Summary
In Australia, the public sector is marred by a legacy of efficiency-driven systems that put some of Australia’s most vulnerable at risk. The outcomes of recent Royal Commissions triggered by these failures suggest that the public sector is moving into a new era. Project proposals now require ethnographic research and meaningful collaboration with people who have lived experience of systems failure. We will share our trajectory as a ten-year-old design organization advocating for and driving these practices, recent project case studies about mental health reform and co-production, and a series of provocations about the path we see ahead.
Key Insights
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In 2011, Australia's public sector was largely undesigned with paternalistic approaches dominating policy and public services.
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Studio thick, founded by Damon Young and Adam Morris, introduced ethical and human-centered design into Australian public service early on.
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Royal Commissions into system failures, such as family violence and mental health, spotlight gaps that traditional design approaches failed to address.
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Australia's digital transformation efforts centralized online service delivery but often delivered poor user experience and trust initially.
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By 2018, the organization restructured into multi-disciplinary, autonomous teams inspired by the Reinventing Organizations model.
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Nearly a third of the 65 mental health Royal Commission recommendations call for co-design, showing growing public sector interest in participatory design.
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Partnering with the Department of Health on mental health reform involves spanning projects from strategic design to digital products and social prescribing.
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Building capability at the division or organizational level, including governance and culture, is critical for sustainable co-design adoption.
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Co-design requires intentional power sharing and mentoring between trained designers and people with lived experience, representing a major behaviour shift.
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Organizational operations now integrate trauma-informed principles, including specific care plans per project and support for vicarious trauma among mental health workers.
Notable Quotes
"Sovereignty was never ceded — we acknowledge and respect the traditional owners of this land."
"In 2011, the public sector was pretty much undesigned and paternalistic, with design seen as just outsourcing web development."
"Royal Commissions are ordered when there's catastrophic system failure to recommend deep reforms."
"Studio thick tried slipping humans into design wherever they could — like free steak knives no one knew they wanted."
"Australia’s digital transformation office attempted to unify government services online but it was launched before good design was in place."
"We evolved from a bifurcated practice into fully multidisciplinary teams with autonomy inspired by Reinventing Organizations."
"The mental health Royal Commission found the system catastrophically failed, with no integrated care or evaluation of wellbeing."
"Almost a third of recommendations call for co-design — that's pretty exciting and a chance to design for equity at scale."
"We created a customer experience matrix to assess organizational culture and capability for co-design, which is a reality check."
"Co-planning involves building trust and relationships before project work, especially with blended teams including lived experience."
"Producers do more than manage projects; they create care plans addressing risks and support in distributed, autonomous teams."
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