A platform for a housing company with a social mission – conceived from digital presence through to print.
The ABG FRANKFURT HOLDING is responsible for more than 55,000 apartments in Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding region and is one of the key players in urban development. As a municipal housing company, it bears a dual responsibility: to remain economically viable while also fulfilling the city’s public mandate. A digital presence that meets this standard must not only reflect this role, but uphold it: guiding people seeking housing through a sensitive allocation process, reliably informing tenants, and providing investors and political stakeholders with robust figures.
The target groups could hardly be more different – people seeking housing with high emotional expectations, existing tenants with specific service questions, institutional stakeholders with reporting needs. The outdated existing solution could no longer provide sufficient orientation. Corporate communications wanted brand management with substance. IT and tenant services needed stable interfaces. Management wanted a platform that credibly communicates ABG as a commercial enterprise with a social mission.
Results at a glance
- Optimised presentation of the housing allocation process
- Clear user guidance for different target groups
- Integrated interfaces for job postings and services
- Transferable design system with print transfer
- GDPR-compliant implementation based on WordPress
- Independent CMS maintenance by internal teams
Making visible what had long been there
For decades, ABG FRANKFURT HOLDING has been driving urban development and forward-looking projects – yet this was not sufficiently visible on the previous online presence. The old website lacked clear structures to showcase this performance. That is why our work did not start with UI design, but with the concept: not what the platform looks like, but what it needs to show. Together with ABG FRANKFURT HOLDING’s project team, we identified which topics had previously remained invisible – and developed the architecture that makes them visible.
What the new platform delivers
User-centred information architecture
The architecture follows the four target groups, not internal organisational logic. People seeking housing go through a clearly guided allocation process with realistic expectation management – searching does not turn into frustration. Existing tenants find service topics without detours, while investors and political stakeholders can access annual reports and key figures directly. Because the platform addresses the most common journeys itself, the volume of enquiries to the team decreases.
<strong>Interface for job postings</strong>
Job ads are delivered via a third-party interface. In the relaunch, we aligned content and form fields with the new style guide so that the application journey and brand presence remain consistent. HR continues to work in the familiar system, while applicants experience a seamless presence.
Design system with print transfer
The design system supports not only the website, but extends into print: the annual reports are already built on it, and the logo mark functions as an area system across all media. Dedicated photo shoots replace stock material and make diverse tenant groups authentically visible. The in-house graphics department continues the system independently, remaining free from reliance on external agency work.
WordPress with Gutenberg
The platform runs on WordPress with the Gutenberg editor – GDPR-compliant, WCAG-accessible, and connected to dvinci and Datasec. The editorial team maintains content independently and is not reliant on third parties, so publications follow the internal cadence rather than an external sprint calendar.
What remains: a platform
that lives up to its ambition
ABG FRANKFURT HOLDING now communicates its public mandate via a platform that also delivers on it – in its presence, in editorial work, and across all media. Where other relaunches end with the launch, ongoing collaboration begins here: we at 360VIER provide continuous support for the platform. This is not a completed project, but an ongoing responsibility for us as a WordPress agency.
Rethinking digital presence:
from website to a cross-media system
This case shows what becomes possible when a digital relaunch is consistently taken further. A modern platform must do more than be accessible online – it is the foundation of a consistent brand identity across all channels.
What sets this project apart from our other work is the focus: for KAMPMEYER Immobilien, the emphasis was on sales automation; for Taglieber Holzbau, on a holistic brand relaunch – for ABG FRANKFURT HOLDING, on the robustness of the design system beyond the web context. The transfer into print was not an add-on afterwards, but considered from the outset.
This is precisely our approach: we design digital systems so that their design logic also holds up beyond the web. For ABG, this logic was so robust that the in-house graphics department was able to transfer it to print independently – not as a matter of aesthetics, but as a means of fulfilling the organisation’s societal mandate across media and autonomously.
Platforms with a public mandate
Are you responsible for a platform with a societal mandate – a municipal housing company, municipal utilities, a public holding company, a university? Then we can certainly help.
