Life in Progress: Turning a Show Home into a Living Editorial

4 -5 min read

Context

Marcon is a design-led real estate developer in Metro Vancouver, known for quality construction, thoughtful architecture, and projects that are tightly woven into their neighbourhoods.

Traditionally, show homes and sales galleries have been treated as static spaces. Beautifully staged, but essentially frozen in time. I wanted to explore how a show home could feel more alive, and how Marcon could let the community literally see life unfolding inside its architecture.

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feel more alive |

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life unfolding |

Challenge

How do we:

Help people see themselves living in a home before it is built
Stand out in a crowded presale market without feeling gimmicky
Stay true to Marcon’s calm, design-forward, community-focused brand

In other words: how do we move beyond floor plans and finishes and tell a story about real life in a Marcon home.

Insight

Buying a home is emotional. People do not fall in love with square footage; they fall in love with moments:

Dinner with friends
Setting up a nursery
Turning a spare room into a studio or office

If we can make those moments visible in a way that feels premium and thoughtful, we can help future buyers imagine their own routines, relationships, and rituals in the space.

Concept

Building on that insight, Life in Progress is an architectural showcase suite in a glass pavilion that stages real, everyday scenes of life in a Marcon home.

Instead of a static show suite that only exists for scheduled tours, the pavilion becomes a live editorial. Over a series of days, we program a set of “vignettes” that represent different types of residents and lifestyles.

Example vignettes:

Friday Night Dinner
A group of friends sharing a meal. We see how the kitchen, dining area, and balcony flow together during a dinner party.
Sunday Studio
An artist or creative setting up their home studio. We see how natural light, storage, and flexible layout support creative work at home.
Room for What’s Next
First-time parents assembling a crib and styling a nursery. We see how a second bedroom can evolve for growing families.

From the street, the community can quietly observe these scenes through the glass. The home becomes a transparent model of how life unfolds inside the architecture.

How It Is Shot: Live Editorial, Not a Stunt

Visually, we treat Life in Progress like a slow, living editorial shoot.

We cast people who feel like real residents, not exaggerated actors.
Styling, lighting, and pacing follow a design-magazine tone: clean, warm, understated.
Movements are natural and unscripted: cooking, chatting, hanging art, folding baby clothes.

For each vignette we plan:

A simple storyboard of the key moments
Shot lists from both inside and outside the pavilion
A short run-of-show so the scene feels calm and unhurried

From the outside, it looks like you are watching a series of stills from a beautifully shot campaign slowly come to life. No chaos. No gimmicks. The hero remains the architecture and the layout, gently activated by human behaviour.

Experience Design

To make Life in Progress feel real and accessible, we design the experience across location, on-site journey, and digital touchpoints.

Location:
The pavilion is placed on or near the future development site, or in a high-foot-traffic area that still connects to the neighbourhood context.

On-site experience":

Clear but minimal signage: “You are viewing Life in Progress at [Project Name]. Scan to book a tour or learn more.”

QR codes lead to a landing page with:

Project details
Floor plans
Registration / appointment booking

The goal is to keep the experience quiet, elevated, and easy to enter for people who are curious.

Content & Campaign System

Life in Progress is designed as a campaign platform, not a one-off event, working both on-site and online.

On-site

The activation drives immediate curiosity and foot traffic.
People are given a clear next step: scan, register, book a tour.

Digital & Social

Life in Progress is designed to be filmed as an experience, not just a set of interior shots.

We treat the pavilion and the people around it as part of the story:

Establishing shots – Wide-angle frames that show the full glass pavilion in its urban context, so viewers immediately understand: this is a real model home placed in the middle of the city.
Crowd curiosity – Time-lapses and real-time shots of people slowing down, pointing, taking photos, and gathering around the glass. This captures the natural pull of the activation.
Over-the-shoulder POV – Shots that pan from behind the crowd, looking past people’s shoulders into the scenes inside: friends cooking, a dinner party in motion, an artist at work, parents setting up a nursery. It feels like you’re standing there with everyone else, peeking into a possible future.

From this footage we build a content funnel:

Teaser clips before the activation launches (“Something new is moving into this corner…”) to spark curiosity and drive people to come see it in person.
Live day-of content that shows crowds discovering the pavilion in real time, encouraging others to visit while it’s still happening.
Hero recap films after the event that combine scene vignettes with crowd reactions and neighbourhood context, telling the full story of how the project lives in the city.

These assets run across:

Project and Marcon websites
Organic social (Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram posts & stories)
Paid social and digital ads, where the hook is the unusual sight of a fully furnished home sitting inside a glass pavilion with a live scene happening inside

The goal is to advertise the experience itself, to make people curious enough to come see it live, and then use the footage as ongoing storytelling for the project long after the activation is over.

Why It Fits Marcon

Life In Progress:

Centres the architecture and interior design
Feels premium, calm, and considered, which aligns with Marcon’s aesthetic
Invites the community into the story of each project
Creates a flexible content system that supports marketing, sales, and brand-building

It is bold enough to stand out from typical real estate marketing, but grounded enough to feel right for a developer that builds homes people will live in for decades, a calm, thoughtful way to make Marcon’s architecture feel alive in the city.

Creative Director

Product Manager

Designer

Over 10 years of industry experience.
Led marketing campaigns across national and international markets, driving measurable growth and visibility.
Supported the launch of multiple startups.
Advised on technology, marketing, and design through various board positions.
Partnered with non-profits to drive impactful fundraising campaigns.
Graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration, concentrated in Marketing.
Based in Canada, working remotely with clients and teams around the world.
Fluent in English and Arabic.

Creative director & product-minded designer focused on high-impact experiences.

I turn strategy into moments people can see, touch, and share across brand systems, customer touchpoints, and high-impact activations (IRL brand experiences). I take ambiguous briefs and produce a clear, scalable idea. I build trust fast, define the real problem, and align decision makers on simple criteria. My process is simple: one-page brief, two review rounds, and clear “done” criteria. I am hands on, and my strongest value is design direction and taste. I edit, systematize, and raise the bar so the work performs in the wild.

Creative Director & Brand Strategist with 10+ years crafting design-led brand systems, campaigns, and experiences for consumer brands. I combine architectural thinking, visual storytelling, and strategic insight to build identities that live across digital, print, packaging, and physical environments. Experienced leading cross-functional teams and creative partners from concept through execution, with a focus on work that connects brands to communities in meaningful ways.
Foley Dog Treat Company - Marketing Manager and Product Development
Nanaimo, BC - Oct 2018 - Present
- Achieved revenue growth from 500K to 1.4M by leading brand positioning, launching new lines, and executing integrated omni-channel campaigns across DTC and retail.
- Built the DTC channel from zero, implementing lifecycle email, sampling, and referral programs to drive efficient acquisition and repeat purchase.
- Delivered 23 percent year-over-year DTC sales growth through an integrated calendar across email, social, and ambassador content.
- Lead brand and creative direction, overseeing visual identity, packaging, photography, film, digital content, and in-store presence across Canada.
- Translate the company’s purpose (health-first ingredients, transparency, and community) into visual and verbal storytelling, from product naming and copywriting to campaign concepts and launch materials.
- Ran a national sampling program that generated 1,000 requests in 48 hours at under 2 dollars cost per lead, establishing a cost-effective acquisition pipeline and experiential brand touchpoint.
- Launched a verified UGC initiative with more than 500 submissions that informed product roadmaps and supplied always-on social and CRM content.
- Activated community and retail partners to lift awareness and retail sell-through during campaign windows, including in-store and event-based brand activations.
- Collaborate with founders and external creative partners (designers, photographers, videographers, agencies) to align creative direction with business objectives and maintain consistent brand standards.
Independent Creative Studio - Creative Director and Brand Consultant
Nanaimo, BC - Jan 2016 - Present
- Lead brand architecture, identity systems, and creative direction for clients in financial services, MedTech, lifestyle, and consumer products across national and international markets.
- Concept and direct campaigns and content across digital, print, and environmental touchpoints, defining the look, feel, and tone of photography, film, and graphic applications.
- Direct and approve work that maintains brand standards across web, social, email, events, and sales collateral.
- Support the launch of multiple startups, from audience definition and messaging to launch calendars, asset production, and channel mix.
- Advise founders and executives through board and advisory roles on technology, marketing, and design; establish measurement plans and post-mortems to improve results each cycle.
- Partner with non-profits to design fundraising campaigns that combine brand storytelling and community engagement.
BBA, Marketing Concentration - Vancouver Island University - Dec 2018
- Vice President of Marketing, Vancouver Island Leadership Conference
- Vice President of Marketing, VIU Business Students’ Association
- Communications Director, Young Professionals of Nanaimo
- Served on boards and committees that collectively raised over $1M for local programs
- Led a community campaign that raised $40,000 for The Men’s Centre in Nanaimo