Policy design
We apply design thinking to policy — grounding decisions in lived experience and testing how policy translates into practice. Our work produces policy frameworks, practice guides, assessment tools, and implementation roadmaps that reflect the reality of the people they affect.
What is policy design and why it matters
Policy shapes how systems respond to people — but too often, policy is developed at a distance from the communities it affects most. Policy design brings design thinking into the policy process, grounding decisions in lived experience and testing how ideas translate into practice before they're locked in.
We help government agencies and organisations:
- Ground policy in the perspectives and priorities of affected communities
- Test policy concepts with frontline workers and service users before finalising
- Translate complex frameworks into practical tools that people can actually use
- Build the internal capability to embed co-design into future policy cycles
How we apply policy design
We work at the intersection of research, co-design, and policy craft — helping agencies develop policy that reflects lived reality. Our process brings together policymakers, practitioners, and the communities who experience policy outcomes to collaboratively shape what good looks like.
This produces tangible outputs:
- Policy frameworks and practice standards grounded in evidence
- Assessment tools and maturity models that make complexity manageable
- Implementation roadmaps that account for on-the-ground realities
- Co-design processes that build trust and shared ownership across stakeholders
From culturally sensitive water governance to state-wide reform
We've applied policy design across contexts that range from national water governance with First Nations communities to state-wide family violence response systems. What connects this work is a commitment to ensuring the people closest to the issue have a genuine role in shaping the policy response — not as consulted stakeholders, but as partners in the design process.
When the Australian Government's First Nations Water Branch needed to move beyond traditional consultation for water policy, we designed and delivered co-design training that built both mindset and capability across 28 staff members — grounding policy development in genuine partnership with First Nations communities.
Navigating the intersection of policy and emerging systems
Policy design becomes especially valuable when government is shaping the rules for systems that don't yet fully exist. In these spaces, traditional policy development struggles — there's no established evidence base to draw from, and the stakeholders who matter most may not yet be organised around the issue. We help agencies navigate this uncertainty by bringing diverse perspectives together early and designing policy that can adapt as the landscape evolves.
When Victoria's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning needed to shape policy for a digital energy economy still taking form, we helped them bring together industry, government, and community voices to design new approaches to growing this emerging sector.
Making complex frameworks actionable for frontline services
Some of our most impactful policy design work happens after the framework is written — helping services understand what compliance actually looks like in practice. When a policy framework is detailed and the organisations it applies to are diverse, the gap between intent and implementation can be enormous. We close that gap by working with practitioners to translate policy into practical tools — maturity models, self-assessment instruments, and step-by-step guides that cut through complexity.
Family Safety Victoria had a comprehensive family violence risk assessment framework, but organisations across Victoria were struggling to understand where they stood and what steps to take. We designed a maturity model and toolkit that gave services a clear path from initial commitment through to best practice.
Policy that works on the ground, not just on paper
The measure of good policy design is whether it changes what happens in practice. Our work with government agencies across Australia has produced policy frameworks adopted state-wide, co-design processes that shifted how agencies engage with communities, and implementation tools used by hundreds of organisations. When policy is designed with the people it affects — not just for them — it earns the trust and ownership needed to create lasting change.
We help government agencies and organisations develop policy grounded in lived experience. Let's talk about how we can support your next policy challenge.
