Date
2026-03-31
information-design · knowledge-management · information-architecture · design-systems · documentation · erp-migration · static-site · industrial
Making Knowledge Visible — Information Design & Knowledge Management in Engineering · 2026-03-31
Making Knowledge Visible — Information Design & Knowledge Management in Engineering
Digitizing, ordering and classifying company knowledge for a mid-sized machinery manufacturer — open to the ERP and further systems.
01
Context
A mid-sized company in machinery and plant engineering with an international clientele — and with a body of expertise on design, standards and processes built up over decades. The goal was to digitize this knowledge consistently: to order it, make it searchable and classifiable, and set it up so that it stays open to further systems — above all the new ERP.
Studio Negrón van Grieken was commissioned to develop the structure for this and to design it so that the knowledge becomes legible and usable across the whole company. At the client's request, the company is not named.
Role
Information Designer · Knowledge Systems Architect · Digital Consultant
02
Services
1. Information Architecture
Analysis of the existing knowledge and development of a structure that fits the logic of the business: what belongs together, who looks for what, and when? This architecture defines filing, linking and navigation across all further tools.
2. Knowledge Library
Building a networked internal knowledge base (Obsidian). Documents are versionable, linked to one another following the wiki principle and accessible to the entire team. Implicit company knowledge becomes explicit — and stays, even when people move on.
3. Information Design & Visual System
How do you make project structure, works standards and processes visible so that engineering, production and management understand the same thing? A dedicated design system was developed — diagrams, process visualizations, typographic and colour logic — and carried through into several outputs: documentation, search interface, internal presentations.
4. Works-Standards Search
An automatically generated static site with integrated search makes internal works standards findable in seconds — available offline and without external dependencies, as a production environment requires.
5. Connecting to the ERP
The classification is designed to connect to the new ERP and further systems. A structured workflow captures open points of the migration, categorizing and prioritizing them; process capture, milestones and handover points accompany the transition.
03
Challenge
Digitizing knowledge means more than filing documents: it needs an order that fits how the business works, a classification that future systems can read, and a design that people in different roles actually use and maintain. The task was therefore as much a design problem as a technical one — carried out while operations kept running.
04
Result
- Company knowledge digitized, ordered, classified and networked
- A visual system that makes processes and standards legible across departments
- Works standards findable at any time and available offline
- Open structure, ready to connect to the ERP and further systems
- Collaboration ongoing
Role
Information Designer · Knowledge Systems Architect · Digital Consultant
Skills
Information Architecture · Knowledge Management / PKM Systems · Workflow Design · Information Design · Design Systems · Visual Communication · ERP Consulting · Static Site Generation
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