Shanshan,
Designer,
Consultant,
Human being

Kia ora,
My name is Shanshan

(山山, meaning "Mountains")

I'm design consultant with a focus on supporting social, environmental change-making and innovation.

I'm a bit different (I'm neurodivergent) and I like to question why and how things are the way they are. I help teams to rethink the problem, explore different approaches, and move towards a better state of things.

I've been designing apps, websites, brands, strategy, and teams since 2012. I think my skills can be of transformative value for you.

It's time to change things up

‍I know there's a lot going on today: climate change, social unrest, recession, layoffs, disruption of AI... I don't want to echo the despair and enforce learned helplessness. Enough is enough, it's time to take action and turn this ship around.

Amid the chaos, we are challenged/invited to rethink how we design, how we do business and create value. This energy can be a powerful force of creativity, and it might be just the fuel we need to navigate complex problems and explore the unknown unknowns.

Why we design

Design (UX design) can help your organisation connect with your audience, communicate your message effecively, make your products and services more useful and accessible.

Design (design thinking) can also help you make evidence-informed decisions, explore innovative solutions, identify winning strategies.

Design (organisation design) can help you build more creative and effective teams, enabling your organisation to be more adaptive and resilient.

Design (behaviour design, system design) can help you achieve extraordinary outcomes, shape behaviours and attitude, and create systems that enable lasting flourishment.

At it's core, design is a mindset of change and a practice optimisim. It is a demand that we improve the status quo, reframe challenges into opportunities, and find a better solution. It's a relentless strive towards clarity, understanding, and adaptation.

My approach

Building upon user experience design and design-thinking methodology, I incorporate knowledge from regenerative design, behavioural science and complex systems. The pillars of my practices are experimentation, data-informed decision making, inclusive co-design, continuous discovery, continuous improvement.

For me, the key to successful design lies in building systems that adapt, processes that improve, teams that grow, and relationships that last.

I bring a robust toolkit to help you achieve ambitious outcomes with lasting impact.

My mission is to build a more resilient and equitable world that enable all of us to thrive and flourish.

Let's work together and turn things around.

I help teams rethink & reimagine how might we make things better

I create and improve

UX/CX strategy & design
Product
strategy & design
Brand strategy & design
Service strategy & design
Team
culture & process

I can help you

Explore strategy & solutions
Design concepts & prototypes
Redesign (app, service, anything)
Coach your team on design
Research user needs
Validate hypothesis
Facilitate workshops

I help teams cultivate

Continuous improvement
Data-informed experimentation
Embedded user research
Effective decision making
Visual communication
Inclusive culture

Contact me

[email protected]
LinkedIn

Coffee and chats are always free!
I need to make a living, but I like meeting people and there's always something I can learn from you.

My track record

Career Highlights

Senior product designer & researcher
Optimal Workshop 2018 -2023

Design lead, Product lead
SaferMe 2017 -2018

Owner, Design lead
Kope Studio 2016 - 2017

Clients & partners

Bamboo Creative | Impact consulting
Behaviour by Design | Tools for change
SCOOP | Independent news
Gecko Press | Curious children's books
Regen | Sustainable agritech

Speaking & lecturing

Speaker
24 Hours of UX

Guest lecturer
U of Melbourne, U of Auckland,
Massey U, Victoria U of Wellington

Mentor
Lightning Lab Accelerator, Victoria University Masters of UX, Colab Cohort Product Learning

A playful illustration of me being a cat