About Defining

Founded in 2020, Defining is the first locally owned and run human-centred generative design agency in northern Australia. Defining provides a range of services to for purpose initiatives including human-centred design, service design, strategic design and co-design and is seeking partnerships with organisations which need northern perspectives and support.

What is design?

What is human-centred design?
Human-centred design (HCD) places people at the centre of a response.

What is generative design?
Generative design uses HCD methodologies to provide dynamic mechanisms to make things work – forever. Unlike static recommendations or advice, generative design provides you with the tools and skills to solve for now, and later.

What is service design?
Service uses HCD methodologies to design initiatives which work inside and out, up and down, and before and after.

What is strategic design?
Strategic design uses HCD methodologies to explore the invisible narratives which influence the current state – power, control, money, agenda, history – and provides a pathway for genuine reform. Strategic design also uses systems lenses to understand, and design multi-dimensional, interdependent responses to complex challenges.

What is co-design?
Co-design involves working with people to design what works. It asks us to share power, benefit and decision-making; to listen, learn and act.

Ways of working | clients

Defining’s goal is to work in ways that benefit all parties. In other words, let’s work in way which works for us!

This could look like hiring Defining on a…

Project-basis
This involves hiring Defining for a fixed term to deliver a set of milestones. This can be costed as a set project fee, or at an hourly or daily rate.
Retainer
This involves securing Defining for an agree amount of hours per month, ongoing, to work on whatever you want.
Hourly / daily rate
This involves hiring Defining to provide support by the hour or day.

to work in a number of ways including…

Advisory
Ongoing relationship to provide support and advice over time
Consultancy
This involves Defining coming in and diagnosing what’s happening and what to do about it
Capacity
This involves Defining adding capacity and providing support to an existing team

Ways of working | partners

Defining is the only design agency founded, based and run in Northern Australia. Defining is open to working with agencies which need a human-centred designer to complement their suite of services, or bring the voice for the North to agencies running / hoping to run state-wide or national programs.

Defining would love to partner with you to bring a design perspective to your work, or to support (as a co-head contractor or subcontractor) your bid for northern opportunities.

Clients

Service offerings for clients

Please reach out if you would like to explore what’s happening in your particular setting.

Defining can help with:

– Defining the challenge, the solution and what it will take the make the change
– Integrating new work into the current mix
– Understanding complex challenges (more than one cause, more than one solution)
– Understanding interdependencies and integration
– Understanding how to make things work better for the people who matter
– Understanding why something is happening and what to do about it
– Understanding what’s working, what’s not and what to do about it
– Articulating where you are, where you want to go and how to get there
– Understanding how to transition from something to something else
– Bringing the voices of those who matter to the table
– Understanding how to communicate to the right people, in the right way, at the right time

Please contact Defining on [email protected]