Independent innovation, design and development studio · Canberra
Think boldly. Test early. Build what works.
We help businesses and government teams understand difficult problems, explore new possibilities and build practical solutions. Through workshops, systems thinking, design and engineering, we turn uncertainty into a clear next step.
Start with a question, a stuck process or an opportunity worth exploring.
The Biotic story · 18 seconds
From uncertainty to something useful.
01 / 06 · QUESTION
It starts with a difficult problem.
A stuck process, an unmet need or an opportunity that is still hard to see.
02 / 06 · LISTEN
We listen to the people who live it.
Their experience turns assumptions into a shared understanding of what really needs to change.
03 / 06 · CONNECT
We see the whole system.
People, technology, handovers and constraints become one connected picture.
04 / 06 · TEST
We test the hardest uncertainty first.
A focused experiment creates evidence before anyone makes a big commitment.
05 / 06 · BUILD
Evidence becomes a practical product.
Something people can use, the organisation can support and the team can keep improving.
06 / 06 · BIOTIC STUDIO
Think boldly. Test early. Build what works.
Unfolding intelligence from your people, systems and evidence.
Our name, our idea
Unfolding intelligence.
Biotic means living. Living systems don’t arrive finished. People, systems and evidence connect, respond and adapt together. We believe good solutions work the same way.
NODE 01 · PEOPLE
What people know.
The experience of the people who do the work, use the service or live with the problem every day.
Lived experience · context · needs
Intelligence isn’t something we deliver in a box. We help it unfold, from your people, your systems and your evidence, until the next step is clear.
People
Made with the people who live the problem.
We work with different and diverse people: fishers and regulators, architects and researchers, shop owners, families and government teams. We listen first, then design with them.
With fishersThe fisher on deck, logging a catch with wet hands.Image · tidemark-catch.jpg
With architectsThe architect on a site walk, one hand free.Image · ziggo-site-team.jpg
With shop ownersThe shop owner after closing, counting what’s left.Image · shop photo (to supply)
With familiesThe family in a small home, winding down for the night.Image · seiiki-living.jpg
With researchersThe researcher waiting for the drone to surface.Image · marine photo (to supply)
With government teamsThe team mapping a service, end to end, on one wall.Image · workshop photo (to supply)
With playersEveryone, taking a well-earned break.Image · play photo (to supply)
New ideas from our Kitchen Sink, from farms and hotels to wildlife and sneakers. Visit the Kitchen Sink ›
Biotic StudioKotiKartProduct · AgricultureA harvest kart that follows you down the row.HMW-HPHow might we help KotiKart unfold with delight?No. 01Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioBiotic HotelExperience · HospitalityGuests, staff and technology, working in step.HMW-HPHow might we help Biotic Hotel unfold with delight?No. 02Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioBellaVueProduct · Real estateProperty, seen through place and belonging.HMW-HPHow might we help BellaVue unfold with delight?No. 03Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioEndangered TodayEditorial · ConservationMeet a species we could lose, one day at a time.HMW-HPHow might we help Endangered Today unfold with delight?No. 04Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioTinygrubApp · FoodNative Australian ingredients, a little every day.HMW-HPHow might we help Tinygrub unfold with delight?No. 05Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioMenuboothComing soonMore to share soon.HMW-HPHow might we help Menubooth unfold with delight?No. 06Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioSneaker ParkComing soonMore to share soon.HMW-HPHow might we help Sneaker Park unfold with delight?No. 07Kitchen Sink
Three ways to work with us.
Start where you are. Every option ends with a clear decision.
Clarify the challenge
What should we tackle first?
Focused workshops, research and systems mapping to understand the challenge, question assumptions and agree on priorities.
You leave with an agreed problem statement, priority opportunities, key assumptions and a practical next-step brief.
On site, at sea, at home, in the shop and around the meeting table. We test our ideas in real places, and we make them at one table in a small studio in Canberra.
The studio, Canberra: sketches, prototypes, Medici and Dante (to supply)
On siteZIGGO
At seaTidemark and AquaDrone
At homeSeiiki
In the shopWeave
Around the tableWorkshops and sprints
Play
Serious about play.
We take on serious problems, explore challenging spaces and work with all kinds of people. We also make games and entertainment, so people can relax, enjoy themselves and find a little delight. Play isn’t a side project. It’s part of who we are.
January 2027Pink YetiBig fluff. Little patience. A whole mountain of trouble.
January 2027Pink YetiGet launch news and development updates delivered through your email app.
March 2027Angry GoatsShort tempers. Sharp horns. Let the chaos begin.
March 2027Angry GoatsGet launch news and development updates delivered through your email app.
May 2027Triangular SpaceOne landing pod. A world of red dust. Make Mars your home.
May 2027Triangular SpaceGet launch news and development updates delivered through your email app.
September 2027HelloBinuA traveller through time. Every era has a story. Where will yours begin?
September 2027HelloBinuGet launch news and development updates delivered through your email app.
October 2027NirogalSmall in stature. Bold by nature. The future better keep up.
October 2027NirogalGet launch news and development updates delivered through your email app.
December 2027RIAD88A zombie apocalypse sweeps Morocco. Stranded travellers must work together to find a safe haven.
December 2027RIAD88Get launch news and development updates delivered through your email app.
January 2028Ramen KittyOne hungry kitty. Endless noodles. Happiness by the bowl.
January 2028Ramen KittyGet launch news and development updates delivered through your email app.
What we learn making games, from clear feedback to moments of delight, makes our serious tools better to use.
Ambitious thinking, grounded in practical experiments.
1UnderstandAgree on the problem, people and constraints.
2ExploreMap connections, question assumptions and consider alternatives.
3TestInvestigate the hardest uncertainty with a focused experiment.
4Build and learnPilot, measure and improve with the team.
“Every experiment should help us make a decision.”
The ideas behind our approach
Systems thinking. We look at relationships, dependencies and feedback, so a fix in one place doesn’t create a problem somewhere else.
Vijay Govindarajan’s Three-Box Solution. Manage the present, selectively let go of the past and create the future. We treat these as concurrent responsibilities, not project phases.
Strategyzer techniques. We explore value propositions, business models and assumptions through experiments. For government, that includes public value and service outcomes.
Human-centred design. We start with the people who use a service or do the work, and involve them in shaping and testing what we make.
Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats. In workshops, the group looks at a problem from one angle at a time: facts, feelings, risks, benefits, new ideas and process. Everyone is heard and debate stays productive.
Systematic Inventive Thinking. Instead of waiting for inspiration, we generate ideas by changing what already exists: taking a part away, dividing it, multiplying it, giving it a new job or linking things that weren’t linked before. New ideas, built from the resources you already have.
Design sprints. Based on the sprint method developed at Google Ventures: a short, structured run from a shared problem to a prototype tested with real people.
Experimentation inspired by X, the Moonshot Factory. Find the riskiest assumption and test it before committing to extensive development. We are not affiliated with X.
Use AI where it helps. Keep people in control.
AI is one layer of the unfolding, never the whole of it.
AI can help us explore questions, organise information, prototype ideas and reduce repetitive work. We check its outputs against evidence and real experience. For critical workflows, people review exceptions and approve consequential decisions.
Step 1Incoming information
Step 2 · AI-assistedOrganise or draft
Step 3 · a personHuman review
Step 4Approved action
Step 5Monitor and improve
Exception route: anything unclear, unusual or high-stakes goes straight to a person, at any step.
An illustrative example. Data handling, access, review points and success measures are agreed with you before any pilot.
About · Canberra · since 2017
A family studio. You work with the makers.
Biotic Studio is independent and small on purpose. The people who frame your problem are the people who design and build the solution.
B
Binu Perera
Designer. Innovator. Maker.
Co-founder. Experience architect, UX/UI designer and Apple app developer. Binu’s own career spans more than 20 years in product, UX/UI and service design, and Binu is currently studying a Master of Artificial Intelligence and a Master of Architecture. Binu connects people, technology and organisational value: understanding how work really happens, then making tools that fit it.
Co-founder. Visual and graphic designer and video storyteller, with a background in advertising and marketing, human resources and stakeholder management. Niro shapes how our work looks, makes the stories that explain it, and keeps the people side of every project working: bringing teams together, managing stakeholders and making sure everyone is heard.
M&D
Medici and Dante
Chief morale officers.
Present at every meeting, asleep at most of them, and very good at reminding us to take a break.
A network of talented people.
When a project needs more hands or specialist skills, we bring in people we trust and work with closely. They’re independent collaborators, invited in when your project needs them.
CChingDeveloper with AI skillsHelps turn tested ideas into working software, including AI-assisted features built with people in control.
RRebeccaPsychologist and service designerBrings expert understanding of people, behaviour and wellbeing to how services are shaped and experienced.
LLucyUser researcherHelps us learn from the people we design for, with a real passion for where AI can help.
Bring us the problem. We’ll help shape the next step.
We’ll arrange an initial conversation and suggest a suitable scope.
Page 2 · Kitchen Sink
Kitchen Sink
Every idea gets a try.
The Kitchen Sink is where we experiment with ideas. Some find a real problem to solve, some fail, and some are just for learning. Whatever happens, we capture what we learn and publish our findings for others.
Hero photo: sketchbook notes beside a device under study (to supply)
How ideas end up in the sink
Three kinds of experiment.
Every idea gets tested. Where it goes next depends on what we learn.
1 · It fitsIt meets a real problem.Some ideas meet the problem space and pass our product–customer fit evaluation. Those move out of the sink and become projects.
2 · It failsIt stays, with its lessons.Some ideas fail, and they end up here. We capture what we learned and how we could do better. When a new problem comes along that an old idea fits, we give it new life with a different technique from our toolkit.
3 · Just becauseIt’s for our own learning.Some ideas are purely experimental. We make them to learn something new, with no client and no deadline.
What’s in the sink
Ideas in the making.
Each idea gets its own notebook. Some will fit a real problem, some will fail and teach us something, and some are just for learning.
Biotic StudioKotiKartProduct · AgricultureA harvest kart that follows you down the row.HMW-HPHow might we help KotiKart unfold with delight?No. 01Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioBiotic HotelExperience · HospitalityGuests, staff and technology, working in step.HMW-HPHow might we help Biotic Hotel unfold with delight?No. 02Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioBellaVueProduct · Real estateProperty, seen through place and belonging.HMW-HPHow might we help BellaVue unfold with delight?No. 03Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioEndangered TodayEditorial · ConservationMeet a species we could lose, one day at a time.HMW-HPHow might we help Endangered Today unfold with delight?No. 04Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioTinygrubApp · FoodNative Australian ingredients, a little every day.HMW-HPHow might we help Tinygrub unfold with delight?No. 05Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioMenuboothComing soonMore to share soon.HMW-HPHow might we help Menubooth unfold with delight?No. 06Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioSneaker ParkComing soonMore to share soon.HMW-HPHow might we help Sneaker Park unfold with delight?No. 07Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioGreenLoopComing soonMore to share soon.HMW-HPHow might we help GreenLoop unfold with delight?No. 08Kitchen Sink
Biotic StudioSupplyFlowComing soonMore to share soon.HMW-HPHow might we help SupplyFlow unfold with delight?No. 09Kitchen Sink
Where every idea starts
An empty sheet of paper.
Our studio is built on continuous learning, instilled in us by our parents and by the mentors who inspired us early in our careers.
One lesson stayed with us: start every day with an empty sheet of paper. It’s still our starting block. We use it to question what we think we know, and to explore ideas quickly through rapid sketching techniques like Crazy 8s: eight ideas, in eight minutes, on one folded page.
01Sonar hull
02Buoy swarm
03Tether scout
04Wing glider
05Reef crawler
06Solar dock
07Sensor pod
08Data mesh
Crazy 8s8 ideas · 8:00
When the sink is full
Make room with three boxes.
Ideas pile up. To make space for new ones, we evaluate everything in the sink using Vijay Govindarajan’s Three-Box Solution, and sort each idea into one of three boxes.
1
The presentKeep what works.Ideas that improve the service or product you run today. We refine them and keep them going.
2
The pastLet go to make room.Ideas, habits and assumptions that no longer serve you. Selectively letting go is what makes space in the sink.
3
The futureTry what comes next.Ideas worth experimenting with now, so new options are ready when you need them.
All three boxes run at the same time. They’re responsibilities, not phases.
Government and larger organisations
Where the boxes matter most.
Teams carry years of systems, processes and commitments. We help them see what to keep, what to let go and what to try, within the constraints they work under.
Startups, solopreneurs and entrepreneurs
Explore your challenge together.
We sit down with you and work through your challenge one box at a time: what’s working, what’s holding you back, and what’s worth testing next.
A place to try ideas out, look closely at what happens, and share what we learn.
1ExploreUse the experience as people really do, in real places and real moments.
2CapturePhotos, sketches, voice notes and observations, gathered as we go.
3WriteTurn what we noticed into clear findings and ideas worth testing.
4PublishShare the findings as field notes and ebooks, so others can learn too.
Biotic Studio · Kitchen SinkThe unfolded experienceIndependent design studies
The first ebook from the Kitchen Sink
The unfolded experience.
What happens to the apps we use every day when the phone opens? Our foldable redesign case studies of well-known apps, showing what we’ve learnt about designing for the fold.
Coming soon for purchase. Independent design studies. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the companies or apps named.
Or collect them one at a time.
Every case study is its own pocket edition, coming soon for purchase in PDF and EPUB.
Inside every edition
A complete independent study.
Each edition follows one app from problem to tested design, validated by asking real people who use it. Every study starts with the same question in solution mode: How might we help this app unfold with delight?
Because every study is independent, we offer the findings to the organisation behind the app, so the insights reach the people who can act on them.
01The problemWhat isn’t working, and for whom.
02The explorationHow we used the app, and what we noticed.
03User flowsThe journeys as they are, and as they could be.
04Product–market fitWhere the app meets real needs, and where it falls short.
05Jobs to be doneWhat people are really trying to get done.
06Unique value propositionWhat only this app can offer.
07Rebranding opportunityHow the brand could grow with the new experience.
08Detailed designScreens for the folded and unfolded phone.
09Technology approachHow technology can be applied to help, step by step.
10Validation with usersWhat real users told us when we asked.
The unfolded experienceNetBankFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help NetBank unfold with delight?No. 01Coming soon
The unfolded experienceNetflixFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Netflix unfold with delight?No. 02Coming soon
The unfolded experienceWhatsAppFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help WhatsApp unfold with delight?No. 03Coming soon
The unfolded experienceInstagramFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Instagram unfold with delight?No. 04Coming soon
The unfolded experienceTinderFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Tinder unfold with delight?No. 05Coming soon
The unfolded experienceUberFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Uber unfold with delight?No. 06Coming soon
The unfolded experienceDisney+Foldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Disney+ unfold with delight?No. 07Coming soon
The unfolded experienceAirbnbFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Airbnb unfold with delight?No. 08Coming soon
The unfolded experienceBooking.comFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Booking.com unfold with delight?No. 09Coming soon
The unfolded experienceIKEAFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help IKEA unfold with delight?No. 10Coming soon
The unfolded experienceAmazonFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Amazon unfold with delight?No. 11Coming soon
The unfolded experienceNBAFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help NBA unfold with delight?No. 12Coming soon
The unfolded experienceNikeFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Nike unfold with delight?No. 13Coming soon
The unfolded experienceadidasFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help adidas unfold with delight?No. 14Coming soon
The unfolded experienceApple FitnessFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Apple Fitness unfold with delight?No. 15Coming soon
The unfolded experienceSpotifyFoldable case studyHMW-HPHow might we help Spotify unfold with delight?No. 16Coming soon
Field notes
Written at the sink.
Short pieces on what our experiments taught us. Free to read.
Tell us where to send it and we’ll email you one full case study from The unfolded experience.
Page 3 · Project story template (ZIGGO)
ZIGGOziggo.appField prototype
Every site walk. Captured.
How might field observations stay connected to the places and decisions they inform?
The problem
Insight gets lost between the site and the studio. A detail noticed on a walk-through becomes a half-remembered note by the time it reaches the drawings.
People and context
Architects, experience designers and researchers walking real places: terminals, courtyards, entries, with one hand free and little time to stop.
The wider system and constraints
Observations move from a site walk into studio review, synthesis and handoff. The workflow must account for restricted site access, the privacy of people in photographs and moments without a reliable connection.
The ambitious question
What if every observation arrived in the studio already pinned to the place it describes?
The hardest assumption
People will capture a Moment mid-walk, in seconds, rather than reconstructing it later.
This is the central behaviour the prototype is designed to test.
What we made
A field app designed around the fold. Closed, you capture Moments as you walk. Open, they land on the plan, ready for the studio.
Moments
Photo, sketch, voice and note in one tap.
On the plan
Unfold to place each Moment where it happened.
Experience canvas
The journey above the fold, synthesis below.
Studio handoff
Share a summary or export to XD Lounge.
ziggo-site-review.jpg
ziggo-plan-sketch.jpg
Photography via Unsplash: Nick Fewings, Gilbert Ng and Nopparuj Lamaikul.
What we will test
The next test will examine whether people can capture a useful Moment mid-walk in seconds, and what makes the handoff valuable once they return to the studio.
No measured outcome is claimed before that field test is complete.
Stage and next decision
Current stage
Field prototype
Next decision
Test capture in the field, then decide what to refine.
The studio, Canberra: sketches, prototypes, Medici and Dante (to supply)