@DG Advantage: The Intersection of Design and Place

In a world where the aesthetics of a space can profoundly influence our experiences and choices, the role of a graphic designer becomes crucial; this is especially true in the realm of real estate. At the heart of this intersection between design and place is Ryan Helling, Senior Graphic Designer at @properties. From the challenges of branding to the nuances of marketing residential real estate, Ryan's expertise offers a unique glimpse into the art of creating visual narratives that resonate deeply with potential buyers and the wider community.

As a graphic designer in the residential real estate industry, how would you describe your design philosophy? How does it align with the brand character of @DG? 

It may be a cliché, but “less is more.” Doing more with less keeps the design simple, which in turn makes it more approachable to the potential buyer. In a world where everyone is constantly exposed to brands, it’s difficult to make an impact. To me, a simple yet elegant brand identity helps make an authentic connection with someone who is buying a home, which is one of the most emotional things a person can go through. And given current trends, clean, contemporary  design represents a luxurious feel. Keeping the aesthetic minimal throughout the design process is the goal at @DG, and I try to model my concepts to fit that intention. 

What are some of the challenges you face when building brands and creating marketing materials for @DG development projects? How do you address them? 

The biggest challenge is making sure everyone is on the same page design-wise. Graphic design is highly subjective, so it’s important to listen to feedback and find common ground with the client. It’s no surprise but many developers we work with love being involved in the branding of their projects, so they typically get very hands-on with critiques, criticisms and feedback, which we have to take into account. So, it's important to let them know that everything we create has meaning. Take the Harbor Club logo. It includes a pine cone as an icon, and the pine cone represents the character of the golf community, the green, and all of the other natural elements surrounding the community.

In your experience, how does marketing residential real estate developments differ from other types of property marketing? 

One of my first roles at @properties was lead designer for the Commercial division. Designing for commercial properties is more focused on an investment mindset — giving potential buyers the facts — while designing for residential developments is about telling the story of the project and enticing buyers to become a part of that story in their journey to find their next home.

Could you describe how you collaborate with other teams at @properties to create cohesive and effective brands and marketing campaigns? 

All designers at @properties Christie’s International Real Estate work with carefully-honed corporate brand standards, which help maintain a strong overall brand while still giving designers like me the freedom to let each project have its own personality.  

In keeping with our company culture, the corporate design team members attend weekly meetings and webinars that give us opportunities to share knowledge about design trends around the world, which fuels our collaboration on projects. We also gather when new marketing programs launch, to stay connected to the programs we deliver to clients and to our own brokers. 

What trends are you currently seeing in the industry? How do you stay ahead of the curve to keep the work fresh and new?

I'm a big typography person and I love that serif fonts are coming back into vogue. For a long time, they were seen as old-fashioned, dusty relics. More and more, people are coming around to them. When used properly, they can add tremendous personality, sophistication, and heart to a project.  

Staying ahead of the curve is always difficult. I try to do this by pushing myself out of my comfort zone, whether by using typefaces that aren’t part of my personal style to walking into bookstores and edgy retail spaces and absorbing the design I see. One good thing about being constantly inundated by brands in this era of social media is that there is no shortage of visual design to consume (both positive and negative)!

What role does technology play in your design practice?

Technology is fundamental to our success as a team. Obviously, I use technology to design and store files for collaboration. Our team is located in both Chicago and Atlanta, so we use technology daily to connect with each other. 

AI is becoming a more prevalent complementary tool in graphic design, and some AI tools are extremely helpful, like removing backgrounds from an object with a click of a button or adding some Virtual Staging elements to certain graphics; you can turn on a light bulb with AI on a shadow layer just by prompting AI to do some generative fill. These practical tools are where we’re finding the AI sweet spot these days, and we anticipate that as the field matures, it will offer new possibilities for enhancing branding and marketing experiences.

In your opinion, how critical is good graphic design in influencing potential buyers’ perceptions and decisions? 

I think good graphic design is one of the most critical parts of the residential buying experience. You're not supposed to “judge a book by its cover,” but people do, which means prospective buyers draw immediate conclusions about the quality of a project — from the location to the architecture to the interior spaces and amenities — when they encounter the branding and marketing. The design piece is especially important when it comes to selling pre-construction projects. If people can't walk into a model or development and touch or see the product, they have to rely heavily on the marketing materials and website. 

Could you tell us about one of your favorite projects at @DG? What makes it stand out to you?

One of my favorite current projects is Parkside Roswell. I had fun designing the typography-forward logo and enjoyed pairing a friendly serif font with a more straight-forward sans serif in the marketing materials. The developer for the project was also very involved and easy to work with, giving us their vision but also trusting us with the project. 

Burton is another project that was fun. The website specifically was so unique because of the amount of plugins we used to create interactive buttons. Because it is such a small community in Lake Burton that people didn't really know about at first, we wanted to sell it by showcasing all the different lifestyles and surrounding neighborhood restaurants, etc., to really let people picture what their day to day lives would be like living there. So we had to create a website that allowed people to visualize how appealing it is to live in this small lake community that's only two hours from Atlanta.