Our public sector and charity clients our sensitive and safe design and research practices. Here’s how a trauma-informed approach can deliver better user and customer experiences for you, no matter what your customer audience.
What is trauma-informed design?
Trauma-informed design and research prioritises safety, empathy, and empowerment when creating experiences, products, or conducting studies. Rooted in understanding the impact of trauma, these methods aim to minimise potential triggers, build trust, and foster inclusivity. This approach is particularly critical when engaging with vulnerable populations but benefits all users by promoting thoughtful and respectful design.
Sensitive practices deliver better insights
Delivering trauma-informed research, we must actively listen, validate our participants’ experiences, and empower them by providing control over the research. Participants must have agency. People should feel comfortable throughout the research process. We are transparent in our reasons for research, in the recruitment process, during the session and after.
While some research goals can be comfortably resolved with rapid, shallow insights, such as those delivered by unmoderated usability testing platforms, experimentation or rapid task-based moderated testing, often we are looking to dive deeper into a user’s thoughts, needs and motivations.
Qualitative, probing research, like depth interviews, ethnography, focus groups, diary studies and others, is best when it reaches the ‘heart of the matter’. Trauma-informed practices create a safe space that is the best environment for people of all types to open up and speak their truth.
Mindful designs are more usable
Trauma-informed design involves creating environments and interfaces that feel safe and predictable, reducing stress and anxiety. For example, clear navigation, calming aesthetics, and transparent communication help users feel secure and in control.
By embedding these principles into our work, we not only create more compassionate and accessible solutions but also strengthen connections with users, building trust and loyalty. Trauma-informed practices remind us that great design isn’t just about functionality—it’s about humanity.
Just as designing for accessibility benefits many non-impaired users, designing for trauma supports a wide range of people. Even without underlying traumatic experience, the principles that minimise the stress of the interface work well to ensure everyone is able to think clearly, stay calm and to enjoy their digital interactions. Poor digital designs create barriers to entry for traumatised individuals, but are stressful for many people.
Supporting trauma-informed design principles leads to satisfying, effective and efficient interactions for information sharing, transactional, commercial digital experiences as well as public services and support environments.
How Bunnyfoot delivers trauma-informed design and research
In our research, we ensure participants feel supported at every stage. This includes offering detailed explanations of the process, allowing for pauses or withdrawal at any time, and using non-invasive, sensitive questioning techniques. Our team is trained to identify and mitigate potential discomfort, ensuring that participants feel heard and valued.
Our participants are supported on a 1-2-1 basis from the very beginning, and all our team members are trained in safeguarding. We follow the Market Research Society and the Social Research Association guidelines on ethics in all our projects.
All Bunnyfoot designs are rooted in our extensive experience of accessibility, and for us that concept reaches far beyond WCAG guidelines to reflect the lived experiences of people with a broad range of physical, cognitive and sensory impairments, and those with other obstacles to digital engagement.
How can we help?
Our consultant team includes clinical practitioners and experts in behavioural and cognitive design, digital wellbeing and research and design for vulnerable groups. Contact us to find out how we can help with your digital research and design needs.
*We used ChatGPT to create the image for this post … apparently it thinks our mugs would be chipped! We assure you, they aren’t. But we do make a nice cup of tea.
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