Real estate · Editorial platform
Makao Homes
Prime Kenyan property, presented with intent.
About the project
A premium property platform for discovering residential landmarks, private homes, and investment-grade developments across sought-after Kenyan addresses.
View live projectMakao Homes transforms property discovery from a crowded listing exercise into a considered editorial journey—one that gives every address, space, and investment story room to breathe.
- Client
- Makao Homes & Realtors
- Status
- Live platform
- Role
- Product design & full-stack development
- Services
- Digital strategy · UX/UI · Content architecture · Engineering
- Industry
- Premium real estate
- Platform
- Responsive web
Case study framework
From the problem to the shipped product.
A transparent view of the UX thinking, interface decisions, and front-end engineering behind the work.
- 01Problem
- 02Context
- 03Discovery
- 04Pain points
- 05Flows
- 06Wireframes
- 07Exploration
- 08Final UI
- 09System
- 10Implementation
- 11Learnings
Premium homes were being presented like undifferentiated inventory.
The business needed the practical utility of a property portal without the visual noise of one. The opportunity was to make architecture, address, and investment context feel considered while preserving fast filtering, comparison, and enquiry.
Who the product had to work for—and what the business needed it to change.
- Home buyers
- Property investors
- Relocating families
- Makao agents
- Elevate brand perception
- Make high-value listings easier to evaluate
- Turn interest into qualified enquiries
- Support editorial and market content
Discovery focused on the decisions people were already trying to make.
- Photography creates interest, but specifications create confidence.
- Buyers move between broad location discovery and one highly detailed property.
- The agent conversation works best when it retains the listing context.
The experience had to remove three sources of friction.
Visual sameness
Conventional listing grids made very different homes feel interchangeable.
Scattered detail
Price, features, location, and unit information were hard to scan as one decision.
Lost intent
Generic contact routes separated the enquiry from the property that created it.
Move from aspiration to a confident conversation.
- 01
Discover
Editorial entry points and featured residences
- 02
Refine
Location, type, price, and status filters
- 03
Evaluate
Gallery, specifications, amenities, and context
- 04
Experience
Virtual tour and spatial storytelling
- 05
Enquire
Listing-aware agent contact
Wireframes established an editorial rhythm around real buying tasks.
The structure deliberately alternates immersive media with compact decision blocks. The listing index, property story, and enquiry state were tested as one continuous path rather than separate templates.
Editorial restraint became the interface strategy.
Let photography lead without hiding the facts
Use serif type for character and sans serif for utility
Keep filters quiet until they are needed
Treat each address as a story, not a SKU
The live interface gives each property room to breathe.
Captured from the live Makao Homes platform, the screens show the transition from a confident portfolio index to an immersive, information-rich property page.
A small set of editorial components carries the whole portfolio.
#26352c#e8e1d3#1b1b18#f7f5f0- Warm neutral tokens keep varied photography cohesive.
- Image ratios are controlled by content role, not one universal card.
- Responsive type and spacing preserve the editorial pace on mobile.
The front end balances image performance with editorial scale.
Reusable listing and content modules power the responsive experience. Particular attention went to image loading, semantic content order, filter behaviour, property metadata, and keeping enquiry actions accessible without interrupting the story.
Prioritise the first meaningful property image and defer the rest.
Keep filter state reflected in the URL for shareable searches.
Use structured data and specific page metadata for every property.
What the work changed—and what I would carry into the next version.
Luxury is often a hierarchy decision, not an animation decision.
A property page must serve emotional and analytical evaluation at the same time.
The most effective conversion point preserves the context that created intent.
The impact
A digital portfolio that makes premium property feel personal.
Makao Homes now has a cohesive experience for presenting residences, developments, and market insight. The platform combines editorial storytelling with the detail and enquiry tools serious property decisions require.
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