Designing with children: How young minds shape great design

In this 60 minute webinar panelists will share their insights on:

• When, why, and how to engage children and young people in design
• What best practice looks like, including ethics, safety, trauma-informed
• Practical approaches for meaningful engagement i.e. play-based activities

The panel will also make time for Q&A.

• Designers across all disciplines who work with young people and children
• Educators and researchers in design fields
• Industry advocates and sector representatives

Dr Victoria Flanagan

Dr Victoria Flanagan is the Safeguarding and Participation Specialist at Uniting NSW, ACT, where her work focuses on promoting children’s rights in service delivery contexts. She spent 12 years working as an academic (where her research focused on children’s literacy and gender) before transitioning to a career in policy. She has since worked as senior adviser to the National Children’s Commissioner and also for the NSW Department of Education. She is currently supervising and working collaboratively with Uniting’s first Youth Transitions Lived Experience Worker, in order to co-design a lived experience workforce framework.

Michelle Tye

Michelle Tye is an Associate Professor and the Program Lead of youth self–harm and suicide prevention research at the Black Dog Institute, UNSW. With her team, she aims to create a better quality, mentally healthier future for children and young people, one without suicide. They do this by working closely with children, young people, community members, and government to develop new interventions that integrate that needs of these stakeholders with the science, so that the solutions are both highly acceptable and effectively reduce suicide risk. Their work brings together technology, co-design, implementation science, and multidisciplinary expertise to design solutions that can be scaled and integrated into practice, if they work. Over the past 10 years, she has led the development and delivery of several preventative and early intervention trials in schools, and online communities, to improve young people’s ability to manage self–harm and suicide risk.

Joanne Osbourne-Taylor

Joanne Osbourne-Taylor is a Design Services Lead at Portable, where she leads design projects across government, health, and justice. She works with organisations to embed human-centred design and co-design, guiding teams to engage meaningfully with the people they serve, especially children and young people. With a background in service design, qualitative research, and ethical practice, Jo champions trauma-informed approaches and safe, inclusive engagement. Her work spans mental health, family violence, education, and systems reform. She especially enjoys working directly with children, using play-based methods to spark creativity and insight.

Saara Vongue, Moderator

Saara Vongue is an emerging UX/UI designer based in Melbourne, currently studying UX Design and Business Analytics. She has a strong interest in socially driven and community-led design practice and is particularly drawn to how design can create more inclusive and supportive environments for young people. With experience working in public libraries and a strong connection to third spaces, her recent work has explored themes of safety, accessibility, and digital wellbeing.

Through her design practice, Saara is passionate about bridging empathy with informed insight, believing that impactful design is human-centred, evidence-led, and deeply empathic. She looks forward to contributing to this webinar and engaging in meaningful conversations about how design can shape more supportive and empowering experiences for our younger generations.