Website redesign for a property management firm.
- Design
- Development
- Branding
- Copywriting
Overview
Suur-Helsingin Asuinkiinteistöt Oy (Shak) is a Helsinki-based property management firm founded in 1984 and a long-standing member of Finland's property management association. We rebuilt their outdated website so it serves both housing company boards and residents — and at the same time eases the workload of Shak's staff.
We opened the project with a conversation about what the rebuild was actually for. Beyond visual and technical optimization, we agreed to focus on content as well: the previous site had been little more than a digital business card, and we wanted to turn it into a working tool.
Client
Suur-Helsingin Asuinkiinteistöt
Year
2023
Category
WordPress Website
Challenge
The old site had a stack of problems: broken links, unclear navigation, and an unpleasant user experience. The front page was practically empty — a large intro section that offered only the company name, a short blurb and the Isännöintiliitto news feed, with elements competing for the visitor's attention. The site was also missing information that, once added, we expected would lift customer satisfaction and cut down on unnecessary inquiries. Shak had no brand guidelines and, beyond the logo, no other visual identity, so the rebuild meant building a visual language from scratch alongside the rest of the work.
Solution
We started the redesign with the front page, where easier navigation and a better user experience were the first priority. We kept the intro section simple: the slogan "Isännöintipalveluja ammattitaidolla jo vuodesta 1984" (property management with expertise since 1984) lifts Shak's long history to the front, paired with two buttons that take visitors straight into the site's most important actions — the property management and change notification forms. Previously those forms were only reachable through the search bar on a separate page. To the right of the intro section we surfaced dynamic content as up-to-date notices, so residents and shareholders see Shak's announcements right away. In a short introduction section we reused a balloon image from the old site, which we cleaned up digitally with machine learning and algorithms before cropping and reshaping it to fit the new layout. The third section presents the site's main content: we surfaced the notification forms again alongside a brand-new FAQ-style info page for residents, shaped together with Shak's leadership. At the bottom of the front page we kept the Isännöintiliitto news feed — dynamic, relevant content, and a way to highlight Shak's long-standing membership in the association. For the visual identity we started from Shak's logo, its forms and its colors. That caused a bit of early head-scratching — the logo carries a fair amount of retro feel, and building something modern and clean on top of it was a real challenge. We eventually landed on a form language that pairs nostalgic atmosphere with up-to-date UX solutions. For the illustration we introduced an orange cat we call shakkikatti: a cat felt right because it's associated with being at home, and its coloring is built directly from Shak's logo palette. We expect the mascot to lift recognition — research consistently shows that mascots have a positive effect on both brand attitude and memorability.
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