Rethinking property management with intuitive data usage and automations.

Facing the challenges of commercial real estate management, Gouny & Starkley set out to modernize their core platform with a unified, intuitive solution. Designed to centralize critical data, automate processes, and simplify document management, this platform meets user expectations while enhancing the company’s efficiency and competitiveness.

Client request

Gouny & Starkley asked us to design a new platform that would drive their growth and reinforce their position as industry experts. They wanted to offer clients an exclusive digital tool providing a comprehensive strategic view of the business, while simplifying property management for both their teams and clients.

My Role

As a Lead Designer, I drove the platform’s 0 to 1 transformation, taking it from concept to a fully realized solution. I led user research, facilitated collaborative workshops, and crafted intuitive prototypes to address user and business needs. Building a scalable design system, I ensured consistency across the platform while working closely with developers to support seamless integration and deliver a user-centered tool.

Identifying Pain Points

We began by conducting in-depth research with the key personas, including 4 stakeholders and 7 G&S clients, forming a comprehensive test panel. This allowed us to create a detailed pain point mapping to identify challenges and opportunities for improvement during their journey.

Co-Creation Workshops

We organized workshops with stakeholders to define the most important information to display and to understand their methods for analysis and calculation. This collaborative approach ensured alignment on user needs and business objectives.

Outcomes: Defined data to display on each screen using Card sorting study, prioritizing high-impact and achievable features.

Priority Mapping

Next, we involved the technical team to create a priority matrix, balancing feature impact and development effort. This exercise helped establish a clear and achievable roadmap, ensuring a seamless transition from research to implementation.

Sketching

With a solid analytical foundation in place, we began the design process with sketch zoning, which helped us quickly outline the organization of key elements across the platform. This step was crucial for focusing on the information architecture and user objectives, ensuring that we prioritized functionality and clarity over visual design at this early stage. Sketching allowed us to experiment with different layouts and establish the optimal placement of critical datas.

Wireframes

We then moved on to creating wireframes, which provided a clean visual representation of the product’s layout and functionalities.

The organization and handling of data posed significant challenges for the development team, requiring rapid testing of calculations and data mapping in the live environment. To support this, we focused on creating a mid-fidelity prototype, enabling faster iteration and testing.

Our tests were centered on data clarity, charts, calculation accuracy, and access to key information at a micro level, such as tenant details and documents requiring signatures. This approach allowed us to quickly identify errors, to refine data presentation, and optimize screens structure.

Design system

The design system was crucial for addressing responsiveness, particularly for large data tables. While the platform wasn’t designed to be mobile-first, preserving as much data as possible on mobile was a priority. By highlighting key columns and using expandable menus or horizontal scrolling for secondary data, we maintained usability across devices.

Product development

In parallel with the design system, I created a comprehensive documentation tailored for the development team. This included a backlog organized by screen and a detailed list of business objects, which mapped out the data structure and calculation methods.

Finally, a tracking system via GitLab was setup to monitor the integration process. This allowed me to review and oversee developer progress, and ensure seamless alignment between design and development.

Results

This project successfully addressed the initial challenges faced by Gouny & Starkley: fragmented data was centralized, manual processes were streamlined, and an intuitive interface improved user experience. Property managers can now efficiently oversee multiple commercial centers with ease.

Since we already received a lot of positive feedback from G&S’s clients, and in line with the roadmap, upcoming steps will focus on integrating key features such as the automation of monthly / annual reporting, and further team capabilities.