Case Study: A Website for The Good Life at BonVi

Challenge

BonVi is an apartment building in New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood. Developed by Iris Development and Green Coast Enterprises, the BonVi community is committed to inclusion, diversity, and energy efficiency. As a new living community, BonVi needed a website that would reflect these commitments with a sense of whimsy and a visualization of “the good life.” Our team got to work on a site that matched this feel and incorporated custom illustrations, an interactive neighborhood map, and embedded rental listings.

BonVi’s previous website

Custom Illustrations

It was important to the team at BonVi that their new site felt whimsical and specific to New Orleans.

In addition to expanding BonVi’s color palette, selecting a new organic heading font, and using photography that matched this character, we also developed a library of custom illustrations for use across the site that highlighted this playful look. With illustrations of the Crescent City Connection, a ferry, and a fleur de lis, among other New Orleans-inspired pieces, plus a full page of illustrations highlighting BonVi’s many amenities, our team gave this site a uniquely whimsical flavor.

Interactive Neighborhood Map

The specific location of BonVi in the Bywater neighborhood is key to the building’s community—and the BonVi team wanted to make sure that potential residents visiting the site could use it to learn more about the Bywater.

Our team built an interactive map of the neighborhood highlighting local restaurants, coffee shops, bars, stores, outdoor spaces, and other entertainment destinations within walking distance of BonVi. Site visitors can filter through these categories, each of which has its own custom icon in the same style as the site’s other illustrations, and click to get directions on each location’s pin.

Check out the interactive map here.

BonVi's interactive neighborhood map, displaying the pop-up window for the BonVi building

Buildium listings displayed on BonVi's new website

Rental Listings

The BonVi leasing team uses Buildium to manage their rental listings. As a busy team, it was important to them that any updates they make on Buildium translate automatically to their front-facing website, so we included a stylized embed of their listings feed directly on the site. Now, in addition to finding a BonVi apartment on other rental listings sites, future residents can find their apartments right on BonVi’s new website!

From the Client

Online Optimism was a great partner in developing BonVi’s new website. They really captured our vision of a whimsical, New Orleans-inspired site that shows off the BonVi community’s unique personality—we especially love the custom illustrations! Claire was especially engaging and led the team to a successful product. We are very happy with the final outcome, and we’d recommend the team at Online Optimism to any other apartment buildings or residential communities looking for a new website!