Parliamentary Knowledge Foundation

Challenge

PKF needed three things that worked as one: a brand to carry the Foundation, a public site that explained its schemes to the parliamentarians who apply and the organisations that host them, and a private place for members once they were on a scheme.

Schemes, modules and partners change every year, and the team is small. Everything had to stay accurate without rebuilding pages, and nothing could reach an MP before it was right.

Role

• Brand and presentation work for the Parliamentary Knowledge Schemes (2024–25), and the Foundation’s lockups.
• Information architecture and content model for the website: schemes, modules, case studies, events, people and partners.
• Webflow design and build. The site went live in June 2026.
• The members’ portal: product design and UX for four roles, the access model, the link to PKF’s Notion workspace, and the build on PKF’s own domain.
• A portal prototype in July 2026, then the build, an onboarding guide for the team and launch support.
• Ongoing creative support on retainer.

One mark, used whole

The lockup sets the Crowned Portcullis beside the Foundation’s name, in a short and a full version: purple on light grounds, white on the aubergine the site and portal are built on. It is only ever used whole. It fades, moves and scales as one mark, and is never taken apart.

Show, then explain

The homepage opens on film of a scheme in the field, a mountain rescue team at work, under one line: Knowledge from Experience. Applications for 2026–27 open from a banner on every page.

Below the film, a testimonial makes the case before the Foundation describes itself: “These Schemes do something so important.”

Content as collections

Schemes, modules, case studies, events, people and partners each live in the CMS. A new scheme or partner is a new entry, not a new page, and every scheme page comes from the same template.

https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6a254e868c33bb77e4a44990/6ae8b377c657362856aedd49_CS-PKF-F01-Collections.mp4

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A route for each audience

MPs and Peers go to Apply. Organisations that want to host a module have a partner enquiry route of their own. The About pages set out the Foundation’s independence and governance in plain terms, because both audiences ask.

The portal: invitation only

Once members are on a scheme, the details of each day move to a private portal on PKF’s own domain. Nobody can sign up. PKF adds each person, and every sign-in is checked against an approved list of addresses.

Each role sees only what it should. Members see their own scheme. Parliamentary staff are linked to their MP and can act for them. Scheme leads see and edit only the schemes assigned to them, and two administrators manage people and roles.

A human gate

The portal reads from a publication layer in PKF’s Notion, never from its working databases, so internal notes stay where they are. Content syncs every evening, and changes wait as drafts until someone publishes them, so members get one considered update instead of a stream of edits.

The team can preview exactly what a member, a member’s staff or a scheme lead sees. Previews can’t change anything, so no action is ever recorded against the wrong person.

Built for the day

A member’s home page leads with the next module: arrival, timings, venue and format, with buttons to reply, add it to a calendar and get directions. A Before you go checklist and a contact for the day sit beside it. Missing details show as TBC instead of holding a module back.

On a phone the portal has a bottom tab bar and can be added to the home screen.