MLS Global
MLS Global: How Ocean Development Designed a Global Real Estate Platform From the Ground Up
A case study by Ocean Development | UI/UX Design, Branding & Mobile App Design for Real Estate Platforms
Overview
MLS Global set out to build something that had never been done before: a single platform connecting users to every MLS listing on the planet. One place to buy, rent, invest, relocate, find student housing, arrange transportation, and even secure accommodations for pets, anywhere in the world.
The vision was ambitious. The design needed to match it.
Ocean Development was brought in to design the entire product from scratch, including the website, web app, mobile app, and full brand identity. Four weeks to the initial design. Over a year of ongoing support after that.
The Challenge
MLS Global is not a simple real estate website. It is a multi-category global platform serving completely different user needs under one roof: buyers, renters, investors, students, seniors, families relocating abroad, and pet owners all needed to feel at home in the same product.
The navigation alone spans seven distinct categories across Buy and Rent, each with multiple subcategories. The platform also needed to communicate authority and global scale while remaining approachable and easy to use for someone searching for a home in a country they have never visited.
This was one of the most complex design projects Ocean Development has taken on. It required constant iteration, close client collaboration, and a designer capable of holding an entire product system together across months of updates.
The Solution
Ocean Development structured the project around two roles:
Jaden Medina, Project Lead and CEO managed the client relationship end to end. From initial discovery through every subsequent design review, Jaden attended meetings, translated the client's vision into actionable direction, and kept the project aligned across a timeline that stretched well over a year. When the scope evolved, Jaden made sure the team moved with it.
Raytumb, Lead UI/UX Designer owned the entire design from concept to final Figma handoff. Every screen, every component, every interaction across the website, web app, and mobile app was designed by Raytumb. The scope included a full brand identity system, a dark-themed marketing site with a global map interface, complex dropdown navigation across seven service categories, a mobile app with filtering, search, and user account flows, and a consistent design language that held together across every surface.
What We Designed:
Brand Identity A bold, globally-minded brand built around MLS Global's positioning as the number one platform for worldwide real estate. Red, black, and white. Authoritative typography. A globe-integrated logomark that communicates reach at a glance.
Website and Web App Design A full marketing site and web app designed in Figma, covering the homepage, service category pages, listing flows, AI search, local news, citizenship abroad, and more. The dark hero with the interactive world map sets the tone immediately: this platform is built for the entire planet.
Mobile App Design A complete mobile app design covering onboarding, search and filter flows, listing views, user accounts, and upgrade prompts. Designed to feel native, fast, and premium across both iOS and Android contexts.
Ongoing Design Support After the initial 4-week design sprint, Ocean Development stayed on for over a year of continuous updates. New features, revised flows, additional pages, and refinements based on evolving product requirements were handled by the same team that built the original system, ensuring consistency throughout.
The Results
Deliverable | Detail |
|---|---|
Initial Timeline | 4 Weeks |
Ongoing Support | 12+ Months |
Platform Scope | Website, Web App, Mobile App, Branding |
Handoff | Full Figma design system |
Client Feedback | "It fit her vision perfectly" |
MLS Global's founder described the final product as exactly what she had envisioned. For a platform this complex, with this many moving parts, that outcome does not happen by accident. It happens through consistent communication, a designer who can hold a system together at scale, and a project lead who never lets the client feel lost in the process.
Why Real Estate Platforms and Proptech Companies Choose Ocean Development
Building a real estate platform is not the same as building a real estate website. You are designing a product that needs to serve multiple user types, communicate trust at a global scale, and stay consistent across web and mobile simultaneously.
Ocean Development has direct experience in this space. We understand how to design complex navigation systems that do not overwhelm users, how to build brand identities that position platforms as category leaders, and how to support a product through the long iterative process that serious software requires.
If you are building a real estate platform, a proptech product, or a global service marketplace and need a design partner who can go the distance, Ocean Development is that team.
Work With Ocean Development
Ocean Development is a Miami-based web design and development agency specializing in high-complexity digital products for ambitious brands. We design in Figma and build in Framer, WordPress, and Shopify.
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