Multifamily

Brand Identity Design

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY & DESIGN MATERIALS © BARTELSANDJAMES.DESIGN 2025

For nearly three years, I worked full-time, in-house for a national multifamily real estate asset management group where I was responsible for the branding, design, and art direction of a portfolio of 400+ properties worth tens of billions of dollars. Due to the extensive nature of their holdings, the organization wishes to remain anonymous here, but I would be happy to discuss my tenure in full.

In my role, I served as the internal and external creative agency. As Project Administrator, I led a group of 75 stakeholders consisting of Marketing, Operations, and C-suite teams, founded and led a six-person internal Brand Team, Art Directed seven external design studios, and managed an intern. This new vertical saved hundreds of thousands.

On the company brand side, I executed digital assets, print collateral, signage, social media, board books, data visualizations, and swag. Externally, my work covered all physical assets, and, while maintaining brand standards across the entire portfolio, I personally branded communities cumulatively worth over $800,000,000.

BY THE NUMBERS

Researched, ideated, designed, pitched, and oversaw on-site execution of eleven distinct properties’ brand identity designs across the country. These totaled almost $1B in asset value, accounted for thousands of units, and spanned the continental US.

11

Brand identity projects I executed or Art Directed, both within LivCor and in collaboration with third party studios.

49

Working within Corporate Communications, produced impactful social media content that gained over 20,000 followers for the company on LinkedIn.

20k

ADDING VALUE

The stated objective of this organization is to “add value to real estate.” I contributed to that aim through brand identity design work — I researched, ideated, and proposed brand names, logotypes, logomarks, color palettes, brand fonts, iconography, illustrations, patterns, signage, and web design configurations.

Upon reaching consensus amongst key stakeholders, I advised, directed, or executed the application of each brand onsite. This in-house process saved time and money, and, in my admittedly biased opinion, produced more thoughtful, articulate, and engaging work than our industry competitors at a fraction of the price.

Pictured: Brand showcase for West Village, a sprawling multifamily campus on the site of a refurbished tobacco plant in Durham, NC.

Operating in this manner afforded me near-complete creative freedom. Still, the branding process was meticulous, accounting for dozens of tasks. Depending on the project, it could involve over 75 stakeholders across all teams, functional groups, and levels of seniority.

BRANDING CASE STUDY

THE GUILD NORTH HOLLYWOOD

Problem: This apartment community retained the generic corporate identity of its original developer, “Avana.” When our firm purchased it, we had less than a month to produce a new name and visual identity that would not just avert a trademark suit, but would accurately, vibrantly, and enticingly reflect this Hollywood-adjacent property and its residents: influencers; industry creatives; and young professionals.

Pictured: With such a vast portfolio, our process often started with a deep dive on Google Streetview, local forums, and outreach to in-market colleagues. This download of each community and its regional flavor offered a basic understanding of potential solutions.

As always and above all, quality research would bear the fruit of a compelling and meaningful design solution.

After intense research into the NoHo neighborhood, community, region, and its past, present, and future, I engaged in dialogues, mind mapping, brainstorming, forced connections, and other creative stimulation techniques. I then proposed six name options to our key stakeholders, as seen in the following deck.

Following some healthy debate, we landed on:
The Guild North Hollywood

I then built out the following visual identity directions in accordance with the conceptual directions detailed in the above deck.

Visual Identity Directions

01. Give ‘em Their Flowers

02. Golden Age Swash

03. Diamond Reel

Brand Snapshot

Following some minor adjustments, the stakeholder group coalesced around this brand identity, a simple and elegant option meant to connote a nostalgic, gilded sense of Hollywood glamor and luxury.

Brand Application

READY FOR ITS CLOSE-UP

More Visual Identity Work

These logos stand in for a handful of the dozens of brand identities that I designed and art directed over my tenure. You can also find them listed in my logofolio.