Method
Good work starts with understanding the problem clearly. We bring a systematic approach to every project - combining research, design thinking, and technical craft to produce work that is rigorous, elegant, and built to last.
UNDERSTAND
We start by asking hard questions
Before any design work begins, we dig into the subject matter. What does the audience already know? Where does comprehension break down? What is the single most important thing they need to understand?
STRUCTURE
We find the shape of the explanation
Every complex idea has a natural structure - a sequence, a hierarchy, a set of relationships. We find that structure before we design anything. The visual form follows the explanatory logic, not the other way round.
BUILD
We make it work at every level
Whether the deliverable is an interactive visualisation, an illustration system, or a designed document - we build it with care. Technically sound, visually resolved, and tested against real audiences where possible.
Understand
Structure
Build
Our approaches
We work across several disciplines. Each has its own methodology.
Explanation design is the practice of making difficult ideas accessible without dumbing them down. It draws on cognitive science, information design, and narrative structure - and it requires genuine understanding of the subject matter.
The information gap
Curiosity is created by the gap between what you know and what you want to know. Good explanation opens that gap deliberately, then closes it progressively - each step building on the last.
Working memory limits
The human mind can hold 3-5 new concepts at once. Explanation design works within that constraint - chunking information carefully, sequencing reveals, and never asking the reader to hold more than they can.
Open the gap
HOOK
Familiar ground
ANCHOR
Core concepts
FOUNDATION
Layer complexity
BUILD
The insight
REWARD
Broader context
EXTEND
What next?
LAUNCH
We apply a seven-stage arc to every explanation project: Hook, Anchor, Foundation, Build, Reward, Extend, Launch. Each stage has a specific cognitive purpose. Nothing is decorative.
Every project is different.
We don't have a one-size-fits-all process. We have a set of principles we apply with judgement. If you have something complex that needs explaining, let's talk →