AppFolio continuously updates its platform by regularly adding new features and integrations, ensuring that all its users—whether they’re residential and commercial property managers, vacation rental owners, or real estate investors—can benefit from the latest technology and best practices in property management.
Appfolio
Appfolio
2020
AppFolio is a cloud-based software platform that offers a comprehensive suite of features, including online rent collection, tenant screening, maintenance management, and marketing solutions, all aimed at enhancing the operational efficiency of property managers and owners. With a strong focus on user experience and customer service, AppFolio has grown to become a trusted leader in the property management software space, serving thousands of clients across North America.
ROLE
DEsigner
CLIENT
Appfolio
AGENCY
INSTRUMENT
Industry
Property Management
SERVICES
web Design, ART Direction
THE BRIEF
The digital landscape of the property management industry is saturated with a lack of distinctiveness and a human-centered focus. To set itself apart from the crowd, AppFolio needed to evolve its brand by also establishing a strong online presence as a trusted leader in the field. Our team's goal was to define a clear direction and refine it into the final design of key pages, including the homepage and navigation models, as well as select components that reflect the recommended vision for the site and the AppFolio brand.
INITIAL CONCEPT EXPLORATIONS
We began by developing visual concepts with distinct styles, incorporating elements like typography, color, layout, and art direction. Each unique approach aimed to simplify complex topics for our audience while enhancing overall visual quality. Once we presented these concepts to stakeholders for feedback, we proceeded with refinements.
CONCEPT 01: human touch
An artful celebration of the people who drive our business, and the goals that drive them. Putting people first, this direction layers an empathetic color pallete on white to create hierarchy, while combining hand drawn elements and collage to express personality and bring a human touch to a traditionally tech-focused category.
CONCEPT 02: the shape of things
A fresh take on the customer-focused approach, this direction showcases our customer’s properties and all the unique and beautiful differences between them. Highlighting our market and product offerings, we lean into clean lines, architectural framing elements, and a rich color pallete that provides an elevated, premium layer to the brand.
CONCEPT 03: A Pop of Personality
Doubling down on giving AppFolio a unique, expressive voice, this direction jumps into color head first. With the goal of creating a bright, friendly, easy-to-use product and brand, we leverage simplified UI moments, full-color pages, and more stylized portraits of both our customers and our employees. This direction also opens the door for copy and language to be less formal, even leading with a wink and a smile.
Improving Based on Feedback
We’ve used feedback from the AppFolio team to refine the final iteration of the homepage design, navigation models, and various page components to ensure they align with the proposed vision for the site.
A New Beginning
The final designs all prioritized the important requests from the Appfolio team:
☑️ Bold, out-of-the-box design thinking that is not anchored to past approaches
☑️ New visual tone and brand experience that speaks to target audience to drive credibility and perceived fit.
☑️ Photography that highlights mix of markets, segments, property, and additional user types including tenants, owners, association managers, etc.
☑️ Design layouts and user experiences to support reimagined content experiences and decision makers within all of our market segments.
☑️ Bold, out-of-the-box design thinking that is not anchored to past approaches
☑️ New visual tone and brand experience that speaks to target audience to drive credibility and perceived fit.
☑️ Photography that highlights mix of markets, segments, property, and additional user types including tenants, owners, association managers, etc.
☑️ Design layouts and user experiences to support reimagined content experiences and decision makers within all of our market segments.
Homepage: features & portfolio Types
Portfolio Dropdown
Oversized dropdown interaction feels accessible & allows the call to action to be more conversational.
Features Selector
Carousel allows for feature specific animation & highlights the product on the device.
Oversized dropdown interaction feels accessible & allows the call to action to be more conversational.
Features Selector
Carousel allows for feature specific animation & highlights the product on the device.
Homepage: Reviews & Blog Carousel
Reviews Carousel
Draggable carousel adds a suprise and delight UI moment on hover
Blog Carousel
Draggable carousel allows for discoverability of blog content, carousel can house multiple content types
Draggable carousel adds a suprise and delight UI moment on hover
Blog Carousel
Draggable carousel allows for discoverability of blog content, carousel can house multiple content types
Homepage: Navigation
Desktop Navigation
Dropdown navigation appears on click & disappears when a user navigates out of it.
Nav Scroll Behavior
Navigation moves up on hero scroll and animates down when a user scrolls past the hero, utility Nav is shy and appears when a user scrolls back up on the page.
Progressive Mobile Navigation
On mobile, the navigation would become progressive, so a user would tap through to access second level content. Book a demo remains locked to the bottom & content scrolls behind.
Dropdown navigation appears on click & disappears when a user navigates out of it.
Nav Scroll Behavior
Navigation moves up on hero scroll and animates down when a user scrolls past the hero, utility Nav is shy and appears when a user scrolls back up on the page.
Progressive Mobile Navigation
On mobile, the navigation would become progressive, so a user would tap through to access second level content. Book a demo remains locked to the bottom & content scrolls behind.
Site Modules
Resource Hub
Content is grouped by topics that can benefit their knowledge about the industry and growing their business. Visitors can also filter content by content type (i.e. articles, videos, podcasts, events, downloadables, etc.)
Pricing Module
Simplified the pricing module so that when a market is chosen, the price will reflect the business size. The PLUS tier is also given a more premium visual treatment
Content is grouped by topics that can benefit their knowledge about the industry and growing their business. Visitors can also filter content by content type (i.e. articles, videos, podcasts, events, downloadables, etc.)
Pricing Module
Simplified the pricing module so that when a market is chosen, the price will reflect the business size. The PLUS tier is also given a more premium visual treatment
Context in Numbers
5-10%
About 5-10% of visitors to AppFolio's homepage converted into leads or customers. Each month, thousands of leads were generated through contact forms and demo requests, indicating strong interest in their services.
1.9M
The platform managed approximately 1.9 million residential units and around 60,000 commercial properties.
16%^
AppFolio served over 29,000 customers in the property management sector. Since the site redesign, the company has added 4,000 new customers, indicating a 16% increase in user growth.
