A new platform for Susdef

TLDR. We designed the new digital platform for Fondazione Sviluppo Sostenibile (Susdef): an editorial site and an archive of 33,000+ documents that Susdef’s team manages independently. WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility integrated into the architecture from the start. 12 weeks · live at susdef.pianeta.green since 16 July 2026.

The project

Fondazione Sviluppo Sostenibile coordinates Italy’s National Forum for Sustainable Development — one of the key actors in the Italian ecological transition. It has produced policy reports, research documents, and Forum proceedings for over twenty years. Thirty-two thousand documents built up over time, which the previous site could no longer make accessible.

When Susdef opened a competitive selection to redesign the platform, we entered alongside Latte Creative — as co-producers, not as a subcontractor. We won the selection and delivered in 12 weeks.

Partner agency: Latte Creative (creative direction and client relationship on the design side).

Who searches, and what they’re really looking for

The problem was not technological: it was one of understanding. People who use an archive like Susdef’s are not looking for “a document” — they are looking for an answer. A journalist needs the report on renewable energy taxation before 2020. A ministry official needs Susdef’s position on a specific topic for a parliamentary hearing. A researcher wants to know whether Susdef has already written something on the subject they are about to tackle.

Starting from this distinction — answer vs document — changed how we designed the search, the content structure, and the archive navigation.

Accessibility as a design decision

The brief required WCAG 2.1 AA. The way you respond to that requirement is the difference between a constraint and a principle.

We integrated accessibility into the architecture from the start — in the component hierarchy, typographic choices, and the semantic structure of pages — not as a layer added afterwards on top of a finished design. This means accessibility constraints informed design decisions rather than contradicting them. The result is a platform that is accessible because it is well designed, not in spite of its constraints.

The process with the client

Twelve weeks is a short time for a project of this complexity. It holds when there is clarity on what is being built and for whom.

We worked alongside Latte Creative on the creative direction and alongside Susdef’s team to understand the real editorial workflows: who updates what, at what frequency, with what level of technical autonomy. This shaped content management decisions as much as the brief requirements did.

Training the internal team is part of the project, not an appendix: Susdef’s team manages the archive independently — uploading documents, updating categories, publishing new content — without depending on us for day-to-day operations.

The result

33,000+ documents in the archive  ·  12 weeks from contract to go-live  ·  WCAG 2.1 AA verified  ·  autonomous team from launch day

Read more

The detail of the journey — the pitch, the technical choices, the data migration — lives in the bulletins:

→ How we won the Susdef pitch: method and process

FAQ

How do you reconcile WCAG 2.1 AA with design? By integrating accessibility constraints from the beginning, not at the end. When accessibility is a sticky note on an already-completed design, it becomes a list of corrections. When it is part of the initial design decisions, it becomes a quality criterion like typography or visual hierarchy.

Was Susdef’s team already equipped to manage a platform of this complexity? The platform was designed for the team that uses it, not for an ideal team. The editorial interface, the publishing workflows, and the exit training were calibrated to Susdef’s team’s actual skills — not an imaginary technical user.

Does working with you require going through Latte Creative? No. Susdef was a co-production with Latte Creative, who led the creative direction and client relationship on design. We also work directly with foundations and research organisations on their own mandates.

Does this approach work for smaller archives too? Yes. The principles — understanding who is searching and for what, integrated accessibility, client team autonomy — hold regardless of scale. Costs scale with complexity, not the principles.

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Partner agency: Latte Creative