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Design better, together.

Hi, I’m Jason Crane. I help big organisations and government fix the things their customers and staff rely on. The real problem is usually hiding somewhere unglamorous: a handoff between two teams, a policy nobody’s looked at in years, or a system that does things the hard way. I find it, work out the fix with the people who’ll build it, and make sure it survives the trip into delivery.

Book a 30-min callSee the workor email hello@tincrane.com

Most redesigns stop at the dashed line. I work the whole height of the service, down to the teams and systems customers never see.

Example · Applying for financial support

Why tincrane

Strategic, human-centred and technical.

  • 01

    Service design

    Twenty-odd years of research, blueprints and prototypes. I start with the people using it and the people running it, then follow the thread all the way down to the systems underneath.

  • 02

    Complex organisations

    Retail, telco, banking, four years inside state government and a big metro council. I’m used to lots of stakeholders and layers of sign-off, and to translating the jargon so everyone’s talking about the same thing.

  • 03

    A technology background

    I studied computing science and worked as a developer and engineer, building DNS and streaming servers and IoT prototypes, before I moved into design. I’m happy drilling into APIs and data with your engineers, then zooming back out with your executives, so what we design is something your team can actually build.

Most designers bring one or two of these. I bring all three, and I’ll tell you plainly what’s really going on.

Work

What the work changed.

NSW Department of Education · 2020–2024

Fixing how schools get funding for students with disability

Schools were applying for disability and additional-needs funding through an old system that ate hours of staff time. I started the program’s design practice and spent four years working with policy, school and tech teams to rebuild the whole process, right through to a new platform.

  • An end-of-life system swapped for one process across the state
  • Funding decisions made more consistently
  • 150+ research and testing sessions

NSW Department of Education · 2022–23

One place to find 600 classroom adjustments

Advice on adjusting teaching for students with disability was buried in hundreds of documents. I prototyped a search tool, tested it with school staff, then worked with the developers to get it live statewide in about four months.

  • ~600 adjustments and resources in one spot
  • Live for staff in 2,200 schools
  • Tested twice with staff before anyone built it

Local government · 2024–2026

Working out where a council’s digital transformation should start

A big, fast-growing metro council had its transformation priorities scattered across a lot of business units. I led discovery and definition: talking to residents and staff, mapping journeys and sketching future scenarios, so the executive team had something solid to plan against.

  • Clearer ownership of who runs what, and how information moves
  • Ideas tested with residents and staff before any money went into delivery
  • Built design skills along the way: mentoring 14 emerging leaders and a forum for 200+ more
The Safer Homes web app on a laptop, showing a map of Sydney with risk information for a suburb.

NRMA Insurance · 2016

Making home insurance worth paying attention to

Most people pay for home insurance once a year, rarely claim, and either auto-renew or switch on price. With a strategist alongside, I led the research and prototyping for Safer Homes, a tool that shows people the real risks to their own home.

  • 200,000+ visitors
  • 14.1% more home and contents enquiries, and 7.1% more sales
  • Beat NRMA’s homepage on conversion

AMI National Award for Innovation 2016 · APG Awards, Best Use of Data 2016

The Teleporter cardboard VR headset next to the book Sammy the Space Koala.

Commonwealth Bank · 2016

Teaching five-year-olds about money with a book and VR

CBA had already bought 10,000 VR headsets to teach five to seven year olds about money. I led the research and testing that turned “a VR app” into a story book and VR experience that kids actually got.

  • Launched in 24 schools with 20,000 headsets
  • 93% of kids understood needs versus wants
  • 5-star rating on Google Play and the App Store

Cannes Lions 2017, Bronze · D&AD 2017, Wood Pencil

Pages from the accelerator toolkit, including a landscape review activity, facilitator guide and canvas.

Transport for NSW · 2017–2018

Rebuilding the Future Transport Accelerator

Transport for NSW wanted its innovation accelerator to produce real strategies and leave teams with design skills they’d keep using. I led the design team that rebuilt the program and toolkit, then ran the first 13-week cohort.

  • They asked for a second cohort before handover
  • A public version of the toolkit got published
  • Other parts of the business wanted one too

Organisations I’ve worked with

  • Target
  • BIG W
  • ABC
  • Woolworths
  • Optus
  • amaysim
  • NSW Department of Education
  • Transport for NSW
  • Sydney Trains
  • NRMA Insurance
  • Commonwealth Bank
  • Beem

I’ve also worked on problems in health insurance and energy.

Services

Three ways to work together. Each has a clear scope and a clear finish line.

Discovery sprint

2–4 weeks
What happens
I talk to your customers and staff, map how things work today right down to the systems and data, and find the few problems worth fixing first.
You get
A findings pack and a ranked list of opportunities your team can get stuck into.

For teams who know something’s off but not where

Service blueprint & roadmap

4–8 weeksJust me, or me plus a small crew, depending on size.
What happens
We design the future version with the people who run it, test it with prototypes, and agree what changes in process, people and technology.
You get
A future-state blueprint, tested prototypes, a staged roadmap and the evidence to back the business case.

For teams about to commit money to delivery

Fractional design lead

1–3 days a week
What happens
I join your team as a senior designer, set the direction and coach your people as we go.
You get
Design leadership without a full-time hire, and a stronger team when I head off.

For programs and product teams that need a senior designer in the room

Not sure which fits? Take the 5-minute Service Health Check and I’ll suggest a starting point.

How I work

I get the people who build and run it into the room from day one.

  1. 01

    Understand

    Talk to customers and frontline staff, then follow each step back to the policy and systems behind it.

  2. 02

    Map

    Blueprint how it works today, end to end, and agree where it breaks.

  3. 03

    Prototype

    Test the new version cheaply with real people, and check it against your systems before anyone commits to build.

  4. 04

    Embed

    Hand the roadmap to your delivery team, or stay on and build it with them.

About me

Jason Crane, smiling, wearing glasses and a blue jacket.

Jason Crane

Principal service designer

I started out in technology, as a developer and engineer building servers and IoT prototypes, then moved into service design, UX and facilitation. That’s 20-plus years across both. Clients usually say I’m the bridge between design and technology: I can sit with frontline staff in the morning and work through system constraints with engineers in the afternoon.

Before going independent I led experience design at Tricky Jigsaw, named Australia’s Most Innovative Company in 2017, on work recognised with a Silver Clio, a Good Design Award and the AFR’s Best Product Innovation. Since then I’ve led service design across state and local government, including four years with the NSW Department of Education.

On bigger projects I bring in a small crew of researchers, designers and engineers I’ve worked with for years. You get the team the job needs, without the agency overhead.

I also teach UX and service design and have taught for General Assembly, Academy Xi and Harness Projects.

  • Experience20+ years
  • BackgroundDeveloper and engineer; computing science (UTS)
  • Based onWallumedegal Country, Sydney
  • Available forProjects & fractional roles

Book a call

Pick a time that suits you.

30 minutes on Zoom, free. Tell me a little about what’s not working when you book, and I’ll come prepared.

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Contact

Let’s talk.

Tell me what’s not working. I’ll get back to you within two working days, and the first call’s 30 minutes and free.

Emailhello@tincrane.com
LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/jasoncrane
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