Company
Vanguard Properties
Year
2017-2022
My Role
Creative direction
Brand design
Marketing
Strategy
From Custom Collateral to
Award-Winning Marketing
When I joined Vanguard Properties as a young designer in 2017, I quickly discovered that real estate marketing was about more than just making things look good—it was about helping agents build trust and communicate value to their clients. Over five years, I evolved from taking individual design requests to becoming a strategic resource, guiding agents on how to present themselves and their listings through thoughtfully crafted marketing materials. What began as learning to create custom brochures and flyers grew into developing a comprehensive brand system that elevated every client interaction, transforming how the company presented itself in competitive luxury markets.
StrategyBecoming the Go-To Design Resource
As Marketing Designer from 2017 to 2022, I wore many hats—developing comprehensive brand systems and marketing materials, creating custom collateral for individual agent needs, designing commercial real estate financial presentations, and producing social media content while maintaining brand consistency across all touchpoints. My approach evolved into a four-phase process: starting with discovery to understand agent needs and client expectations, moving into system design to create flexible templates and brand guidelines, then custom applications to tailor materials for specific listings and markets, and finally continuous iteration based on agent feedback and market response. This methodology allowed me to balance the need for brand consistency with the flexibility agents required to serve their diverse client base effectively.
Results & ImpactEmpowering Agents to Win
The impact of our comprehensive brand system was measurable across multiple dimensions: agents increasingly adopted the branded materials I created, client feedback on marketing presentations improved significantly, brand recognition in target markets was enhanced, and production time for marketing materials was streamlined through our systematic approach. This combination of improvements demonstrated how thoughtful design strategy could elevate not just individual materials, but an entire company's market presence and help agents compete more effectively in luxury real estate markets.
Key LearningsLooking Back, Moving Forward
This five-year journey taught me that real estate marketing requires both brand consistency and customization flexibility—the most successful system balanced standardized brand elements with customizable content areas that agents could adapt for their specific needs. Working closely with agents also revealed how design directly impacts the sales process; materials needed to not just look good, but actively support the agent's ability to communicate value and build trust with clients. I learned that creating comprehensive template systems upfront allowed for faster turnaround on custom projects and ensured consistency even as the team grew, proving that scalable systems truly save time in the long run. Perhaps most importantly, I discovered that real estate marketing has unique requirements around financial presentation, luxury positioning, and trust-building that influenced every design decision—insights that transformed how I approach design strategy in professional service industries.
