Asterisk Design

Our first real estate branding project began in 2011 with a development district southeast of downtown Austin. Longtime collaborator Mark Denton named the area Lakeshore.

Thus began our enduring relationship with Cypress Real Estate Advisors, now CREA.

Lakeshore Pearl was the first vertical project built on the site, and our first multifamily endeavor.

Beyond branding and marketing materials, client John Burnham invited us to add “that Austin touch” to amenity spaces and leasing offices — an early opportunity to create unique interior art and graphics installations.

We used an unconventional material palette, incorporating coffee cups, bottle caps, and other unassuming materials. John embraced the idea of doing something different.

Since 2011, our relationship with CREA has flourished, including projects in Austin, the DFW area, and Denver: Cielo South Lamar, Haven Lake Highlands, Corazon, Lakeshore Azul, Burnet Marketplace, Westerly 360, The Copeland, The Langford, 44South, Crosstown, Prospect, The Northern, The Bond, and Ten50 Broadway

***Number four in a series of stories from 25* years of building brands.***

We’ve worked with Texas’ premier builder, , on job sites and in construction trailers throughout the region. Our relationship evolved when RO asked us to turn our focus to transforming their Austin, San Antonio, and Houston office into spaces that reflect their long history of building a better Texas.

Working with their marketing teams, we created a growing collection of front- and back-of-house installations that display their pride, process, and history while elevating the tools, trades, and skills native to their industry and culture. A truly collaborative effort — from concept design to painting 100s of paint can lids — the work truly represents the “RO ride” they promise their clients.

In 2010, we found ourselves next to a bubbling draw in the hills of an expansive family ranch with owners and land stewards Heather and Martin Kohout, listening to the abundant birds in the surrounding bluffs.

With 1,500 acres of pristine Texas Hill Country and a herd of American bison, the Kohouts planned to launch a residency program to share the experience of Madroño Ranch with writers and artists, all supported by the sale of organic bison meat. Their program would prove that a business could do well while also doing good.

Martin and Heather had a vision, with open minds in synch with the open spaces of the ranch and its resources: water, terrain, wildlife, and a pristine place to think and create. It was our charge to develop a brand vocabulary that reflected the dusty optimism this place inspired.

The identity system combined the iconography of the American west with custom typography that we and the Kohouts debated over several lazy ranch dinners.

As the work and the program took shape, we were fortunate to spend a good bit of time at the ranch with the Kohouts, and our friends and family.

The Kohout family ran Madroño Ranch and the retreat program for several years. Heather, a wonderful wife, mother, and poet, passed away far too soon in 2014. We keep a copy of her book of her essays and poetry, The Shimmering is All There Is, in our office—a reminder of the remarkable opportunity to shape a family’s legacy, create our own family memories, and nurture an enduring friendship with Martin.