Yesterday, I had the pleasure of leading a web design workshop with my colleagues Bruno Vilaça and Beatriz Coronha for the Junior Academy bootcamp at Volkswagen Digital Solutions.

The focus was on a 20-year-old concept, the CSS Zen Garden (https://csszengarden.com/), where students were challenged to create their own iteration of it. The twist? Before jumping into code, students first had to develop their own design concepts—gathering inspiration images, choosing colors and fonts, and deciding on a layout to create a mood board that would guide their Zen Garden design.

During the workshop, students learned how to:

• Get inspiration from diverse sources to build a visual identity
• Communicate a layout by wireframing on pen and paper• Test their ideas through trial and error
• Share questions and findings using mutually understandable terminology.

I personally had a blast! And I wish all the new junior colleagues great success in their careers.

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A big shoutout to Dave Shea for creating the Zen Garden. With just a little updating, it remains a fantastic creative exercise and teaching tool.

…as I joined my VWDS colleagues and Serve the City Portugal to make a meaningful impact in our community. Together, we served a proper dinner to over 100 people. From setting the tables to serving the meal and cleaning up afterward, the experience was both humbling and deeply rewarding.

A big shoutout to everyone who participated and to Serve the City Portugal for leading this incredible initiative ????.

When I first encountered trauma-informed design, I never expected it to become such a transformative lens for how I approach my work. However, as I explored it further, I began to see the profound impact these principles could have—not just in healthcare or social services, but also in corporate settings, where user well-being often intersects with business goals.

In corporate environments, where deadlines and KPIs frequently take precedence, it’s all too easy to overlook the human element of design. Trauma-informed design challenges us to rethink this dynamic, encouraging us to create products and processes that support—rather than unintentionally harm—the people who interact with them.

A key framework I shared during my talk was the Missouri Model, which illustrates the progression of individuals and organisations toward becoming trauma-informed. Importantly, trauma-informed design isn’t about overhauling everything at once; it’s about taking small, deliberate steps toward greater empathy and understanding.

Through this talk—and now this blog post—my goal is to inspire us all to take that first step forward.
Because, after all, one trauma-informed team member is all it takes to begin making a meaningful difference.