Stefan Hansen ← All work

Nelson Brand and Website Real-estate development and construction 2026

One company that develops and builds, and a site that answers both.

The public site for a Des Moines developer, investor and general contractor. Development and construction each get their own path through it, the portfolio filters by sector, and the investor material is stated before anyone has to ask.

The home page scrolled at desktop width, the hero video running under its angled mask.

Role

Brand and visual design · Art direction · Website design · Information architecture · Copywriting and editorial · Build direction

Client

Nelson Construction & Development

The problem

Nelson does two things that are usually separate companies. It develops property, and it builds — sometimes its own projects, sometimes other owners'. It also raises equity from private investors and borrows from lenders.

Four readers, then, arriving for different reasons: an owner looking for a contractor, an operator looking for a developer, an investor, and a lender. The site has to sort them before it tells them anything.

The home page at rest: both divisions, both portals, and the aerial hero.
The home page at rest: both divisions, both portals, and the aerial hero.

Development and construction are separate paths

Each division has its own branch of the navigation and its own set of pages. Development is organised by sector — behavioral health, senior living, multifamily. Construction is organised by how the work runs: what we build, services, process, projects.

A visitor picks a division first, and what follows is written for that reader.

The development division, organised by sector.
The development division, organised by sector.
The construction division, organised by how the work runs rather than by sector.
The construction division, organised by how the work runs rather than by sector.

A sector page leads with the record, then the market

Each development sector opens with what Nelson has built in it — facilities, beds, how many are open, which states — set as a band across the top. Underneath sits the case for the sector itself: why it needs building, with the figures behind the demand.

That order is for an investor. Track record first, market second, and a route to investor relations beside both.

A sector page: what has been built across the top, the case for the sector beneath, investor relations beside both.
A sector page: what has been built across the top, the case for the sector beneath, investor relations beside both.
Further down the same page, into the demand figures behind the sector.
Further down the same page, into the demand figures behind the sector.

One portfolio, filtered by sector

Every project sits in a single index and filters by sector: behavioral health, senior living, multifamily, hospitality, industrial, office, retail. A card carries the photograph, the name, the location and the sector tags.

Projects currently raising carry a Financing Open badge, and ones that have exited carry Sold. That badge is where the marketing site meets the investor side.

The projects index: one list, filtered by sector.
The projects index: one list, filtered by sector.
The projects index on a phone, cards in a single column.
The projects index on a phone, cards in a single column.

The investor material is public up to the legal line

The investors page says what the arrangement is: Nelson co-invests in its own deals, the current raise is named, and the portal's contents are listed — distributions, K-1s, project updates, capital account balances. The accredited-investor restrictions sit on the page rather than behind it.

Past that point it needs a conversation and an NDA. The page exists to get a qualified reader to that conversation and stops there.

The investors page, with the accredited-investor restrictions on the page rather than behind it.
The investors page, with the accredited-investor restrictions on the page rather than behind it.

The same system runs the private tools

The identity does not end at the public site. The offering pages, the investor portal and the lender portal are built from the same palette, type and components. An investor who reads an offering and then signs in to check a distribution does not change design.

The phone layout is its own

Not the desktop narrowed. The hero video moves above the headline and takes an angled crop, the navigation collapses to a menu holding both divisions and both portals, and the project cards stack to a single column.

The same home page on a phone, where the hero moves above the headline.
The whole home page on a phone, top to bottom.
The whole home page on a phone, top to bottom.
The menu open: both divisions and both portals in one list.
The menu open: both divisions and both portals in one list.

What changed

  • Two businesses, one site. Development and construction each have a path through it, and a reader picks before anything else is asked of them.
  • The portfolio became one filterable list. Seven sectors, with financing status on the card.
  • The investor route is on the public site. Terms, the current raise and the portal's contents are stated before anyone has to write in.
  • The brand runs past the website. The same system carries into the offering pages and the portals behind the login.

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