DiSC® & Design: Understanding People to Design Better Places

Transformation starts with understanding how people work — and how they work together.

Everything DiSC® is a behavioral profiling tool that helps individuals and teams build self-awareness, improve communication, and foster trust. As an Authorized Partner through Wiley, Cara integrates DiSC® assessments into her strategic design process, connecting the invisible patterns of human behavior to the visible design of culture, organizations, and space.

How Cara Discovered DiSC®

Cara first experienced DiSC® while advising the University of California, Irvine’s Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (Langson IMCA). After years of internal misalignment, the museum’s interim director — a rare hybrid of museum leader and executive coach — introduced DiSC® as a framework for improving communication and collaboration.

What began as a leadership exercise quickly became an organizational reset. Seeing teams articulate their working styles and value systems with newfound clarity was transformative. Even the skeptics were surprised. The process revealed that lasting cultural alignment begins not with strategy decks, but with shared understanding.

Connecting the Dots

At Freeman, a global experience design company Cara advised for over five years, she had already seen how operational change and physical transformation must move in tandem. The CEO, COO, and CFO each processed information differently — some were data-driven, others intuitive. Cara often wished for a way to quantify behavioral differences so they could inform both cultural and architectural programming.

DiSC® provided that missing link: data on human dynamics. It became a simple but powerful bridge between behavior, culture, and the built environment.

Why It Matters to Her Work

As both a designer and facilitator, Cara believes transformation starts with understanding human needs — individually and collectively. Everything DiSC® helps surface those needs in a way that’s actionable. It creates empathy, alignment, and a language for collaboration — the foundation of every successful design project.

Whether reimagining a workplace, advising a museum, or guiding a leadership team, Cara uses DiSC® to help teams see themselves clearly — and to design systems and spaces that help them thrive.

Learn More About Everything DiSC®

A quick look at how DiSC® empowers teams and organizations around the world.

Curious what DiSC® could reveal about your team’s working style? Cara would love to walk you through what’s possible.

“Everything DiSC®” is a registered trademark of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., or its affiliated companies.