What we’re about
Sydney Design Thinking (SydDT) is a diverse community of 10,000+ members. We've been meeting monthly since 2015 to explore the world of design thinking as a human-centred design and living systems approach to innovation and solving complex problems – to help create positive outcomes for people, our planet, and business. We're one of the top design thinking meetups globally.
The vision for the SydDT meetup from the get go was to build a connected community and ecosystem of people from a diverse range of design and business practices, industries, contexts, and roles… to learn and share. To get exposed to what others are doing and see what's possible.
We’re proud to see this in our community – our members are experience designers, researchers, service designers, startup founders, product people, consultants, academics, anthropologists, architects, software engineers, project managers, medicos, engineers, and many other roles.
We keep it pretty casual with plenty of time for networking before jumping into talks, panels, and workshops on a broad range of topics - with a healthy Q&A that often turns into a group discussion. You can read a bit about the history and journey of our community and events here.
New members are welcome! If you’re not already a member, feel free to join our community. Each meetup audience is curated to a degree to make sure we have a mix of new people, as well as the committed regulars.
We’d love to hear from you if you’re keen to speak – or if there’s someone you think we should invite to speak.
Thanks
Ben Pecotich, Kylie Mageropoulos, Kate Linton & Lucas Mara
Sydney Design Thinking (SydDT) Organising Team
Upcoming events (4)
See all- SydDT #119: Identify Your Superpower & Tell Your Story with Jacalin DingThoughtWorks, SydneyA$10.00
You've done the work. You've built great products. You've led teams. Now it's time to tell your story.
You are equipped with superpowers that make you unique, yet these often get hidden behind your job title. Being able to tell your impactful story in its full glory puts you in a completely different light.
When done right, your story builds visibility, trust, value alignment, and career momentum, especially in interviews and first impressions.
Join us for a LIVE IN-PERSON interactive workshop to reframe your unique story with Jacalin Ding.
Key Takeaways:
- Re-evaluate your life journey and identify your unique superpowers
- Learn a simple, powerful storytelling framework
- Create a clear, confident personal story you can start sharing immediately
Live, practical, and zero fluff. Let's make your superpowers visible.
Sign up to this event and opt-in for the following learning series on "Communication" with Jacalin Ding. This is first of three "communication" workshops designed to elevate your professional presence:
- Communicating Your Value - In person, 9 October, Sydney
- Pitch with Purpose - Virtual, Date TBC
- Your Voice is Your Brand - Virtual, Date TBC
SPEAKERS
Jacalin Ding
Jacalin Ding is a seasoned product design leader and business
strategist with over 15 years of experience in building and
leading design teams and products. She has collaborated with
startups, enterprises, and agencies across New York, Vancouver,
Tokyo, Singapore, and Sydney.As a strategic business designer, Jacalin has worked directly
with CEOs and founders, helping to raise millions in funding for
their businesses. She has also successfully built a side business
that generates multiple six figures in annual revenue.Since 2018, Jacalin's courses have empowered over 10,000
designers to connect design with business success. She has
coached designers from leading companies including Google,
DoorDash, LinkedIn, Visa and Atlassian.Jac will be supported by Kylie Mageropoulos, a seasoned Design & Product recruitment and talent specialist with years of experience helping professionals showcase their skills, experience and impact in ways that open doors.
Kylie has recruited for some of Australia’s most prominent organisations from Big 4 banks and government institutions to fast-moving Series A startups, giving her a unique perspective on the different landscapes, cultures and communication styles that thrive in each.
Her career has given her a front row seat to what makes candidates stand out in competitive markets and she now shares those insights through practical frameworks.
EVENT SPONSORS
This event is brought to you by Thoughtworks, Lanson Partners, Sh8peshifters, and Dynamic4.We take photos and record our events for documentation and promo purposes. Just let us know if you prefer not to be featured.
- SydDT #120/Australia Design Thinking SXSW Sydney MeetupTumbalong Park, Sydney
We’re stoked SydDT is part of SXSW Sydney again this year. This time with a twist 😃
We’re doing this one as the Australia Design Thinking (AusDT) collective!
This will be a casual and interactive meetup for anyone interested in design thinking and design in general. A great chance to meet some people in and around the Sydney design community and beyond… catch up with old friends and make some new ones.
We’ll be in The Ideas Dome in the middle of Tumbalong Park.
Great news… this is a free event as part of SXSW Sydney Unlocked, so you DON’T need a SXSW Sydney pass to attend. Come and hang out!
Your hosts will be Natasha Ballantyne from Adelaide Design Thinking, William Stuart from Byron Design Thinking, Rachel Zhang from Melbourne Design Thinking… and Ben Pecotich from SydDT. We should have more of the organisers too.
Why not come for the whole week of SXSW Sydney? Check out the full SXSW Sydney program. Contact Ben for a 10% discount on your pass. See you there!
HOSTS
Ben Pecotich
Sydney Design Thinking (SydDT)
Ben is a designer, coach, and founder of Dynamic4 – a social enterprise and B Corp focused on leadership, design, and innovation for happier communities… and making the transition to more regenerative ways of living and doing business.He coaches and works alongside leaders to solve problems that matter by designing and building business models, products, and services that customers and teams love, make money, do great things for people and our planet, while increasing wellbeing.
For 30+ years, Ben’s led, designed, and delivered strategic change in financial services, digital & tech, health & fitness, and founded startups/social enterprises – in Australia, NZ, Asia, the UK, and Europe. He founded Dynamic4 in 2001 and takes a human-centred design and living systems approach to bring together strategy, design, and tech.
Ben’s the author of Solve Problems That Matter: Design, Build & Launch Your Social Enterprise Idea and co-founder of Sydney Design Thinking and convener of Australia Design Thinking.
SydDT is a diverse community of 10,000+ members. We’ve been meeting monthly since 2015 and had 115+ meetups. We’re one of the top design thinking meetups globally.
Tash Ballantyne
Adelaide Design Thinking
Tash leads design and user research teams with a focus on digital transformation. She is one of the 2025 AFR Women in Leadership recognised for her work in consulting, teaching, and digital inclusion.She is a Managing Director and the Head of Design at Scyne Advisory, and one of the founders of the sell-out Adelaide Design Thinking meet ups.
Natasha has lectured with Sydney University, Torrens University, Academy Xi and University of Technology Sydney. She is a renowned industry speaker in digital inclusion focusing on designing products and services for vulnerable cohorts.
Will Stuart
Byron Design Thinking
Will Stuart is the founder of Byron Design Thinking, a no-nonsense design and product community in the Northern Rivers (NSW).By day, he is a Lead Designer at TAFE NSW, where he leads projects to improve how courses are planned, designed, built and continually improved to make them more customer‑centric. With over a decade driving transformation in government and education, Will is driven by a passion for where technology meets good design.
His work spans digital transformation, AI augmented design, and community-building, but at the heart of it all is a driving force to bring people together to design a better future.
Rach Zhang
Melbourne Design Thinking
Rach is a seasoned experience designer with over 15 years of expertise at some of Australia and UK’s foremost digital enterprises such as Telstra, Google, Accenture, AKQA, Westpac, R/GA – as well as starting her own businesses in design consultancy, team assessments, and education.Her portfolio spans diverse profit for purpose projects, including the transformative re-design of the Parliament of Victoria experience and spearheading research and strategic design initiatives for the future vision of WorkSafe Victoria’s digital inspector’s tool. Rach’s career has also seen her contributions at RMIT, where she pioneered innovative pathways for career progression through education.
Rach, her fiancé, and two cats just moved back to Melbourne in February 2025. Her dream is to rebrand the “crazy cat lady” as aspirational. She’s also the co-founder of Melbourne Design Thinking.
What is Australia Design Thinking (AusDT)?
AusDT is a collective of place-based design communities with 12,000+ members in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Byron, Melbourne – and online. More to come.
Our purpose is to build a connected community and ecosystem of people from a diverse range of design and business practices, industries, contexts, and roles… to learn, share, and get exposed to what’s possible.
This is with the vision that design thinking is used as a human-centred design and living systems approach to innovation and solving complex problems – to help create great outcomes for people, our planet, and business.EVENT SPONSORS
This event is brought to you by SXSW Sydney and Dynamic4.We take photos and record our events for documentation and promo purposes. Just let us know if you prefer not to be featured.
- SydDT #121: State of the Design Nation with Ben Crothers & Nila RezaeiAtlassian Sydney office, SydneyA$10.00
We're lucky to have Ben Crothers and Nila Rezaei sharing their reflections as a couple of the judges for the 2025 Good Design Awards. Since 2018, this has become an annual SydDT tradition and a time to reflect on the state of the design nation...
Good Design Australia has a proud history that dates back to 1958 and they're passionately committed to recognising, rewarding, and promoting the importance of design to business, industry, government and the general public... and the critical role it plays in creating a better, safer, and a more sustainable and prosperous future.
Come join us for some fun conversations with interesting people in and around the design thinking community. New members are welcome!
SPEAKERS
Ben Crothers
Principal Facilitator, Bright Pilots. Good Design Ambassador
Ben has been a designer since before Netscape ruled the www, and is currently a facilitator and design strategist at Bright Pilots (his online training and facilitation business), where he teaches teams of all sorts about design and facilitation methods, running strategic workshops, and generally helping teams get un-stuck. Previous to Bright Pilots, Ben was Principal Designer at Atlassian, a Design Director at Second Road (a strategic innovation consultancy), plus some assorted startups, agencies, and government departments.Above all, Ben wants everyone to be just as good at the whiteboard as they are at the keyboard, to be better at thinking, communicating, and solving problems together visually. He's the author of a few books, including Presto Sketching: Simple Drawing for Brilliant Product Thinking and Design.
Nila Rezaei
Co-founder & Lead Designer, RK Collective. Good Design Ambassador
Nila is an Iranian-Australian industrial designer and educator, with a diverse background spanning industries, from manufactured consumer products to large-scale environmental and spatial design, site-specific products and installations to material design. Nila’s primary goal is to design solutions that not only fulfill utilitarian needs but also enhance the emotional connection between people and products, leaving a lasting positive social and environmental impact.Her career began at Vert Design Studio, with diverse clients including entrepreneurs, startups, and multinational firms. Later she joined ZOOMO, an Australian Micro Mobility startup, as hardware product design lead, and the international Maynard Design consultancy, focusing on products and experiences for built environments. She founded RK Collective as a response to a world increasingly confronted with environmental, societal, and ethical challenges, focusing on projects that are ‘deliberately’ innovative and balance culture, ecology, and commercial needs.
Her work has earned recognition from prestigious awards and has been showcased in various local and global presentations, exhibitions, and talks. Nila’s commitment to the Australian design scene extends to academia, teaching at UNSW in both Bachelor and Master degrees, serving as Deputy-Chair of the Design Institute Australia’s (DIA) NSW council. She is also a co-founder of IDX SYD (Industrial Design eXchange Sydney*)*, fostering collaboration and connection among industrial designers in Sydney and beyond.
EVENT SPONSORS
This event is brought to you by Atlassian, Sh8peshifters, and Dynamic4.We take photos and record our events for documentation and promo purposes. Just let us know if you prefer not to be featured.
