BuildingLink Design Refresh
Refreshed the visual design of a 20-year-old property management platform to help sales teams close more deals with a modern-looking interface.
Project Snapshot
BuildingLink (via Philosophie)
Property Management & Real Estate
May 2020 - June 2020
Project Manager & UX Researcher
Web Applications, Design Systems, User Interface Design, Style Guides
Design System Development, UX Research, Visual Design Refresh, Project Management
Myself (Project Manager, engagement lead, UX researcher) plus one Designer
What It Was
BuildingLink is a property management web application for large residential buildings that started in New York in 2000. The platform has unmatched functionality in the marketplace, but the look and feel was 20 years old. This dated appearance was preventing salespeople from closing an estimated 20% to 50% of deals. We needed to refresh the visual design without affecting functionality or user experience, allowing sales teams to demo a modern-looking application.
Original BuildingLink interface from 2000
Additional view of the legacy interface
What I Did
- Interviewed six BuildingLink salespeople and six customer-side end users to understand their needs and pain points
- Led the design refresh of the main 13 screens in the BuildingLink management and staff portal workflow
- Created a cohesive design system and style guide to ensure consistency across all screens
- Managed the engagement and coordinated with the design team throughout the 3-week timeline
- Presented findings and design recommendations to stakeholders
Refreshed interface with modern design system
Additional view of the updated interface
What Came Out of It
- Successfully delivered refreshed designs for all 13 key screens in the BuildingLink workflow
- Client was extremely happy with the modern designs and put them into production immediately
- Gave the sales organization renewed confidence when showing the product to prospects
- Provided prospects with reassurance that BuildingLink is a modern, forward-thinking company
- Received positive feedback from the CEO: "It looks great and modern."
What I Learned
Clear scope definition is critical for project efficiency, especially on tight timelines. When requirements flow through multiple handoffs (Sales to production team), important context gets lost. I learned to always clarify the difference between research for insights versus research for validation, even when timelines are compressed. Moving forward, I prioritize a quick alignment call at project start to confirm scope boundaries and set expectations for how research findings will be used. This prevents downstream bottlenecks and keeps design and research workstreams moving in parallel rather than sequentially.
Need a Design System Refresh?
Looking to modernize your platform's visual design while preserving functionality?