My Journey at UniShack

When I joined Unishack, it wasn’t just about marketing—it was about creating a brand that students could trust. UniShack started expanding from its home campus, UCLA, to campuses nationwide. Finding housing can be overwhelming, and I wanted Unishack to feel less like a transaction and more like a community-driven platform that made the process easier and more approachable. I wanted UniShack to a place students go to find their next home, not just an apartment.

IDEATION & EARLY ITERATIONS

Expanding the Brand and Creating Identity

Before launching Unishack’s marketing efforts, I wanted to create a strong visual identity that resonated with students. The goal was to design a logo that felt modern, approachable, and true to the brand, reflecting Unishack’s mission to simplify student housing. Here’s how we brought the brand to life.

I started by gathering ideas from the team, and we explored three main concepts:

A Koala in a Shack Representing friendliness, relaxation, and always feeling "at home."

A City Skyline Within a Moon Symbolizing student life at night, dorm windows, and community.

UCLA’s Royce Hall Paying homage to where UniShack originated; true and authentic.

I experimented with different expressions, poses, and styles to make it feel modern yet approachable.

FINAL DESIGN

I refined the lines, proportions, and detailing to make it visually strong and instantly identifiable.

Landing on the Final Logo: Royce Hall

After multiple iterations, we decided that Royce Hall was the perfect fit. Our CEO’s vision aligned with the vision of Royce Hall — it felt meaningful, recognizable, and simple yet iconic — something two dimensional and flush. Here are some of the iterations before perfecting my design, along with some honorary mentions!

I simplified the shapes, making sure it looked clean and recognizable even at smaller sizes.

To finalize the logo, I focused on:
Refining the architecture details while keeping it clean and modern.
Maintaining the signature UniShack color palette: warm, welcoming, and professional.
Ensuring it worked in different sizes (for social media, website banners, and app icons).

THE CHALLENGE

From Listings to a Digital Presence

Once the brand identity was in place, I focused on growing Unishack’s reach through a strategic marketing approach. Students looking for housing don’t start with ads—they start with their peers, online forums, and trusted community spaces.

Instead of pushing UniShack through generic ads, I focused on meeting students where they already were—leveraging Reddit and other organic channels to create genuine engagement, build credibility, and drive sustained growth.

THE GOAL

Make UniShack the go-to resource for student housing; meet students where they are.

STRATEGY & EXECUTION

  • Designed and launched SEO-driven content & blog posts, increasing UniShack’s organic traffic.

  • Developed a social media strategy that boosted engagement and positioned UniShack as a go-to housing resource for students.

  • Used analytics to track engagement trends and refine marketing strategies for better results.

  • Reddit Campaign and Community Growth:
    Built trust by engaging in authentic conversations on student forums.
    Provided helpful responses, making UniShack a natural recommendation.
    Encouraged peer-to-peer sharing, leading to organic word-of-mouth growth..

THE IMPACT

Through my time at UniShack, I have been learning how to blend creativity with strategy—building a brand identity, launching data-backed campaigns, and ultimately making marketing efforts feel personal and meaningful.

THE PROBLEM

Intentional, Organic Growth

Students weren’t actively searching for UniShack, they were looking for housing on forums like Reddit.

How I Did It

THE SOLUTION

A community-first, organic strategy to rank on Google, dominate Reddit discussions, and drive student trust.

Organically ranked #1 on Google’s forum page for students searching for UCLA housing, making UniShack one of the first resources students found.

Reddit traffic increased by 2,396% from October 2024 to January 2025, proving the success of our community-driven strategy.

Google search traffic nearly tripled in 3 months, showing strong SEO growth and improved brand discoverability.

Direct traffic increased seven times over, reflecting greater brand awareness and trust as more students searched for UniShack by name.

The total housing inquiries grew by 1,316%, showing that our marketing efforts directly converted into real leads at scale.