Starting with a design thinking framework, we assemble the best tools and process for each engagement. These methods have been tried, tested and refined. And allow us to rapidly deliver user-centred insights, prototypes, products and services.
All teams at Portable are multi-disciplinary, comprising researchers, producers, designers and developers. Service delivery occurs in the most agile way possible. When a team structured and working like this takes ownership of a project from start to end, the outcomes are desirable, viable and feasible products and services.
Our client work and internal R&D are backed by our own commitment to innovating our processes. We support the Australian Government’s Digital Service Standard with its focus on open-source, accessible, user-focused design and development, and we are a proud B-Corp.
The methodologies that guide our practice
Human-centred design
Design is the process of solving problems with strategy and creativity. Human-centred design just means we consider people's needs and behaviour a higher priority than other objectives.
Co-design
Co-design can be a philosophy, a practice and an event in time. We define it as an approach to design that actively involves all stakeholders — employees, partners, customers, experts, end users — to help ensure the result is feasible, viable and meets their needs.
Agile project management
Portable is adept at using agile project management techniques, and we regularly adapt them for fixed-cost projects. Clients take part in sprints, standups, showcases and retrospectives, and communication channels are always open.
Inclusive design
Portable has procedures and principles to promote the highest standard of accessibility in our projects. Research and design activities aim to co-design the most inclusive products possible by consulting people with diverse backgrounds and abilities in the process.
Quality assurance
Portable puts an international-standard quality management standard at the core of its delivery, with a strict approval and testing framework, and full-time software QA team.
Monitoring and evaluation
Addressing social need and policy challenges means starting every project with a goal, a user and overall indicators to measure its impact. When designs go out in the world, we collect quantitative and qualitative feedback on its use and impact.
We tackle projects in three phases
Define
The Define phase at Portable is where our design strategists, experience designers, and technologists look widely to explore problem spaces for the most important issues to solve, or evaluate user experiences with existing products or services. Even if we're not doing a 'Define Phase', these tools and activities are used at the start of pretty much all the work we do.
Design
At Portable, the Design phase is where things really start to take shape. By putting the end-user at the centre when designing products or services, we get a community-driven and participatory approach to solving problems, which not only results in better solutions, but creates ownership among customers and internal stakeholders.
Deliver
In the Deliver phase of our work, our in-house team of creative technologists and software engineers comes to the fore, using DevOps practices to collaborate and continuously integrate and deploy. Even before this stage, Portable's technical experts consult on projects from the start, in order to design systems, assess existing infrastructure, and select the best tools and languages to fit user needs, business requirements and budget.
We learn from an active internal R&D program
Self-initiated research and development in areas we care about
We have an active program of self-initiated research and development in areas we care about, think we can make positive change and use design to speculate on the future and create discussion. We use our R&D activities to hone our skills and capabilities in strategy, design research and emerging technology. We've worked in:
- access to justice
- government innovation
- death and ageing
- education
- future of work
- rethinking not-for-profits
- taking back retail
- the new infrastructure
Multiplying value through strategic investment
Helping partners unlock millions in government funding
For many public-serving organisations, the difference between a great idea and real-world impact is funding. Our work often extends beyond design and delivery into helping partners secure the investment needed to scale. By aligning solutions with government priorities, and demonstrating clear public value, we’ve helped partners unlock over $10 million in additional funding.
- amica: With National Legal Aid and the Legal Services Commission of South Australia, we supported a successful bid for more than $6 million from the Attorney-General’s Department to evolve and scale amica since 2018.
- Hear Me Out: A digital tool for First Nations communities, developed with Just Reinvest NSW and Legal Aid NSW, received $250,000 from the NSW Attorney-General’s Fund and $350,000 from the Victorian Legal Services Board to support further rollout.
- YourCase: A digital family violence initiative co-created with Victoria Police secured $800,000 in joint State and Federal support for implementation.
- Relationships Australia: By repurposing existing budgets and demonstrating efficiencies, we helped secure $1 million to develop a new communications platform.
- Online Family Violence Intervention Orders: In partnership with the Neighbourhood Justice Centre and Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, we contributed to a project that attracted over $2 million in funding from the Victorian Government’s Technology Innovation Fund, addressing a key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Family Violence.
These outcomes demonstrate how Portable’s process not only delivers technically robust, scalable solutions, but also builds the business case for ongoing investment. We help our partners turn funding into momentum, and momentum into lasting impact.
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