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Sector - Non profit
Designing for Empowerment
I believe design can be a vehicle for healing. When my team partnered with Me Too, we set out to create more than just a digital platform, we aimed to build a sanctuary.
Survivors Sanctuary was imagined as a resource hub and emotional companion, providing trauma-informed content, interactive tools, and guided experiences to support survivors of sexual violence on their healing journey.
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Creating with Compassion
Survivors often face barriers like inaccessible support systems, social stigma, and a lack of trauma-informed resources.
Our task was to address these challenges head-on by building an inclusive, supportive, and emotionally intelligent learning platform. It needed to educate, guide, and uplift, without overwhelming or retraumatizing.
Listening First
We started with empathy. Through user interviews, story mapping, and collaborative workshops, we immersed ourselves in survivor experiences. I translated these insights into user personas and emotional journey maps, helping the team center our work around lived experiences.
I worked closely with Me Too’s stakeholders to prioritize features that aligned with their mission and values. Together, we identified essential platform components, from lesson types to emotional safety mechanisms.
Thoughtful, Grounded, Safe
I focused on crafting an experience that felt safe, intuitive, and validating: Guided Learning with Emotional Intelligence: We introduced a quiz that gently asks users how they’re feeling.
Based on their response, the platform recommends lessons tailored to their emotional state, ensuring they never feel pushed beyond their comfort.
Resource Dashboard: I designed a central dashboard that offers quick access to helpful articles, meditations, and community tools, all presented in a calm, digestible format.
Modular Healing Lessons: The LMS structure allows survivors to progress through healing lessons at their own pace. Visual progress indicators and bite-sized modules help reduce cognitive overload.
Visual Identity & UX: Using soft palettes, inclusive imagery, and trauma-informed UI choices, I ensured every design decision served both function and emotional resonance.
Accessibility: From color contrast to screen reader compatibility, we tested rigorously to meet accessibility standards and create a truly welcoming space.
Healing in Every Pixel
This platform wasn’t just built, it was held with care. Survivors log in and immediately see that the space was made with them in mind. The tone is gentle. The flow is intuitive. The tools are practical, but also emotionally attuned.
Every screen invites a sense of calm, control, and possibility. The quiz, for example, doesn’t diagnose, it guides. The resources don’t overwhelm, they support. And the entire experience encourages survivors to move through healing on their own terms.
A Platform That Heals
This project taught me that sometimes the most powerful tools are the quietest ones. I created a resource-rich dashboard that feels less like a menu and more like a guided path, one where users can find exactly what they need, right when they need it.
We didn’t stop at structure. I designed an emotion-driven quiz that gently asks: How are you feeling today?, and then recommends lessons that match that emotional state. Because healing doesn’t follow a straight line, and the content shouldn’t either.
The LMS experience itself was built for depth without overwhelming. Every lesson, every interaction, was grounded in trauma-informed design, focusing on clarity, calm, and control.
Most importantly, we built a space that feels safe and inclusive, one that mirrors the real, complex journeys of survivors.
The design system we created ensures that this platform can grow without losing the care and intention it started with.
Survivors Sanctuary isn’t just a digital space, it’s a companion on the healing journey. And being part of that, using design to bring a little more safety, a little more dignity into someone’s day, that’s something I’ll carry with me always.
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