the client. Nonetheless, the project followed an initial research and exploration phase, including thorough discussions with the client to understand their current and future desires and empathize with them. Furthermore, I visited the sites multiple times, capturing numerous photos and videos, and spent considerable time there.

Define

After gaining a clear understanding of the brief and desired outcome, I started defining the brand aesthetics. Crafting mood boards with a look and color palette inspired by the site's colors, I collaborated with the client to refine brand names and logo designs, aiming to achieve a blend of modern sophistication and ancient Greek aesthetics.

Ideate & Develop

Brand Development

I observed that water, sun, and wind were integral elements in this location, given its proximity to the sea, stunning sunsets, and Mykonos being renowned as the island of winds. Leveraging these insights, along with the traditional Cycladic architecture prevalent on the island, we coined the brand name "Templo y Mar" (temple and sea). Crafting the color palette based on hues found on-site, I iterated on logo designs in Illustrator, leading up to a final iteration that incorporated water elements, ancient Greek symbolism, and a touch of modernity.

Website Development

Upon completing the foundational aspects of the brand, I initiated a second round of development iterations, focusing on website design. While the current purpose of the website is to showcase the villas to real estate agencies, future functionality for bookings or sales transactions was also considered. Using Figma, I created simple wireframes and a clickable prototype, emphasizing sleekness and simplicity to align with the brand's modern aesthetic. Collaborating with a professional photographer, we spent a weekend in Mykonos taking pictures of the villas. The content creation process included arranging furniture in a way to be synced with the colors of the environment at different times of the day. Together with the client we meticulously chose furniture and decorations that matched and complemented the brand’s colour palette. Some basic editing of the photos took place in Photoshop to ensure color and hue consistency. Finally, I asked the client to give me the details of the villas, and what kind of information to include on the website. The copyright was kept simple and clear to keep it consistent.

A big challenge was that floorplans were not available for use and the villas were too similar. Therefore I decided that each Villa has its own “accent” color, to enhance user navigation.

Final Deliverable

The website also included a social media page to promote the properties and enhance the brand image.

Takeaway

The evolution of this project continues as the client has expressed the need to integrate a direct booking feature into the website. This entails incorporating an availability calendar, inquiry form, and linkage to a specialized real estate transaction platform, enhancing user accessibility and facilitating seamless transactions.