Strategic design for positive social impact

A Considered Approach collects the work and writing of Matt Shanks, currently Co-founder and Head of Design at Carbon Plus Ventures & Chair of The Open Food Network. I use 20 years of design, technology, and product experience to enable socially responsible early-stage startups and fast-growing scale-ups minimise waste, grow responsibly, and make a positive difference. I work exclusively in climate adaptation, health, education, and human services.

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A Considered Approach collects the work and writing of Matt Shanks, currently Managing Principal for Design and Strategy at Cogent and board member for The Open Food Network. Matt uses 20 years of design, technology and product experience to enable socially responsible early-stage startups and fast-growing scale-ups minimise waste and make a positive difference. He is currently working in climate adaptation, health, and education.

More about Matt

Projects with meaningful impact

I help socially-aware organisations of all sizes make positive and sustainable change. I ensure that small budgets yield good social and financial outcomes for the businesses I work with and their customers by taking a considered, systems-view of the change businesses seek to make to. Clients include Australian Red Cross, World Mosquito Program, Chargefox, VicEmergency, Good Human, & Bonigi Monitoring.

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Writing and thought leadership

I write and speak regularly about design, digital technology, and social systems to explore and bring to attention how those domains interact and amplify one another.

• We, the endangered
• The misleading connection between art and design
• Creating a culture of inclusivity in a society of pervasive masculinity
• The deepening of intergenerational digital and social exclusion
• We can’t help but put ourselves in the centre

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Matt lives and works on unceded Boonwurrung land

I have lived and worked my whole life on Gadigal (Sydney) and Wurundjeri (Melbourne) land, in Australia. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which I do my work and I pay my respects to elders past, present, and emerging. I acknowledge the sorrow of the stolen generations and the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. I support the Uluru Statement of the Heart and I also recognise the resilience, strength and pride of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Through my work, I aim to help as much as I can to empower and help them thrive.