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About Me

I’m Maeve Donohue, a design and experience leader.

I work at the intersection of design, strategy, systems, and emerging technology — helping organizations navigate complexity, align their people, and move from uncertainty to action.

I design not just experiences, but the systems that enable organizations to think, collaborate, and evolve more effectively. My work spans enterprise SaaS, healthcare, mission-driven organizations, and cross-sector initiatives.

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Point of View

What I believe

The hardest problems are rarely interface problems—they are alignment problems

Design is not a layer; it is how organizations make better decisions

The most valuable work happens when teams share understanding, not just outputs

AI should improve how we learn, test, and evolve—not just how fast we produce

The most meaningful things we build are the ones people feel part of

Experience & Capabilities

Research & Discovery

  • Voice of Customer Systems
  • Journey Mapping & Service Blueprints
  • Data Visualization & Insight Communication

Strategy & Facilitation

  • Experience Strategy & Service Design
  • Stakeholder Alignment & Workshop Facilitation
  • Decision Frameworks & Innovation Strategy

Design & Execution

  • Product & Platform Design
  • Design Systems
  • Brand & Narrative
  • Rapid Prototyping & Agile Development

Emerging Technology

  • AI-Enabled Prototyping & Validation
  • Organizational Design & Systems Thinking

How I Work

My approach is grounded in service design, systems thinking, and facilitation.

I'm a hands-on designer with deep experience in Figma and Sketch — working from early-stage wireframes and interactive prototypes through to polished product interfaces, design systems, and brand work.

  • I map current and future state experiences to surface friction, gaps, and opportunity
  • I facilitate structured collaboration to uncover the right problems
  • I develop and test ideas to reduce risk and accelerate learning
  • I build scalable frameworks that improve how organizations operate and decide

In practice, this includes journey mapping, service blueprints, Voice of Customer systems, stakeholder alignment workshops, design systems, and AI-enabled prototyping. The through-line: creating clarity — not just in what to build, but in how teams work together to build it.


Portfolio

I maintain an active design portfolio spanning product UI, interaction design, data visualization, and brand systems. Available upon request — I'm happy to share work most relevant to your project or role.

Request Portfolio →

Experience & Leadership

TriNetX · 2017-Present

At TriNetX — a global healthcare data network at the intersection of clinical research, real-world data, and AI — I've spent 8 years leading a multi-layer design organization and mentoring cross-functional teams across the company.

Beyond leading the team, I remain a working designer: contributing directly to product UI, building interactive prototypes in code, and translating complex healthcare data into clear, usable product experiences for a global clinical research audience. This work has also included building Voice of Customer systems from the ground up, designing an end-to-end AI Behavioral Systems framework, and leading product and brand design system alignment.

Nami Studios · 2001-Present

I founded Nami Studios in 2001 as a hands-on creative and strategic design practice. Over more than two decades, I've built and managed distributed design and development teams — assembling the right mix of talent for each engagement and being fully accountable for the work end-to-end, back to clients.

Client work has spanned Parexel, Swarovski, Hasbro, MIT Media Lab, The Boston Globe, and others — across enterprise platforms, mission-driven organizations, and emerging ventures.

That foundation continues to shape how I work today: I approach every engagement with a builder's mindset — grounded in craft, execution, and a deep understanding of how ideas become real.

Beyond the Work

Early in my career, I spent close to a year living on a yoga ashram before moving to Venice Beach to help rebuild a meditation and yoga center there. I eventually founded my own studio back on the East Coast. That practice — Vipassana, mantra, pranayama, hatha, and others — has shaped how I think about attention, clarity, and judgment in everything I do. Mindfulness shapes how I show up — in how I lead, in my work, and in the commitments that matter most to me outside of the office.

As a Trustee of the Robert D. Wray Trust, I guide strategic philanthropy and conservation stewardship — supporting local arts organizations and overseeing preservation of 200 acres of protected land.

As a board member of Creature Conserve, I support programs that connect scientists, artists, and policy leaders to translate wildlife conservation research into creative expression and public impact.

As a board member of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, I advance community-centered healthcare aligned with my commitment to equitable, systems-level well-being.

I also co-teach a service learning course at UMass Dartmouth, mentoring conservation biology students in applying design thinking to real-world environmental challenges.

Nami Studios is a platform for my work in strategic design, systems thinking, and cross-sector collaboration.

Open to select advisory, collaboration, and speaking opportunities.

Let's Talk