Post-acquisition, how do you retain a local feel and flair in an office while still absorbing the culture and excitement of the global company you’ve become a part of?
The answer is to approach office design as you might approach a new product… and with the help of a few superheroes, naturally. Here’s the story of how Skyscanner’s Budapest office did just that.
The tale begins back in October 2014, when Budapest-based mobile start-up Distinction became part of the Skyscanner family. We’d worked together lots before, so we knew we had the same outlook and approach, and there was a strong rapport between the teams already. And as the Skyscanner Budapest team grew, we knew we needed a bigger office, much as we loved the former Distinction workspace. We weren’t the only ones: the space won an ‘Office of the Year Design Award’.
Nearly everything can be considered a product
Being a product-focused company, we believe that nearly everything can be considered as a product, and so we approached a redesign of our new larger office with the same methods we’d apply to a new product. And what’s the first thing you bear in mind when starting a product? Your users! As always we wanted to build a product that is valuable, usable and reliable.
And like building a product, this was a project that necessitated cooperation and contribution from a cross-section of the team, rather than the work of one individual. The first rule of product? Know what your users want and need. We reached out to those who’d be working in our new office, and received a flood of images, designs and ideas, creating a foundation from which to build on.
Superheroes in a jungle
There is a real sense of theme across Skyscanner’s nine global offices, so we wanted to integrate these themes but also inject some local flavour in the communal areas. We used the Design Studio methodology to identify the main themes to be reflected in the office — it’s a great resource if you’re working with of a group of people, want to generate ideas and are short on time. In just an hour we had four main themes from our staff: leafy greenery, geeks, cartoons (including superheroes) and Distinction heritage.
Our ‘product’ feedback included calls for a herb garden and a huge live plant wall, Lego walls, quirky furniture and enormous paintings of Captain America, Ironman, Hulk, etc. The superhero element may be the stereotype of geekery, but our product users told us they love their fantastic, adventurous, magical universes, and wanted to bring these to life in the creative areas. Who are we to argue with the Hulk?
Product localisation is an imperative, and so too in office design. We’ve Hungarian designer lamps hanging in the meeting rooms and above the lunch tables, and a big puzzle map of Budapest on meeting room tables. Built-in furniture was custom-made locally too, while a competition across Budapest-based staff resulted in an incredible 800 pixel, 13.5m wall mural.
Be mobile, act mobile
The Budapest office is our app development hub, home to iOS and Android developers, designers, researchers and product managers all focused on mobile at their core. The team, like the wider Skyscanner cohort, work quickly, across time zones and international teams. Little wonder then, that we’re not a ‘stay-at your desk’ sort of place. So, in our design we’ve incorporated grassy areas, cocoons, beanbags and sofas, as well as chill-out rooms to ensure collaboration and creativity is easy.
A tech company cliché? Maybe, but, like approaching product-creation, we’ve built ideas from the ground-up, engaged, learned, reiterated and created something our particular users — our colleagues — love. That the Budapest team often use the space after-hours for games and movie nights is testament to the success of our ‘product’ approach to office redesign.
Check out more pictures here, and see for yourself.
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