amoeba.

Design and innovation for the public good

Delivering products, policy, and design outcomes that empower experts to lead change

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About

Most public interest problems are systemic.

Leaders tackling these challenges know their domain and the problems they face. Where they get stuck is knowing where to target their limited resources. They often need help turning ideas into something that can be made real and then building the momentum for change.

I'm Dan Woods, and amoeba is my independent strategic design practice. I work to close the gap between planning and action in complex problem spaces. I've spent two decades on design for public good, both inside government and with awarded social design agencies in Australia and internationally.

In that time I've delivered more than 60 engagements across more than 25 organisations. I'm good at quickly orienting to your unique strategic context and there's a reasonable chance I've seen similar problems in other organisations and can bring that experience to bear on your challenges.

I enjoy working on complex problems and do my best work as a builder and guide who iterates alongside your team. I facilitate productive collaboration and help people do their best work together.

My experience spans complex facilitation and participatory design methods to explore what's happening, and creative technology and designed responses that work where they have to.

Dan Woods, standing, hands in pockets.

How I can help

My practice spans a range of design approaches. Different problems need different methods, and engagements often combine several of the following.

Discover & Define

Strategic design consulting

I go beyond the brief to understand the problem space. I use participatory research, systems mapping, and codesign to understand real experiences, and to test insights with the affected users.

What you get: a clear problem definition, research insights, a codesigned strategy or set of recommendations, and a specific, usable next step.

Typical engagement:2–8 weeks, fixed scope

Convene & Facilitate

Helping experts work together

Convening is its own design problem: who's in the room, what they work on together, and what comes out of it. I'm trained in trauma-informed facilitation and comfortable with sensitive subject matter.

What you get: a designed engagement, facilitated sessions that surface genuine insights, and a written synthesis to take forward.

Typical engagement:Single or multi-session program, fixed fee

Design & Build

Product and tool design

When the problem needs something tangible, I build it: interactive tools, data visualisation, decision support platforms, frameworks, and canvases. I ship functional products at pace.

What you get: a working product, tool, or designed artefact ready to put in front of users.

Typical engagement:Scoped by deliverable, 6–12 weeks

Fractional Design Leadership

Embedded senior design

I bring senior design judgement inside organisations going through sustained change. You get consistent strategic direction across internal teams, external vendors, and the executive tier.

What you get: a senior design partner who understands your context and doesn't need re-briefing.

Typical engagement:1–2 days per week, monthly retainer

Capability Building

Building your team's capability

Your team learns the methods on a live problem they're already trying to solve, so the methods stick in the operating context. I address how to commission external design, run participatory research that translates back into the organisation, and turn strategy into tools your team uses.

What you get: tools, templates, and decision frameworks your team continues to use, plus the capability to apply them on the next problem.

Typical engagement:2–3 month program, fixed fee

Not sure which of these fits?
Tell me where you're stuck.

Tell me about the problem

Work

Trusted across government, industry, and the international sector

Climate-change systems map from an energy strategy engagement

Partnerships

Sectors and organisations I've worked with.

Government

Treasury · Prime Minister and Cabinet · Foreign Affairs and Trade · Home Affairs · Climate Change · Industry and Science · Education · Austrade · Digital Transformation Agency · Services Australia · ASIC · Agriculture Victoria

Statutory & Industry

Australian Energy Market Operator · Energy Consumers Australia · AgriFutures Australia · CSIRO

Technology & Finance

Google · Atlassian · BNP Paribas · ASICS · GSMA

Impact

Google.org · Snow Foundation · Menzies Foundation · Hands Across Canberra · Family Safety Victoria · ACT Family Safety Hub · ArtsACT

Awards

Good Design Awards for projects I've worked on.

Products

I build products that help policymakers, diplomats, and public servants make better decisions.

WINGIA app showing a procurement supplier overview

Product

Digital Marketplace Analytics
wingia.app

Procurement intelligence for decision-makers

The procurement data for Australia's Digital Marketplace is public, but it's scattered, hard to search, and missing the analysis that makes it useful.

WINGIA gives a clear view of the supplier landscape: who's winning, who's growing, who's consolidating share. Track amendment activity to see which contracts are quietly expanding. Spot outliers before they become headlines. Built as a transparency and analysis tool that explores both sides of procurement. Better understand how government are procuring digital services and how sellers are responding.

Visit WINGIA
VOTIF app overview screen

Product

UN Voting Behaviour
votif.org

The record behind the rhetoric

The UN First Committee considers resolutions on disarmament and international security. Nearly 600 since 2015, each producing a vote record for every member state. Those votes create patterns (blocs, shifts, fractures), but the data sits locked in unstructured PDFs.

VOTIF extracts, validates, and structures it into the first searchable database of its kind: the full General Assembly voting record from 1945 to today, plus committee-aware analytics, voting bloc detection, and country comparison tools.

Visit VOTIF
Scrittle app showing an aid disbursement overview

Product

Australian Development Data
scrittle.us

Australian aid data, made explorable

Scrittle turns Australia's development spending into explorable data through interactive charts and analysis tools. Track market concentration, spot outliers, and follow trends over time.

Or just ask. Ask Scrittle, the built-in AI agent, answers questions in plain English and cites the data behind every answer. What used to take researchers weeks of manual digging is now a search bar.

Visit Scrittle
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Start a conversation

I like working with people who are facing a complex problem, where existing approaches haven't worked, and where there's a willingness to try something new. Tell me what you're working on. I'll come back, usually with more questions, and book an exploratory call.

Or connect on LinkedIn