Book a 30-min call

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

Redesigning statewide funding for students with disability

Schools applied for disability and additional-needs funding through an old system that ate hours of staff time. I started the program’s design practice and led its design work over four years, alongside policy, school and technology teams, through to a new platform.

  • An end-of-life system replaced with one statewide process
  • More consistent funding decisions across the state
  • 150+ research and validation sessions

NSW Department of Education · 4-month project

One place to find 600 classroom adjustments

Guidance on adjusting teaching for students with disability was scattered across hundreds of documents. I prototyped and tested a search tool with school staff, then worked with the developers to launch it statewide in about four months.

  • ~600 adjustments and resources in one place
  • Available to staff in 2,200 schools
  • Two rounds of prototype testing before build

Local government · 2024–2026

Setting the direction for a council-wide digital transformation

In a large, fast-growing metropolitan council, transformation priorities were spread across many business units. I led discovery and definition, using research, journey maps, Jobs to Be Done and future-state scenarios to give executives an evidence base to plan against.

  • Clearer service ownership and information flows across business units
  • Concepts tested with customers and staff before any spend on delivery
  • Built design capability 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 understanding

People pay for home insurance once a year and rarely claim, so most auto-renew or switch on price. Working alongside a strategist, I led the research and prototyping for Safer Homes, a data-driven tool that shows people the real risks to their home.

  • 200,000+ visitors
  • 14.1% more home and contents enquiries, and 7.1% more sales
  • Outperformed 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 financial literacy to five to seven year olds. I led research and testing that turned a VR app into a blended story book and VR experience.

  • 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

Redesigning the Future Transport Accelerator

Transport for NSW wanted its innovation accelerator to produce real strategies and leave teams with design skills. I led the design team that overhauled the program and toolkit, and facilitated the first 13-week cohort.

  • A second cohort requested before handover
  • A public version of the toolkit published
  • Demand to run it on other problems across the business

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 with me, each with a clear scope and a clear end.

Discovery sprint

2–4 weeks
What happens
Research with customers and staff, a current-state blueprint traced down to the systems and data, and the few problems worth solving first.
You get
A findings pack and a prioritised opportunity map your team can act on.

For teams who know something’s wrong but not where

Service blueprint & roadmap

4–8 weeksSolo or with a small team, depending on scale.
What happens
Design the future service 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 delivery roadmap and the evidence for a business case.

For teams about to spend on delivery

Fractional design lead

1–3 days a week
What happens
A senior service designer embedded in your team, setting direction and coaching your people.
You get
Design leadership without a full-time hire, and a stronger in-house team when I leave.

For programs and product teams that need senior design leadership

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. Trace the systems and policy behind each step.

  2. 02

    Map

    Blueprint the current service end to end and agree where it breaks.

  3. 03

    Prototype

    Test the new service cheaply with real users, and check it against your systems, before delivery starts.

  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.

Loading the calendar… If it doesn’t appear, open it on Cal.com.

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
BookA free 30-min call

I’ll only use your details to reply. See the privacy policy.