TRAUMA-INFORMED DESIGN
Researching color theory in trauma-informed design.
Much of my work uses trauma-informed design principles. I'm researching how cultures around the world relate to color, and how that informs the use of color in localized trauma-informed design.
Try out trauma-informed color PALETTES
Tap a color to see the palette shift.
Therapists' Brand Lab · Free quiz
What element expresses your healing style?
Eleven questions for therapists in private practice. Your result returns the element closest to your style, the strengths your brand should build on, and aesthetic suggestions to start from.
The five elements
Inside Therapists' Brand Lab
Everything you need to build a brand that books.
Video trainings on branding, communication, and visibility.
With quizzes, personalized GPTs, journaling prompts, and a brand journal to track what you discover. Each lesson runs 10 to 20 minutes, so you can stop and pick it back up whenever.
Trauma-informed design
Built from a therapeutic mindset, with dysregulated nervous systems in mind.
Downloadable results and tools
Every result, every worksheet, yours to keep.
A growing resource library
New tools added regularly, so it keeps working after your first pass.
Live Q&As
Bring your actual "wait, but what about" questions and get real answers.
Marketing can feel like performance.The premise of the Lab
Your brand can do that part for you.
Selected work
Beyond the Lab
Nacor video still
Video
Storyboard, direction, and production
Little Sage brand board
Branding
Identity systems for practices and nonprofits
AI integration artwork
AI integration
Custom GPTs, generated imagery, and workflow design
Print project image
Editorial, collateral, and campaign design
M+P website
Web
Sites built to feel calm and easy to use
Social campaign image
Social media
Campaigns and content systems
Who runs the Lab
I'm Melissa, and I work with people who help people.
Nearly three decades of design at both ends of the scale. Large corporate brands with tight boundaries, and small nonprofits building an identity from scratch. These days it's mostly healthcare, mental health, and nonprofits.
Branding a private practice starts from who you are as a professional. It's a process of discovery, honesty, and validation. Then it translates your strengths into a visual system and a communication strategy.
Writing
On color, design, and branding
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Color
Trauma-informed color palettes for Europe
Regional color association changes what reads as calm. Here's what shifts across European practice.
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Color
Trauma-informed color palettes for the Americas
The same principles, mapped to North and South American context and expectation.
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Design techniques
Using Color in Trauma-informed Design
Motion, contrast, and pacing choices that make a site feel safe to a nervous system in distress.
Build a practice you love with
a brand that speaks for you.
Join for $5 a month. Cancel anytime.
Your commitment issues are safe here.
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