A fresh look for a legacy real estate group

The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is a New York City mainstay connecting and supporting real estate professionals for more than 100 years. The organization focuses on everything from governing and lobbying to ethics control with respect to buying, selling, and living in property in one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas.

REBNY’s new leadership wanted to revamp its digital presence to better reflect its positive impact on the city and real estate community. With a more modern design, the group aimed to improve the experience for visitors, members, and potential newcomers.

Showcase REBNY’s value to members and New York City

REBNY needed to increase its appeal to new and existing members with an updated site that prioritized visuals, better presented content for different audiences, and emanated a warm and approachable vibe. The group wanted to display different homepages for members and general visitors, providing resources and broadly highlighting its work and initiatives. It also wanted flexibility in managing its content on the backend, including the removal of outdated information and server structure.

A streamlined and redesigned digital presence

Our team audited REBNY’s content library and consolidated vital data into a single, streamlined resource hub where members can find anything on education, resources, research, news, legal information, and more. Additionally, installing a simple but robust CMS that’s easy to use on the front and back end gave the REBNY team the ability to post and remove content themselves. Implementing a digital design system and an improved tech stack created consistency across web pages, the backend, and the organization’s general aesthetic, which served to highlight its longstanding reputation in the city’s real estate circles.

A stronger brand story

Digging through the organization's archives gave our team insight into how the group was structured, its history and body of work, and where to take it going forward. Stakeholder and user interviews helped elucidate the needs and pain points of REBNY’s website. That relationship and research ensured the design choices stayed true to the organization’s overall mission and desire to highlight certain accomplishments, changes, and initiatives. The best of the past, the brightness of the future.