Design for a Better Future: A guide to designing in complex systems

The world we live in is increasingly complex. It throws up complex problems. This book is about tackling them.At ThinkPlace, we’ve pioneered the application of design thinking to complex challenges like climate change, family violence and global malnutrition. We work globally with governments, organisations and communities using a methodology – the Design System™ outlined in this book – that has been developed over more than a decade.We bring together different voices and help them to create better futures. If you’re one of those voices, or would like to be, this book is for you. It’s part roadmap, part instruction manual, but mostly it’s a clarion call for a new way of doing things: tackling the world’s biggest problems in a way that brings people together and produces positive, lasting change.

About the Author

John Body is the Founding Partner of ThinkPlace, a strategic design consultancy with international leadership applying design thinking and innovation to the areas that matter most: social cohesion, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. John continues to pioneer and grow this field, at first leading the application of design in the Australian taxation system from 2000 to 2004. Today ThinkPlace applies design and innovation to projects as diverse as healthcare in Ghana, regulation in Australia, financial inclusion in Kenya, transport in Singapore, renewable energy in Australia, homelessness in New Zealand, Indigenous conditions in the US and revenue collection in New Zealand. ThinkPlace works on challenges that matter to the whole community, economy and environment.

Dr Nina Terrey is Partner and Global Practice Lead of ThinkPlace. Nina is a leading innovation co-design expert and practitioner. Her work focuses on how to solve public problems by taking a co-design approach and empowering people to co-create better solutions. Nina consults and advises governments and other organisations on design and innovation combining research and co-design methods to solve complex issues. Nina has over 20 years working across complex systems such as regulation, national security, health, immigration, manufacturing, human services, energy, taxation, and transport. Nina’s experience extends across multiple markets - Australia, New Zealand and Asia which means she brings a global appreciation to challenges and practical solutions.