Hi there,
I hope 2025 is off to a great start for you.
The past two years have been a journey of reflection and growth. After exiting my startup, I trained as an emotional intelligence coach and began working with founders and design leaders, diving deep into the human side of creativity, leadership, and technology.
Through this work, I gained valuable insights into the unique challenges design teams face and discovered the opportunity to combine emotional intelligence and AI to help them perform at their highest level.
Today, I’m thrilled to share the next step in that journey:
Introducing The Design Practice
The Design Practice is a consultancy that leverages emotional intelligence and AI to help creative teams work smarter by addressing the operational challenges of design.
Our mission is to empower design leaders to build and lead high-performing teams.
What we do:
We specialize in streamlining design operations, resolving inefficiencies, fostering better collaboration, and elevating the quality of creative work.
Operational misalignment and inefficiencies drain teams of valuable time, energy, and focus—resources that are critical for creativity and innovation.
Left unchecked, these challenges don’t just lead to missed deadlines, frustration, and diminished creative output—they result in significant financial losses for teams and the companies they serve.
How we do it:
At The Design Practice, we deliver tailored solutions by combining:
Emotional intelligence frameworks: Helping leaders strengthen interpersonal skills, navigate team dynamics, and build trust to boost morale and productivity.
Systems thinking: Analyzing workflows, fixing inefficiencies, and implementing processes that help teams work more effectively and support creativity.
AI tools and custom AI agents: Using AI to simplify tasks, improve decision-making, and free teams to focus on creating exceptional work.
By addressing both human dynamics and operational inefficiencies, we empower design leaders to unlock their teams' full potential, enhance creativity, and consistently deliver exceptional results.
Who It’s For:
Design leaders in corporate teams:
Design directors, managers, and leaders tackling the challenges of scaling teams, optimizing workflows, and aligning design strategies with broader business objectives.Creative agencies:
Agency owners and teams juggling client demands, tight deadlines, and the need to deliver exceptional creative work without sacrificing efficiency or well-being.Independent designers:
Freelancers and solo creatives aiming to grow their client base, streamline their processes, and scale sustainably while preserving their creative freedom.
To learn more about what we do, visit The Design Practice, or feel free to reply to this email—I’d love to hear from you.
Why us:
With over 20 years of experience leading award-winning design teams in corporate, consulting, and startup environments, launching over 50 products, and coaching leaders in emotional intelligence, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges that hold creative teams back—and I’ve developed proven strategies to overcome them.
At The Design Practice, we leverage a global network of talented specialists in AI, organizational development, and design operations. This allows us to bring the right expertise to every project, helping leaders streamline workflows, enhance collaboration, and achieve exceptional creative results through tailored solutions.
What’s next:
Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to connect with amazing leaders in the design space, and the response to The Design Practice has been incredible.
While we’re fully scheduled through March, I’m always eager to meet more design leaders, hear about the challenges you’re facing, and explore how we can work together in the future.
Let’s connect—you can a time to talk here.
You’re receiving this email because we’ve crossed paths before, and I wanted to keep you in the loop.
I’ll be sharing monthly updates with case studies, the latest AI tools and agents tailored for design teams, and my thoughts on design and leadership. If you’d prefer not to receive future emails, you can unsubscribe anytime using the link below.
Thank you for being part of this journey. I’m excited about what’s ahead and can’t wait to share more with you soon.
Sending you good vibes 🌻
Manuel Saez
Founder | The Design Practice