Workup is a human-centred design and strategy practice. For twenty years we've helped New Zealand's most trusted organisations understand the people they serve — and act on it with confidence.
Trusted by New Zealand's most relied-upon organisations
The same outside-in discipline, applied wherever the stakes — and the human complexity — run highest.
Voice-of-customer and journey mapping for institutions millions of New Zealanders trust with their money.
Citizen-centred research and design with agencies shaping policy, health and the future workforce.
Workforce strategy for the industries that keep the country's lights on and water running.
Experience design for the networks that connect every home and business in Aotearoa.
Empathy research at the moments of truth where national brands earn — or lose — loyalty.
Design sprints and capability uplift for the institutions that hold a city's public life.
The hardest problems are rarely technical. They are human. Lasting value lives where what people genuinely want meets what an organisation can sustainably deliver.
We explore the difference between what people want and what they currently experience — then design the bridge between the two.
Engaged on their own, or woven together into a programme that builds lasting capability in your team.
We observe, immerse and engage — stepping into your customer's world to surface the latent, unmet needs that strategy decks miss. Then we bring those unfiltered truths back to inform decisions that count.
We find the micro-moments that matter across your customer's experience — the points of friction and the moments of delight — so you can anticipate the next step and build relationships that hold.
Test the future before you fund it. We take your team into the field to frame, prototype and validate new concepts in days — de-risking the big bets before the budget is committed.
The most valuable outcome is a team that can do this without us. We coach cross-functional groups, embed the process, and leave behind a culture of customer-centricity — and a toolbox that's yours.
We go to where the real experience lives and listen without an agenda — to the people you serve and the people who serve them.
We frame the right problem, then open it wide. Cross-functional teams generate and pressure-test ideas together, in the open.
We make ideas tangible early and cheaply — so you can see, feel and challenge a concept long before you commit to it.
We put it back in front of real people, learn fast, and iterate. Confidence is earned through evidence, not opinion.
New Zealand's critical industries — power, water, construction, health — face a workforce cliff: an ageing, shrinking talent pool against the infrastructure the country can't do without. It's exactly the kind of mission-critical, human problem we exist for.
So we built workin — a free, science-based platform that matches New Zealanders to careers in the industries that keep the lights on and the water running. Four years in, it's our proof that human-centred design scales from a single interview to a national challenge.
workin — real career pathways in NZ's critical industries, free to every user
“Desirability is the needs, goals and ambitions of the people you serve. Get that right, and the strategy almost writes itself.”
Principal & Director
Simon is a futurist, strategist and innovation leader, sought out for the rare combination of creative vision and commercial discipline. For two decades he's put design-led thinking to work across start-ups, mature businesses and government — turning perceived problems into valuable opportunities.
A highly skilled facilitator, he has coached executive education for Stanford University's d.school and works fluently across the public and private sectors.
Starting with human-centred design is easier than it looks. Tell us what's keeping you up at night, and we'll show you what becomes possible when you look at it from the outside-in.
simon@workup.co.nz →