Intelligent by Design

Designers need more than craftsmanship — they need direction. I work inside that uncertainty. Guiding the thinking, decision-making, and creative work that determine what gets designed and where to go next.

Hire Me 
Hi, I'm Emma.

Coming from a military background, I bring an intelligence-led perspective to design. I turn research into informed design direction, guiding the process from problem framing through concept development, evaluation and refinement. My role is to understand the user, develop the vision, and make the calls that enable teams to deliver impactful products, services and experiences.

What I Do

  • Fail to plan, plan to fail. Before jumping into a redesign, I work with clients to articulate their strategic intent, clarify the business problem and define what success looks like.

    • Product, service or experience strategy

    • Information gaps and priority research requirements

    • Design framework and project approach,

    • Scope, timelines and budgets, and more

    You get: More than a plan. You get a shared understanding of the business context, and a clear roadmap to guide the design process from discovery to delivery.

  • Time to collect some information. People rarely reveal the full story. I get out of the office and into the real world — observing people in context, asking the awkward questions and looking for the behaviours, workarounds and tensions that might otherwise remain hidden.

    • Desk research and literature reviews

    • Observational note-taking

    • Participant interviews

    • Diary studies

    • Shadowing

    • Journey and perceptual mapping, and more

    You get: More than evidence. You get a full picture of what is really happening, what is driving the behaviour, what people are feeling and thinking and foresight into where it all be might heading.

  • Research is only useful if it informs design decisions. I synthesise the evidence to pull out the design implications. We do not explore solutions here. This is about carefully framing the problem and defining the direction.

    • Problem analysis

    • How might we statements

    • Priority user needs & requirements

    • Preliminary design specifications, and more

    You get: More than recommendations. You get a common understanding of the problem and alignment across teams and stakeholders for why it matters for the solution.

  • Bring the people you’re designing for into the process. I create structured opportunities for users and stakeholders to explore ideas, challenge assumptions and imagine what could work better.

    • Brainstorming & mood boarding

    • Future-state experience mapping

    • Perceptual mapping

    • Dot voting, and more

    You get: More than concepts. You get buy-in from users and stakeholders who bring different perspectives into the design process — surfacing ideas, priorities and possibilities for a better experience.

  • Intelligent design should survive first contact. I put the final design under the microscope — what is working, what isn't and why. The aim is to reveal what people actually experience before we commit to the next iteration.

    • Usability and accessibility testing

    • Desirability testing

    • One-to-one evaluation interviews

    • Prototype walkthroughs

    • Heuristic review

    • Comprehension and interpretation review

    You get: More than a list of issues. You get peace of mind knowing where there is hidden risk and opportunities to improve before the next major roll out.

Every decision is shaped by how we frame the problem.

Selected work.

  • The Evolve Project

    In 2023, I supported the design team in developing the clients brand, customer, and employee experience. The challenge was designing one research program that could support multiple initiatives with different objectives and information requirements.

    Using a mixed-method approach combining qualitative interviews, generative research, and co-design workshops, I created a shared understanding that helped teams make aligned design decisions.

  • Cover of the Illume storytelling studio website featuring the company name, logo, and the text 'Illume is an Information Storytelling Studio' on a dark blue background.

    The Illume Project

    In 2026, Australia’s first information storytelling company launched. Because the team were creating something new, there was no existing design to evaluate or competitors to benchmark.

    Using an assumptions-based planning approach combining stakeholder interviews, co-design workshops, and qualitative research, I helped the team imagine how people might perceive, understand, and respond to the experience before it was brought to life.

  • The Sila Project

    I was first brought in by this Perth engineering company ahead of a full identity and website redevelopment. Instead of running research as a single phase, we worked together over 18 months.

    Using an agile sprint based approach, I supported the team at different stages of the design process, from understanding the brand, to exploring customer pain points, and evaluating the UX of the website. This helped the team avoid costly mistakes often associated with waterfall approaches.

  • A sepia-toned photo of snow-capped mountains and a river valley, with overlaid text promoting a playful and intelligent approach to writing and copywriting for various brands.

    The Fiction Project

    Fiction Agency is a playful and intelligent writing company working with brands including lululemon, Nosworthy Group, and Merrell Australia. I conducted market and design research to support their brand repositioning and website redevelopment.

    I ran surveys, stakeholder interviews and co-design workshops, to understand the people, perceptions and behaviours. This gave the team a stronger foundation for creative decisions.

  • "Emma has a dynamic and meticulous approach. Highly recommend for intelligent solutions"

    — Fiction Agency

CORE OPERATING PHILOSOPHY

How I work reflects what I believe: that design directors should stay close to the action to enable better decision-making.

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Like the military, our value isn’t just in making sense of problems or issuing guidance — it’s in being there as situations change and evolve.

Rather than a neat handoff from strategist → director → designer, I use a parallel process, continually feeding evidence, judgement and feedback into the process. It’s a little messier but that’s where the value lies. Not a report at the beginning, but an active source of intelligence and sense-making that shapes the work throughout the life of a product, service or experience.

DIVERGENT THINKING, INTELLIGENT IMPACT

About Emma

I’m multidisciplinary design professional. In my career spanning 15+ years, I have led teams of researchers, managed design projects, founded a company, worked with government, non-profits, startups, and more.

I bring intuition and intellect to my work. For me, it’s as much about creative problem-solving as it is great design. The evidence still needs to be there, but the puzzle is rarely complete. Imagination is what allows me to work within uncertainty — not by inventing facts or predicting the future, but by exploring what’s possible beyond what the data can reveal.

I’m Australian, born and bred. Working with me gives you access to my networks, wisdom and experience.

HIRE ME

Need to chat? You can DM me on Linked In or send me an email enquiry and I’ll get back to you within 24–48 hours.

Perth, Australia

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