Building a Multi-Brand Design System & Product Marketing
TEAM.
Brand & Marketing Team
Tools.
Figma
Year.
2021 - 2022
Role.
Brand & Marketing Designer
HOUZZ is a widely used online platform for home renovation and interior & landscaping design. It functions as an outlet for homeowners and design professionals to access high- quality tools, resources, and vendors. HOUZZ also offers HOUZZ PRO, a professional software that is specifically designed to help designers manage their projects, manage new business, and handle their financial details, etc.
As the brand & marketing designer, I overseed all graphic and visual designs for our advertisements, interactive marketing materials, as well as organic social media, emails, learn article webpages, marketplace ads and creatives, internal events, and all other creative development and media planning in support for Houzz and Houzz Pro.
*During my time at Houzz, I worked on projects that I cannot disclose due to NDA restrictions. Please contact me for more information at soyoungleestudio@gmail.com
How can we create a design system for Houzz Pro?
Houzz Pro is an all-in-one business management software within Houzz, designed to enhance the capabilities of design professionals in residential construction projects. In my team, Brand and Marketing, we explored and developed re-branding of Houzz Pro to add friendliness, encouragement, and mature value to our current brand. My key project involved designing early-stage wireframes, creating a mood board, leading the development of the Houzz Pro Learn page and Houzz Pro social media, and producing covers for Houzz Pro tutorial videos and PR images.
An intuitive platform for home professionals
The Houzz Pro webpage offers home remodeling and design professionals access to articles, videos, webinars, and e-books to stay updated on the latest tools and best practices. For the Houzz Pro Learn Site project, I led the redesign of the website, including PR images and web flow for articles, collaborating closely with copywriters. My designs were used across various content, including emails, banners, PR launches, videos, social media, the website, and Learn articles.
Enhance your workflow with Houzz Pro tools
Houzz Pro provides home professionals with a suite of essential tools designed to streamline their workflow and improve client collaboration. Key tools include: Houzz Pro AR Tool, Timeline Tool, Color Search Tool, Email Marketing Tool, Estimate Builder Tool.
Houzz Pro Tutorial Video
For the Houzz Pro tools launch, I led the design of over 70 video cover images in collaboration with product designers. I explored layout and hierarchy, incorporating feedback on legal concerns and legibility during critiques. The final design featured key elements, optimized whitespace for small-screen legibility, and clear color categorization.
These visuals were published across Houzz’s promotional social media channels, email campaigns, and instructional articles aimed at tool users.
Timeline Storyboard
I led the early-stage storyboarding for the Timeline Tool, working closely with product designers, animators, and copywriters. Starting with a discovery workshop, I collaborated with the team to review scripts, ensuring alignment and providing guidance on design approaches, production, resources, and timelines. I created a detailed video storyboard, highlighting key motions and prioritizing the most important functions within the product flow.
Marketing & PR Strategy
I played a key role in launching Houzz Pro's Con X software, which helps contractors generate professional estimates up to 10 times faster. I developed marketing strategies, managed PR releases, and created a PR kit showing contractors how to use the takeoff tools to save time and improve estimation efficiency.
KBIS 2022 Event & Booth Design: Social Marketing
As the creative lead for Houzz’s IBS/KBIS 2022 event, I designed social marketing visuals and booth elements for the show. I focused on optimizing designs for small screens, adding white space and dividers to improve clarity and separate images from testimonials. The event took place from February 8-10, 2022, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
Houzz Pro Rebranding
As part of Houzz’s brand and marketing team, we rebranded Houzz Pro to bring in a sense of friendliness, encouragement, and mature value. Using design thinking, we identified key customer needs through a collaborative kick-off meeting. I created mood boards, working plans, and developed the customer journey and user flow. Through early-stage wireframing and concept development, I visualized the concept and defined the design direction. This process resulted in a website that effectively balances Houzz Pro’s business goals and meets the needs of our customers.
Concept 1: Modern & Encouraging
Concept 2: Mature & Friendly
Takeaways
Scaling Up a Startup
I've had the opportunity to witness firsthand how a brand design system and process evolve as a startup prepares for growth and a public launch. Working closely with the brand design and marketing teams, I saw how the company navigates the challenges of scaling up and transitioning into a public entity.
Enhancing Collaboration Between Teams
During my time at Houzz, I worked with inspiring individuals who contributed greatly to my growth. Through the Houzz and Houzz Pro projects, I learned to continuously elevate the quality of my designs by gathering feedback from peers and stakeholders during bi-weekly design reviews and presentations. Presenting and pitching my designs to the team helped me practice open communication and share my perspective with confidence. Additionally, I gained an appreciation for maintaining strong collaboration and communication with cross-functional teams, especially when seeking clarifications to ensure design alignment.
Katherine Yau
@Marketing Designer at Houzzz
I am thrilled to recommend Ms. Soyoung Lee, an extraordinarily talented graphic designer whose pivotal contributions to Houzz Inc., particularly in the highly successful launch of the Houzz Pro Takeoffs tool, showcase her remarkable skills and exceptional impact in the field.
Kimchi Tyler Chen
@Senior Producer & Manager
As the Marketing Designer, Soyoung was one of our significant graphic designers responsible for producing and managing the design of digital artwork used for the HOUZZ PRO. Her design work incorporated in the instructional articles helped our users intuitively understand the tool’s various functions and methods of utilization, which lead to high customer satisfaction that significantly contributed to the wide success of the HOUZZ PRO.
Yeseul Son
@Brand Designer at Houzz
Her ability to inspire our team during the weekly creative hours and her unique approach to design processes and ideas for Houzz Pro’s re-branding meeting made her skills stand out from those of her peers. In the re-branding Houzz pro project, she generated innovative concepts for the next generation and added friendliness, encouragement, and mature value to our current business,
which set our brand apart from our competitors.
