From listings to stories that sell

How I turned rigid templates into editorial experiences

Otto House — premium real estate platform

Client

Otto House

My Contribution

  • UX strategy
  • User research
  • Information architecture
  • Visual design
  • Prototyping
  • Design system

Timeline

2022

Team

  • 1 Product Designer
  • 2 Software Engineers
  • 1 Product Manager
Context

Beachfront penthouses, historic mansions, private condos — each with a distinct personality. Yet they all looked the same online.

The team felt it first. Weeks curating a property's story, only to watch it vanish into a generic layout. Every update blocked by a developer ticket.

The challenge: turn a rigid template into an editorial experience that lets each property feel like itself.

The Problem

• Templates erased identity. A $2M property looked the same as a $200K one. The more unique the listing, the more it got flattened.

• Content froze. Every update needed a developer. A 5-minute edit meant a 2-day ticket.

• Users hit dead ends. Browsing felt like a directory — no momentum, no pull. Contact required effort. Most left.

Core tension
How do you turn a rigid template into an editorial experience that lets each property feel like itself — without requiring developers for every change?
The website was losing them trust — and deals. A premium brand felt generic at the moment of truth.
Otto House — premium real estate platform
Discovery & Research

The property detail page was the core — it holds everything and drives view, contact, share. Behavioral data gave us a starting point. But numbers don't tell you what someone feels landing on a listing.

I started with a CSD Canvas to map certainties, assumptions, and doubts. This shaped every decision that followed.

Benchmarking

I audited 12 platforms — QuintoAndar, Sotheby's, AxPe, Casas Bacanas — to map UX failures in high-end real estate. The landscape was fragmented: some optimized for performance, others for brand. Almost none did both.

Key Decisions
DecisionRejectedChosenWhy
Navigation Filter-heavy search Curated, editorial browsing Premium audiences respond to discovery, not filtering
Content hierarchy Feature-first listings Narrative-first, emotional hierarchy Trust is built through story, not specs
Visual density Rich visual effects Minimalist, image-led layout Properties, not UI, should capture attention
The business wanted every detail visible. The design chose emotional engagement. Less interface, more connection — that was the bet.
Trade-offs

• The CMS tension. The team needed freedom to tell stories — but every story had to look on-brand. Too much flexibility would break the identity; too much control would kill the voice. I built a component system with guided layouts — structured enough to stay consistent, open enough to feel unique.

• Performance as trust. In real estate, speed signals credibility. A slow page makes buyers doubt the professionalism behind it. I set performance budgets before writing a single line of CSS.

The Solution

Clear navigation, property pages that blend facts with feeling. Each property breathes while still guiding users toward action.

Solution overview
Solution overview — redesigned property experience
Category page
Category page — browsing that feels like discovery, not search
Property detail
Property detail — facts and feeling in one view
Key Deliverables
Editorial browsing — curated navigation replacing filter-heavy search
Narrative-first property pages — emotional hierarchy blending facts with feeling
Component-based CMS — guided layouts, team publishes without developers
Image-led design system — minimalist, performance-first visual language
Impact

What I shipped: A complete editorial platform — curated browsing, narrative-first property pages, a component-based CMS, and an image-led design system. One platform replacing rigid templates with per-property storytelling.

~15%
More time on property pages — editorial layout encouraged exploration
~10%
Lower bounce rate — narrative flow kept users engaged past first screen
~40%
Faster content updates — team publishes changes without developer tickets
Reflection

The hardest call: browsing vs. filtering. Editorial navigation matched the brand, but I underestimated how much buyers rely on structured filters. Earlier quantitative testing would have saved cycles.

Otto House confirmed: design leadership means translating brand into structure — aligning emotion and action at every touch.