Founded more than 60 years ago, Zebra Students provides affordable accommodation for postgraduates studying in London. With a diverse community of international residents, Zebra offers flexible accommodation options designed to support students throughout their academic journey.
As the organisation evolved its offering and repositioned itself from Zebra Housing to Zebra Students, it needed a brand and digital experience that better reflected its modern identity, supported new commercial objectives, and made it easier for prospective students to discover and apply for accommodation.
They required more than a visual refresh. The rebrand supported a strategic shift towards a more student-focused proposition and a broader accommodation offering, including both short-term and long-term tenancies.
Alongside the brand evolution, Zebra faced operational challenges within its student application process and property marketing. Accommodation listings lacked the flexibility to support new tenancy models, prospective students often required additional information before applying, and internal teams were spending valuable time managing manual processes.
The challenge was to create a cohesive brand and digital experience that would improve occupancy, streamline applications and provide a stronger foundation for future growth.
We took the brand back to basics, drawing inspiration for the colour selection from the rooms’ lived environment and the colours that adorn their walls. It was also important to consider aspects of physical branding like signage and the receptions, offering a simpler and tidier feel that united and formalised the brand.
Beyond defining a new identity, we created robust documentation to empower in-house teams to own the brand and promote consistency across trade shows, employee presentations and marketing materials. This included carefully crafting new presentation templates, social media templates, and brochures as a baseline for future brand application, tailored to their core business needs.
Every element was developed collaboratively with the Zebra team to ensure the new brand was practical, accessible and easy to implement across day-to-day operations.
While the brand refresh established a stronger visual identity, it was equally important that the digital experience reflected the same clarity, accessibility and professionalism.
We redesigned the accommodation browsing experience using UListing, creating a more intuitive and informative property journey. New listing structures, categorisation and filtering options allowed students to quickly identify accommodation that matched their needs, whether they were looking for a short-term stay, a multi-year tenancy, a studio apartment or a shared room.
Property pages were rebuilt to present key information more clearly, reducing the need for prospective applicants to request additional details before applying. The resulting platform better reflected Zebra’s evolving accommodation portfolio, enabling the organisation to market a wider range of property types while maintaining a clear and user-friendly experience.
We also integrated the accommodation journey more closely with JotForm, creating a streamlined application process that reduced friction for students, supported conversion, and significantly reduced administrative effort for Zebra’s team.
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