How we work
Understand before designing.
The knowledge should help design the interface.
Sene Studio studies a business before designing. We identify what the organisation knows, what its customers need to understand, and how those things relate. We structure that knowledge before deciding how it should look.
We design around that structure, considering how people, conventional search engines and emerging machine and agent systems may interpret the information.
We do not replace things simply to make them different. Where an existing identity, knowledge or digital asset has value, we preserve what works and strengthen what does not.
Visual design is not a separate decorative layer. It is part of a wider information system in which knowledge, structure, language, identity, technology and search work together.
Understand
Before deciding what to build, we need to understand the organisation itself.
We look at the business, its customers, objectives, existing digital presence and constraints. We also consider what already works and what has value before recommending change.
Identify
We identify what the organisation knows, what its customers need to understand, and where the important gaps are.
Useful knowledge may already exist in services, documents, processes and existing content. Some of it may simply exist in the experience of the people within the organisation.
Structure
We organise that knowledge and establish how the important parts relate to one another.
This informs services, content hierarchy, information architecture, navigation and the routes people take through the site.
Structure comes before decoration.
Design
The visual system should grow from what needs to be communicated.
Typography, hierarchy, colour, imagery, spacing and interaction are used to make the underlying structure easier to understand, rather than forcing the organisation into a predetermined style.
Build
We turn the structure and design into a fast, accessible and maintainable digital presence.
The technical foundation should support the information rather than get in its way, with clean markup, sensible semantics and as little unnecessary complexity as possible.
Learn
Launch is not the end of the process.
Search behaviour, enquiries, analytics and changes within the organisation can reveal where information needs to become clearer, stronger or better connected.
The digital presence can then evolve with the business.
What this means in practice
Not every project requires a new identity.
Not every existing website needs replacing in its entirety.
Not every piece of information belongs on a webpage.
Not everything an organisation knows is currently documented.
And visual change is not automatically improvement.
The job is to understand what exists, identify what matters, structure it properly and then design the appropriate response.
Start with a clear picture
A free audit is often the simplest place to begin. We look at what already exists and tell you plainly what would make the most difference.
Request a free audit