Case Study
The Sentral
Designing clarity for a magical story
Role
UX/UI designer
Web implementation
Tools
Figma
WordPress.org
Elementor / Custom theme
CSS
Time
2 weeks - December 2025
The Sentral is a fantasy book project that needed a digital space to introduce its world, tone, and story in a clear and immersive way.
Design a website that supports a fantasy narrative while remaining easy to read, accessible, and responsive across devices.
Goals
Present the fantasy story and world in a clear structure
Create a visual identity aligned with the book’s tone
Ensure a comfortable reading experience on mobile
Build a lightweight and scalable WordPress site
Research &
Empathize
Analyzed existing author and fantasy websites for layout, readability, and navigation patterns
Studied how readers consume long-form content online
Focused on mobile-first behaviors to ensure readability and immersion
Insights:
Minimal navigation keeps users focused on the story
Clear content hierarchy is essential for long texts
Subtle visuals enhance immersion without distracting
Define
Target user: Fantasy readers seeking a calm and immersive online experience
Pain points:
Overly busy websites make reading difficult
Poor mobile experience interrupts story flow
Story tone is often lost in online presentation
Ideate
Designed minimal navigation and clear content structure
Focused on typography, spacing, and hierarchy for long-form reading
Added subtle visual accents to reinforce the fantasy tone
Considered user journey for desktop and mobile experiences
UI Design
Clean, minimal layout with generous white space
Typography chosen for readability in long texts
Consistent style and colors to reflect fantasy tone
Subtle visual cues guide the user through the story
Design principles:
Immersion over decoration
Simplicity improves focus and readability
Consistency across devices and screen sizes
Development
Implemented in WordPress.org
Responsive design for desktop, tablet, and mobile
Optimized for performance and SEO
Lightweight and easy to maintain for future updates
Technical challenges solved:
Maintaining visual hierarchy while keeping fast loading times
Adapting the design to WordPress constraints without losing aesthetics
Live site: thesentral.com
Learnings
This project reinforced how UX decisions shift when designing for storytelling rather than conversion.
Key takeaways
Reading-focused UX requires different design priorities
Small typographic decisions strongly impact immersion
Building the site helped align design and technical constraints