Helping product and leadership teams thrive for over 20 years, by design
I’m Ben, your team catalyst
I partner with you and your team to help solve what’s holding your product back, generate actionable solutions, and map the way forward. Along the way, your team gets the capability uplift you want, and the breakthrough moments they've all been looking for.
How I can help you
Better business strategy
with value discovery and brand development
Better products
with problem framing and creative solutions
Better team alignment
with values mapping and health diagnostics
My super-power
Workshop facilitation? Check. Customer research, agile ways of working, innovation playbooks, yes yes and yes. I even do training and code working prototypes.
But what I do that really unlocks progress is visual mapping. I listen deeply, I draw, and I connect all the various parts of your problem, solution, team, and plan into a cohesive whole.
You and your team have insights along the way, and at the end you have a powerful story to show.
Let’s work together
I work as Principal Facilitator at Bright Pilots, my business design consultancy.
Hire me for:
- Workshop facilitation
- Team innovation coaching
- Facilitation skills training
- Visualisation and storytelling skills training
- Strategy illustration
- Graphic recording
Ben had fabulous discernment in making sure everyone's voice was heard. He wasn't afraid to notice someone ‘stewing’ on an idea and asking the right questions to help solidify. Really well done!
RACHEL PATRICKS • NORWEST CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
The real value for me came from having a trusted partner to work with. This allowed me to focus on my day-to-day priorities without losing too much time to planning.
DAVID MEIER • HEAD OF DESIGN, ZIP.CO
Ben Crothers guided us through strategic design and thinking to create a single organisational strategy... The methods he used were collaborative, engaging and he was instrumental in helping our teams and our board consider the key needs that were ahead.
CLARE STEELE • CEO, COMPASSION AUSTRALIA
Books and writing
Drawing and facilitation are my twin passions that I’ve published books about:
Presto Sketching
A practical workbook for learning simple sketching skills (like people, faces, objects and scenes, storyboarding, journey mapping, and conceptual illustration) for better ways to explore problems, generate ideas, explain concepts, and persuade stakeholders.
Draw in 4
100 4-step sketches of various objects, animals and people — everything from lions to lava lamps — for you to try drawing, to boost your drawing confidence. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this is a fun way to amp up your visual vocabulary.
50 Remote-Friendly Icebreakers
Say goodbye to boring meetings! This book is made for anyone who runs any kind of online meeting, with 50 different fun, insightful and intriguing activities to try with your group. Guaranteed not to contain any cheesy ones. Comes with a companion website.
I’ve been writing for over 10 years, posting on the Bright Pilots blog, the Presto Sketching website, Medium, plus a few guest posts here and there.
- Best-voted ideas to keep your hybrid meetings from not sucking so much
Bright Pilots • Oct 2022 - An expert answers 15 design sprint questions
Terem Technologies • Feb 2020 - 5 cognitive bias examples and how to avoid them in decision-making
Atlassian blog • July 2019 - What agile retrospectives won’t improve, and what you can do about it
Atlassian blog • Jan 2016 - Fight the dark side of Lean UX with the Experience Canvas
Atlassian blog • Oct 2013
- The anatomy of great storytelling with Ben Crothers
Dovetail • Apr 2021 - Investing in design strategy means investing in greater confidence
designstrategy.guide • Apr 2020 - Mapping your user’s day with the User Clock Sketch
Presto Sketching • Jun 2019 - Add more creativity to your drawing with SNAILS
Presto Sketching • Aug 2018 - Want better ideas? Go to Crazytown
Medium • Apr 2015
Resources
I help people win at work by providing training, templates and other downloads
Drawing for Work
This is a comprehensive on-demand online course to boost your drawing and visual thinking skills, to help you solve problems and communicate solutions at work
Unlock Your Skills with Foundation Lines
This on-demand online class boosts your confidence and skills in translating what you observe, or whatever is in your head, into more satisfying drawings, using the foundation lines (or construction lines) technique.
Storyboarding Toolkit
This storyboarding toolkit has over 550 images to help you create storyboards, and tell your story - fast!
Journey Mapping Icons Set
This set contains 100 hand-drawn icons for you to use in journey maps and visual research summaries.
Teamwork templates and cards
A trove of strategy and productivity templates and cards for you to download and use with your team.
Speaking
I also love speaking about using design and facilitation to solve problems and envision better futures. Topics:
- Drawing for business strategy, user experience, persuasion and creativity
- Design Thinking for better innovation and team performance
- Unleashing creativity at work, in surprising and useful ways
Recent talks
- Good Design Awards 2023 Highlights
Sydney Design Thinking Meetup • October 2023 - State of the Design Nation: Highlights from the Good Design Awards Australia
Sydney Design Thinking Meetup • November 2022 - Webinar: Workshop Facilitation for Design Sprints
Terem Technologies • Feb 2020 - Conference talk: Bugfixing Your Mental Model
Agile Australia Conference • Jun 2019
Podcast interviews
First Time Facilitator
June 2023
Call the Game: Ben Crothers Shares His Tips on Being Bold in Your Next Workshop or Meeting
The New Way
December 2022
How To Use Visual Communication To Align, Collaborate And Share Stories with Ben Crothers
Prodpod podcast
October 2019
People, not Pixels - an interview by Adrienne Tan with Ben Crothers, brought to you by This Is HCD
Graphic recording
I help make any event more impactful with live scribing. Seeing a talk or group conversation graphically recorded as it unfolds is highly engaging, and helps people connect with the content in more meaningful ways.
Whether in-person or online, analog on the wall or digital on an iPad, I capture what’s said in real-time, summarising on the fly.
Want to learn how? I teach it too...