Responses by ATTCK
Background: We were brought on board to elevate the digital promotion and reach potential tenants of One Blue Slip, the first development project in Brooklyn, New York’s Greenpoint Landing neighborhood. While the main website was being built, we created an on-theme teaser site with a beautiful contact form, ensuring that our client could collect leads and gather valuable data before the final site launched.
Design core: An aquatic theme naturally fit One Blue Slip, as water borders the property on two sides. We worked with award winning New York–based ad agency QuallsBenson to incorporate this theme throughout. When visitors load the homepage, a rippling body of water is the first thing they see, filmed from above and presented in a full-screen video. On other pages, we arranged images in large-scale grids, banners and carousels to capture the beauty of the building and its surroundings.
Challenges: From a technical point of view, One Blue Slip was far from simple. When you scroll past the orienting lines of the site’s navigational tool—a compass—they spin in response to the cursor’s directionality and speed. This accelerometer-based effect was achieved through CSS3 animation with an SVG logo, rotated text and JavaScript for cursor responsiveness, and it works seamlessly in any browser on any device—all the way down to the iPhone 4.
Navigation design: We decided on the compass as the site’s navigational tool to reinforce the nautical theme. This provides visitors with a whimsical yet functional, novel yet intuitive guide. Details like this—which we endearingly refer to as our “winks”—are additions that enrich our projects with personality, and they’re a defining characteristic of every project we take on.
Technology: In addition to CSS3 animations and text rotation, SVG graphics and JavaScript, we leveraged our proprietary WordPress layout system. We use WordPress because it’s equipped with enough functionality for the most complex projects, and it’s the perfect platform for sites that are robust, scalable and streamlined. WordPress also offers plenty of capacity for high-volume traffic and seamlessly integrates with all kinds of plugins. Most importantly, it offers us—and our clients—custom experiences that are remarkably easy to adapt. For our clients at One Blue Slip, that means up-to-the-minute listings, fresh copy and photography, as well as other additions or deletions to their heart’s content.
Anything else? We’ve done plenty of work for real estate developers so we know the right tools to make a site that sells. For One Blue Slip, we used API integrations with various services, including RENTCafé, a nationwide listing platform that lets renters compare properties and submit applications while also enabling web admins to update the listing information. We used a WordPress plugin called Contact Form 7 to manage contact forms and collect visitor information, as well as an intuitive call-tracking system, CallRail, that generates a unique 1-800 number for every user. Nestio helps prospective tenants book appointments for a tour.