SENA App

Founder • Brand Strategy • Identity Design • Creative Direction
2022 – Present | India → New York City

While SENA’s product evolved through systems design, information architecture, and user research, the brand evolved through public engagement. Before a product existed, I used branding, marketing, community outreach, and awareness campaigns to understand how people recognized, interpreted, and responded to conversations around gender-based violence.

Over the course of four years, the project evolved from an undergraduate thesis called Safe & Secure (SAS) into SENA, an incorporated startup operating across the United States. This page documents the evolution of the brand, the communication strategy behind it, and how marketing became a tool for research, validation, and community building.

Marketing as Research

Most startups use marketing to acquire users. I used marketing to gain a better understanding of them.

Public campaigns became a way to test messaging, identify misconceptions, and observe how people responded to conversations around gender-based violence.

Over the course of the project, I conducted:

180+ user interviews
75+ street interviews
Waitlist surveys
Community outreach conversations
Public awareness testing

These activities directly influenced:

Product positioning
Brand messaging
Information architecture
Feature prioritization
User journey design

The findings consistently reinforced a core insight:
The problem was not resource availability.
The problem was navigation.

Evolution of the Visual Language

Phase 1: Resource Access

When the platform functioned primarily as a resource directory, the visual system emphasized trust and accessibility.

The identity used:

Soft pastel palettes
Healthcare-inspired colors
Institutional references
Resource-focused messaging

The goal was to help users discover support resources.

Phase 2: Awareness & Education

As interviews expanded, another pattern emerged.
Many people were not searching for legal aid, NGOs, or support services.
They were searching for answers.

Questions such as:

Am I being harassed?
Is this abuse?
What should I do?
Do I have rights?

began shaping the communication strategy.

The brand shifted from explaining resources to helping people recognize situations.

Testing the Message in Public

Guerrilla Marketing Across New York City

To understand how people responded to different forms of messaging, I launched a series of grassroots campaigns throughout New York City.

Posters were distributed across:

Community spaces
Small businesses
Local bulletin boards
Transit-adjacent locations
Neighborhood gathering places

Campaigns focused on immediate recognition through prompts such as:

Harassed?

Gaslit?

Abused?

Rather than advertising the product, the campaigns were designed to test message clarity, awareness, and engagement.

Educational Content & Community Building

Social Media & Awareness Campaigns
Social media became an extension of the research process.

Content focused on translating complex systems into accessible information.

Topics included:

Legal rights
Medical support
Domestic violence
Cyber safety
Reporting pathways
Survivor support

The goal was not simply awareness.

It was helping people understand systems that are often difficult to navigate during moments of stress.

Videos were produced with editing support from Sanjana Raj.

Building an Early Community

Before launching the product, the project focused on building trust.

Through outreach, public engagement, educational content, partnerships, and awareness campaigns, SENA was able to:

Build an early waitlist of 120+ users
Establish relationships with community organizations
Generate ongoing user feedback
Validate product positioning
Create awareness before launch

All growth was achieved organically without paid advertising.