I’m a service designer, researcher and strategist.
I help organizations in healthcare, enterprise, finance and the public sector launch products and services customers and staff will use.

Select case studies

  • Tax Filing Tool

    Taking IRS Direct File from a 12-state pilot to a 25-state launch

    IRS / COFORMA

    Led a user research team around continuous testing, foundational research and research operations resulting in +80 NPS, and one finding that prioritized a fix that cut one of the most common causes of rejected returns by about 1/3.

    “Direct File is a glimpse of a world where government tech benefits millions of Americans.” - The Atlantic

    View case study

  • Envisioning a modernized health care system

    INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE / COFORMA

    Qualitative research and service design to identify Health IT needs of the nation-wide health care system serving American Indian and Alaska Native communities. A Fast Company Innovation Awards finalist.

    "I am in awe of the work that Coforma was able to do. You captured a sense of IHS that I hope will inform any further work that is done. It will also help other communities and increase understanding of the value of HCD." — Theresa Cullen, MD, MS, FAMIA, Research Scientist

    View case study

Project highlights

AI-forward discovery process to inform an EHR rollout

Conducted interviews with clinical and administrative staff and developed an EHR rollout roadmap for a community healthcare system across 21 programs.

LAKERAVEN

Enterprise AI adoption prioritization supported by data

Quantitative research with Coforma’s creative team to unearth fears, needs, goals and use cases.

COFORMA

A faster and more accurate benefits application

In 2020, I led a team of service designers to inform strategy and prioritization for a U.S. federal agency’s benefits application process. Our recommendations helped reduce processing time by roughly 20%.

COFORMA

A new way to save money reached 35,000 Brazilian users

Conducted Portuguese/English research in Brazil and conceptual design to inform the services for a new Brazilian savings and investment bank.

GRÃO / METHOD

Who I worked with

Talks and publications

  • Telling Complex User Stories: IHS Health IT Case Study

    How we designed service blueprints for the IHS to illustrate complex user stories.

    by Sabrina Fonseca and Arden Klemmer

  • Understanding the Catalysts for Citizenship Application

    Barriers, opportunities around naturalization, based on research and testing with over 70 immigrants.

    by Sabrina Fonseca and Lindsey Wagner

  • Designing forms for gender diversity and inclusion

    How do we ask people for their gender in a thoughtful and respectful way?

    by Sabrina Fonseca

  • Designing Products for Everyone

    How to design products with various attitudes, abilities, and aptitudes in mind, from ideation to execution.

    by Arden Klemmer and Sabrina Fonseca

Who I am

I'm Sabrina Fonseca, a Brazil-born, NYC-based service designer, researcher and strategist. I’m a generalist who has come from UX design into design research and strategy. I've spent 15+ years in healthcare, government, and financial services at agencies like Coforma, Method, R/GA, Sapient Razorfish, Isobar and others. I worked as a photographer before moving into design and research.

Contact me