Complex legacy systems. Regulated environments. Stakeholders who need to be brought along, not pushed aside. This is where I do my best work.
This site covers how I approach government programs, the environments I know well, and what colleagues say about working with me. If you're deciding whether to reach out – this is for you.
How I work
Government UX work is not about beautiful screens. It is about reducing the risk that a program slips, a stakeholder escalates, or a system launches with problems that could have been caught earlier.
Legacy systems, security classifications, procurement timelines, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) requirements, and operational realities are not obstacles to good design - they are the design brief. I begin every engagement by mapping what cannot change, and build from there.
Government programs involve people with different agendas, different levels of authority, and different tolerances for ambiguity. I use structured workshops, usability testing, and documented decision logs to move alignment from a conversation to a record.
Contractors leave. What matters is what they leave behind. I build design systems, documented patterns, and annotated specifications that your Australian Public Service (APS) staff and ongoing delivery partners can pick up and run with.
Not every UX problem is the same. These are the situations where I consistently deliver the strongest outcomes.
When a system has been built up over years the interfaces carry the weight of every workaround and undocumented process that came before. I untangle that complexity without losing the operational knowledge embedded in it, and translate it into interfaces that are simpler to use and easier to maintain. A utility portal redesign I led produced a 48% reduction in customer service calls by surfacing a completion confidence gap the original brief had not identified.
Defence, border security, electoral systems, therapeutic goods - these are environments where errors have real consequences and where compliance is not optional. I design with audit trails, accessibility standards, and security constraints treated as priorities, not afterthoughts. A biosecurity mobile application I designed for border security officers produced an approximately 20% efficiency gain in checks per hour by replacing paper-based decision workflows.
When a program is already moving and UX needs to catch up, I integrate quickly into existing agile teams, establish a working rhythm fast, and produce usable artefacts from the first sprint. I don't need a discovery phase to begin contributing. A government portal redesign I led produced a 30% increase in submissions after redesigning the referral process around how applicants and assessors actually work.
Difficult UX work happens at the boundaries between agencies - where data, responsibilities, and user journeys cross organisational lines. I have worked across programs at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) that required alignment across multiple business owners, offices, and technical teams.
Building a design system means navigating procurement, accessibility legislation, branding standards, and the realities of a multi-vendor delivery environment. I have built and contributed to design systems that have outlasted individual program phases and continue to be used by teams I no longer work with.
Australian Government digital services must meet WCAG 2.1 AA as a legal requirement, not an aspiration. I design with accessibility as a foundation - not a checklist exercise. Semantic markup, keyboard navigation, screen reader testing, and inclusive interaction patterns are embedded into every prototype, specification, and handover I deliver.
Panel arrangements, APS stakeholder dynamics, security clearance environments, the Digital Service Standard, and the pace of transformation programs - these are not things you learn from a textbook. They are things you learn by being embedded in the work, over time, across multiple agencies. I have been doing that work since 2011 – more than 20 years in UX and service design overall.
Department of Defence - classified environments with security clearance requirements, strict information handling, and stakeholders with very low tolerance for ambiguity or rework.
AEC - high-reliability, high-consequence systems with non-negotiable election event timelines. Complex operational workflows across national, state, and divisional levels.
TGA, Department of Agriculture - environments where every interface decision has downstream compliance implications, and where user error carries real regulatory risk.
DFAT - global user bases, complex internal management systems, classification-sensitive environments, and the challenge of designing for staff operating across dozens of countries and contexts.
DEWR, National Centre for Vocational Education Research - cross-jurisdictional data systems, multi-stakeholder vocational education and training sector, and the particular complexity of designing for policy implementation at scale.
Department of Employment, Atlas of Living Australia - shared services environments, citizen-facing platforms, and the challenge of serving diverse user cohorts within constrained infrastructure.
“Adam is highly professional, attentive to nuance, and asks the right questions to understand the business context and achieve UX outcomes.”
“One of Adam's greatest strengths is his expertise in experience design and his understanding of the end-to-end design process.”
“Adam's ability to clearly articulate requirements, and to seek clarification from the client ahead of the build sprint, was crucial.”
“Adam is a true UX professional. He strikes the right balance between building empathy with target users and creatively designing experiences to meet their needs - often in delightful ways.”
“Adam is a confident communicator who can explain and unpack complex ideas and designs for any audience.”
“Adam has excellent attention to detail, and works collaboratively with clients to produce outcomes that suit their needs.”
Across Australian Government, enterprise, and education.
If you have a program that needs an experienced government UX lead – Negative Vetting Level 1 cleared (active to 2029), Negative Vetting Level 2 eligible, Canberra-based, and ready to contribute from day one – I'd welcome a conversation. I am currently embedded at the AEC on the Indigo Program modernisation.