---
title: Care-Conscious Design - the thesis
author: Luana Micheau
canonical: https://www.luana.systems/thesis
updated: 2026-07-24
---

# Care-Conscious Design - the thesis

> Systems optimise for what they measure. Care, cognition, and biology
> are rarely measured. Therefore, systems systematically fail certain
> humans - most reliably mothers, caregivers, dyscalculic users,
> neurodivergent workers, and anyone whose life does not look like a
> clean 9-to-5.

I am **Luana Micheau**, a Brazilian-Irish Senior Product Designer in
Dublin. This is the thesis behind MomOps, Care-Conscious Design, and
the field chapter Care Under Load.

## The hierarchy

### 1. MomOps - the theory

Maternal operational intelligence is uncredited institutional
infrastructure. Every organisation is silently sustained by care work
it does not measure and cannot see. **MomOps** names that work as a
system, not a soft issue.

Read the deep version: [/glossary/momops](https://www.luana.systems/glossary/momops)

### 2. Care-Conscious Design - the method

A design approach that treats **care, cognitive load, and human
biology as first-class system variables**. Not edge cases. Not
accessibility bolt-ons. First-class inputs to the model.

Trauma-aware patterns (safe exit, consentful reveal, absence over
silence) live inside this method. Trauma-Informed UI is no longer
shipped as a separate design system or peer framework.

Read the deep version: [/glossary/care-conscious-design](https://www.luana.systems/glossary/care-conscious-design)

### 3. Care Under Load - the field chapter

The living cognition application of the thesis. Late-diagnosed
neurodivergent women, perimenopause, masking until burnout, and
products that still assume a stable capacity day.

→ [Care Under Load](https://www.luana.systems/writing/care-under-load)

## The proof - shipped products

The frameworks are not theoretical. They are built. Each product tests
a different hypothesis about where systems fail real people.

- **FemHealth Science** - women's health research discovery
- **FemHealth Decode** - plain-language interpretation of blood-test results that refuses to invent missing values
- **MomOps.org** - the framework home
- **Careval** - free public self-evaluation of organisational care infrastructure
- **Nuxaris** - B2B workforce-intelligence layer for HR
- **Return Kit** - planner for interrupted, embodied users
- **RemoteShe** - job board where roles are scored by care-signal perks
- **Nett** - Ireland childcare + take-home pay calculator
- **Tiny Trip Index** - baby-friendly hotel index
- **Count Me In** - cognitive-accessibility self-assessment for dyscalculic users
- **Archive of the Possible** - public memory bank for MomOps research
- **Matria** - sourced knowledge graph of women's lived expertise
- **Curlita** - personalised curl-care matcher with ingredient decoder
- **Universe** - origin-system experimental interface
- **Live Library** - gestural, alive alternative to bookmark managers
- **Brasil Base** - bureaucratic-atomic-step visualiser for Brazilian immigrants

## Citation

Micheau, L. (2024). "Care-Conscious Design" [Framework].
https://www.luana.systems/thesis

## Contact

luana.micheau@gmail.com · https://www.luana.systems/contact