Knight Franks Occupier platform
Designing Knight Frank’s first flexible office platform from vision, to sprints, to launch.
The problem: With the rise of companies like WeWork and Hubble, Knight Frank needed to compete in the flexible office space market. They wanted a platform where businesses could browse and book short-term offices, supported by an internal tool for their teams to manage property listings and enquiries.
Brief: To design and build a customer-facing platform and admin hub from scratch that would allow Knight Frank to showcase and manage their flexible office spaces. As a new client to TH_NK, success on this project was critical — it would determine whether we’d be trusted with larger streams of work, including the redesign of Knight Frank’s main websites.
Skills used: Information Architecture | Wireframing & Prototyping | Design Sprints | Usability Testing
Process
We followed TH_NK’s structured approach — starting with Foundation Design, then moving through 11 Design Sprints before launch.
Foundation Design: Working with a Senior UX Designer, I helped create the sitemap, user flows, and low-fidelity wireframes to establish the site’s structure. We collaborated closely with content and consultancy teams to ensure patterns were consistent and feasible for engineering.
Design Sprints: Each sprint tackled a key problem area. For example, I focused on the user account area, designing how users could manage shortlists, and on the admin area, ensuring Knight Frank staff could upload new properties and track enquiries with ease.
Prototyping: We used tools like InVision to quickly communicate functionality to stakeholders, ensuring alignment before development.
User Testing: In the penultimate sprint, I co-moderated usability sessions with 9 participants. We observed tasks, gathered feedback in real-time (with clients joining in the observer room), and synthesised findings to refine the designs before launch.
Outcome
The occupier platform launched successfully, enabling Knight Frank to position themselves as a serious competitor in the flexible office market. The success of this project directly led to us being commissioned to redesign Knight Frank’s main websites.
