Work History / Lïef Development
Lïef Midtown selectionsThree tiers, three design levels and a 109-page look-book
Jimmy turned a single finish board into a selections program of three tiers by three design levels, and published it as a 109-page look-book on the buyer site.
Brand · 2026
| Project type | Product merchandising and buyer look-book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Residential real estate development |
| Seat | Principal, Brand and Product Merchandising |
| Ran through | Common Ground, for Lïef Development |
| Worked with | Jesse Fowler, whose site supplied the earlier selections format |
| Dates | June 23 to July 1, 2026 |
| Location | Midtown Phoenix, Arizona |
What it is
Lïef Midtown is the adaptive reuse of a 1971 office building in Midtown Phoenix into 22 residences. On the original buyer site, finishes were shown as one board at one level. A buyer could not see what a step up in price would buy.
The selections program was built for two readers. Today it gives investors the feeling of where the building can go. Later it becomes the tool for the buyer's design appointment. It was started on June 23, 2026 and published on July 1, 2026. It was built with AI assistance and reviewed by Jimmy section by section before anything was published. The look-book names manufacturers. This page describes the program and its structure.
What Jimmy did
- Authored the matrix. The workbook names him as creator. Tiers run Kanso (good), Shibui (better) and Miyabi (best). Design levels run Traditional, Moderately Designed and Highly Designed.
- Set the counts at one, three and three. Kanso carries a single traditional selection. Shibui and Miyabi each carry one selection per design level.
- Locked the matrix on June 26, 2026 as the template for every category.
- Named the tiers on June 23, 2026, replacing the working names Signature, Reserve and Atelier.
- Renamed the top tier to Miyabi on June 24, 2026, after the long vowel mark in the earlier name kept failing to render in footers and tags.
- Ruled that tier names appear in Latin letters only on the web, with Japanese characters kept for print. His reason was the audience. On-screen characters read as themed and worked against the understated buyer the project is built for.
- Set four guiding concepts, wabi-sabi, karesansui, kintsugi and hygge, and required each to be applied to selections and not only named.
- Set the white page format, so buyers can print and annotate, with brand colors as accents only.
- Set a metal program of three metals carried through the whole residence: blackened steel, dark-patina bronze and natural brass.
- Set a curation filter. Every material and fixture had to pass a Japandi and Sonoran test of form, finish and pedigree. He rejected products that failed it, category by category.
- Set the price ladder rule on June 25, 2026. Every option in a tier must cost more than every option in the tier below.
- Set the basin rule. In a tier of three, two basins sit below the counter and at most one sits above.
- Set the copy rule. Each card must say why a buyer would choose that option and what the extra cost buys.
- Set the public convention. No prices, no product codes and no purchase links appear on the page. One call to action remains, to reserve a design appointment.
- Ruled that any window view shown is the city, never open desert.
Results
- The look-book is a 109-page PDF in letter landscape format, created on July 1, 2026. It is live at liefmidtownphx.com/selections and /lookbook.
- It carries 33 tiered sections on the same matrix, from flooring to the hearth, behind seven pages of front matter.
- It grew from 11 pages on June 23, 2026 to 109 pages on July 1, 2026.
- On July 6, 2026, Jesse Fowler's recorded view of the website and the look-book was "great, has been great."
- The look-book is in use with investors now. Design appointments begin once construction is under way.