Pacific Reford
01 — Overview
Pacific Reford manages a portfolio of commercial properties and needed a centralized platform to handle tenant relations, lease management, maintenance requests, and financial reporting across their entire portfolio.
02 — The Challenge
Property managers were juggling multiple disconnected tools — spreadsheets for finances, email for tenant communication, and separate systems for maintenance tracking. This fragmentation led to missed deadlines, miscommunication, and inefficient resource allocation.
03 — Research
I spent a week shadowing property managers to observe their daily workflows. I documented 47 distinct tasks they performed and identified which ones required the most context-switching. User interviews with 6 managers revealed that report generation was the most painful task, taking 2-3 hours daily.
04 — UX Process
I designed a unified dashboard that consolidates all operations. The information architecture was built around daily tasks — morning check-ins, pending actions, and upcoming deadlines. Wireframes went through 4 iterations, with the biggest change being the move from module-based navigation to task-based navigation.
05 — UI Design
The dashboard features a clean, data-rich interface with customizable widgets. Charts and graphs provide at-a-glance insights. The colour system uses warm tones for urgency indicators and cool tones for informational content, helping managers prioritize actions.
06 — Testing & Iteration
I tested with 4 property managers over 3 weeks. The task-based navigation reduced average time-to-complete for daily workflows from 45 minutes to 15 minutes. The automated lease renewal reminders eliminated 90% of missed renewals.
07 — Final Solution
A comprehensive property management dashboard that consolidates all operations into one unified interface. Features include tenant communication logs, automated lease renewal reminders, maintenance ticketing system, financial reporting with exportable charts, and occupancy analytics.
08 — Outcome
Tenant response time improved by 50%. Lease renewal rate increased by 25%. Financial reporting time reduced from days to minutes. Maintenance request resolution 40% faster.
09 — What I Learned
This project reinforced that the best dashboard designs are invisible — they get out of the user's way and let them focus on their actual work. I learned to prioritise information density without sacrificing clarity.