Trace Manuel,

service designer + researcher

MFA Design MS Community Development

basic info

she/they [email protected] Instagram // Linkedin resume // CV

End-to-end design + research, beginning-to-end storytelling

I have a mixed-methods practice that spans the worlds of service design, design research, media arts, teaching, writing, and story work. I focus on drawing out meaning and clarity from complexity, and on helping others do the same.

See work by sector:

<aside> 💊 health

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<aside> 🍏 education

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<aside> 🏘️ community

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<aside> 🎛️ art + music

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See work by method:

<aside> 💡 design

</aside>

<aside> 🎧 audio

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<aside> 🎬 video

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<aside> 📸 photography

</aside>

<aside> 🦉 research

</aside>

<aside> 💬 storytelling

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What I’ve been up to

I’m currently a service designer at Headspace, where I’m grateful to have been involved in imagining the future of mental healthcare across a robust care + content ecosystem. Here’s a small sampling of some things I’ve done lately…

Member Mindsets: exploring care narratives

I collaborated with Design Research to co-develop a member mindsets framework to help us accommodate the diverse needs of our client base throughout their care journeys — the resulting framework is now in use across the org and has shaped the development of everything from product offerings to pitch decks.

<aside> 🔧 ethnography, synthesis, qualitative analysis, facilitation, visual design

</aside>

Headspace Futures: foresight facilitation

I created a series of immersive experiences to help senior leaders from across the org imagine and prepare for the world 10 years into the future. Through custom scenario cards, bespoke soundscapes, and foundational foresight theory, I led a guided experience to generate new ideas about how mental health companies might respond to an increasingly unstable world.

<aside> 🔧 futuring, scenario building, serious games, visual design, sound design, facilitation

</aside>

Scheduling + care supply: service blueprinting

I have been involved in ongoing efforts to map and improve our backstage and frontstage scheduling experiences for coaching and clinical services — optimizing for ease of use, clinical utilization, and member retention.

<aside> 🔧

interview research, service blueprinting, human-centered design, facilitation

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Before I was at Headspace…

2021-2022

I completed my MFA in Design where I was busy teaching graphics + information design and working on projects that touched on everything from design ethics to legal aid to public safety. In Deshonesty, my thesis project, I took a deep dive into process documentation, self reflection, and design narratives and worked on everything from custom curricula to benevolent bots. All the research and creative work I did on Deshonesty is available as a public, interactive thesis site.

2018 to 2021

I completed an MS in Community Development where I conducted qualitative research on the patient experience in a rural mental health crisis clinic and completed an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods thesis on virtual illness support groups.

2015 to 2017

I worked as a designer, researcher, and media specialist at the UC Davis Center for Design in the Public Interest on a number of projects related to pain communication, doctor-patient relationships, and the patient experience. I helped develop educational tools for pain patients, redesigned medical forms, and piloted a chronic pain storytelling project.