Milhaus Gets an Upgrade: Changes in Logo and Website Reflect Company’s Growth

It seems like everyone is spring cleaning; clearing out the old – making room for the new. Even Milhaus is taking on a fresh look for summer. Having grown up quickly, Milhaus was ready for a mini makeover. “Due to rapid expansion, we wanted to take an opportunity to reassess their mission and values and then fuse those concepts with the design elements that make up their visual presentation,” says G.K. Rowe, Creative Director at Q7 Associates. “We do this to make sure their brand positioning remains a good fit in the years to come.” Minor adjustments were made to their logo and website to reflect the changes that have taken place since their beginning. Rowe says, “We chose to represent their maturity as a company by replacing the lower case letter ‘m’ in their logo with a stronger, more mature looking upper case ‘M.’ We of course kept the green color because it still represents their commitment to growth and sustainability. We replaced the black with a dark grey just to soften the edge of their look a little.”

The Milhaus website also has a fresh new face lift. Keeping many of the successful elements of its original design, the web developers updated the site to accommodate the new management segment of the company. “We basically just elevated the functionality of the site,” says Rowe. “It now serves all aspects of the company, development, construction and management in one place.” A new link on the website “Live” allows potential residents to view apartments like Circa and Artistry to learn more about them. Customers can access property information and link to the property site to explore a property’s neighborhood, amenities, floor plans, etc. This feature will be an important tool for the management aspect of the company as the number of Milhaus properties grows.

Branding, a simple concept in theory, isn't always easy to pull off. Rowe explains, “A company has to have a lot of things going for them like coherence among the leaders, a strong vision that is driven by common values and behavior consistent with those values.” For example, when Milhaus enters a community, they take into consideration the historical context of the area, the cultural atmosphere, the environmental impact, and then bring a quality product to the neighborhood. They believe they are helping build neighborhoods, not just apartments. Their brand reflects that. It isn’t hard to figure out who they are and build a design around that.

Everything Milhaus does is connected to an ideal of conscious living. “They consciously think about the lifestyle and experiences their customers and residents desire,” says Rowe. “They consider and evaluate how to build products that withstand the passage of time with a respectful use of resources. They create a diversity of housing types for creative and efficient living.” A company's brand should develop naturally from their vision and mission. Milhaus already has a clear connection between their focus and what they are doing in terms of development and community building. “We really didn't add anything to that,” says Rowe. “We simply tried to take what they already had and highlight some of the elements that reflect those important qualities.”