our process
The Argot Nots Method
A method for making complex situations clear enough to act on.
We combine inquiry, interpretation, systems thinking, facilitation, and hands-on making so clients can see how evidence becomes direction—and how direction becomes something people can use.
Structured, not rigid
The phases create accountability—not a conveyor belt.
Observe, Interpret, Structure, Express, and Test name five kinds of work that every consequential engagement requires. They overlap, repeat, and change emphasis as evidence develops. The value is not linearity; it is a shared view of what we are doing and why.
01
Observe
02
Interpret
03
Structure
04
Express
05
Test
Evidence before preference
Important choices should be traceable to what we learned, the priorities we established, and the outcomes the organization needs.
Participation without design-by-committee
We create meaningful opportunities for stakeholders to contribute while keeping roles, criteria, and decision authority clear.
Documentation as organizational memory
We explain the reasoning behind the system so teams can apply it consistently, adapt it intelligently, and bring others along.
01 / Observe
See the system before trying to fix it.
We listen closely enough to understand the people, language, artifacts, assumptions, and circumstances shaping the problem.
What Happens
Stakeholder conversations, artifact and content review, audience inquiry, contextual analysis, and identification of breakdowns.
What it produces
An evidence base, current-state map, priority questions, and a clearer account of the situation.
Client involvement
Provide access, context, candid perspectives, and the people closest to the work.
Decision gate
Do we understand the condition well enough to interpret it together?
02 / Interpret
Turn fragments into a shared reading.
We compare perspectives and evidence to identify patterns, tensions, assumptions, metaphors, and the deeper problem beneath the presenting request.
What Happens
Synthesis, sensemaking, pattern mapping, reframing, facilitated interpretation, and testing competing explanations.
What it produces
A shared interpretation, key tensions, opportunity areas, working hypotheses, and an emerging organizing idea.
Client involvement
Challenge assumptions, add institutional knowledge, and help distinguish a useful interpretation from a merely plausible one.
Decision gate
Do we agree on what is actually happening—and what deserves priority?
03 / Structure
Make priorities and relationships explicit.
We turn the shared interpretation into a system: positioning, principles, narratives, architectures, hierarchies, and decision criteria that others can use.
What Happens
Prioritization, positioning, narrative development, brand or information architecture, content modeling, and system definition.
What it produces
A strategic foundation, organizing model, governing principles, message or content architecture, and a practical direction for expression.
Client involvement
Make consequential choices, resolve competing priorities, and confirm that the system reflects organizational reality and ambition.
Decision gate
Is the direction coherent enough to guide expression across different contexts?
04 / Express
Give the direction language, form, and experience.
We translate the strategic system into the things people encounter—without losing the complexity, specificity, or intention that made the direction valuable.
What Happens
Messaging, naming, visual identity, content design, prototyping, interface design, information design, and production.
What it produces
A coherent verbal, visual, and experiential system expressed through the applications the engagement requires.
Client involvement
Evaluate the work against agreed principles and audience needs, not isolated preference or novelty.
Decision gate
Does the expression make the right understanding possible—and can the system hold together?
05 / Test
Learn where the system meets reality.
We place the work in front of stakeholders, audiences, technologies, and operating conditions so evidence—not wishful thinking—guides refinement.
What Happens
Prototype review, stakeholder response, user evidence, accessibility and implementation checks, rollout observation, and iteration.
What it produces
Validated decisions, prioritized refinements, implementation guidance, documentation, and an explicit account of what should be learned next.
Client involvement
Create access to real conditions, distinguish useful feedback from noise, and commit to applying what the evidence reveals.
Decision gate
Is the system understandable, usable, adaptable, and ready to live beyond the project?
What clients experience
A collaborative process with visible reasoning.
Clients are not asked to disappear until a reveal—or attend endless workshops without consequence. Participation is designed around the decisions the work requires, and the reasoning remains visible throughout.
A visible line of reasoning
You can see how evidence becomes interpretation, how interpretation becomes direction, and why the direction leads to specific choices.
Participation with clear roles
Stakeholders contribute where their knowledge matters; decision-makers know when alignment, judgment, or approval is required.
A system your team can continue
Documentation, training, and shared criteria help the organization apply the work consistently without making it brittle.
The goal is not consensus about every preference. It is shared confidence in the decisions that matter.
BEFORE THE BRIEF BECOMES A CONSTRAINT
Bring us the situation before you name the solution.
We can begin by understanding what has changed, where meaning or structure is breaking down, and what your organization needs to make possible next.