Workshops for team building and systems thinking
The Future for Beginners at Somerset House London
Image by Timothy Eliot Spurr
Melanie Frances (UK) and Nathan Harrison (AUS) are game designers who create interactive experiences and hands-on workshops about the complex systems we find ourselves embedded within. Our work supports organisations to face the complex and chaotic nature of our present moment, finding new, dynamic and transformative strategies that recognise the reality we are in.
Our teambuilding games and workshops are designed to boost collaboration and increase literacy in systems concepts such as tradeoffs, tipping points and feedback loops—dynamics that define the structure and resilience of our organisations.
Best Festival Ever at Arts House Melbourne
Image by Bryony Jackson
Our previous clients include Chatham House (UK), Earth Observatory Singapore, Australian National University’s School of Cybernetics, London Design Biennale, as well as design agencies, insurance firms and councils.
We’re visiting Vancouver this April to present a Discovery Session at TED2026 and offering workshops between 7th-11th April.
Workshops can be tailored to your group for up to 30 participants, between 1-3 hours and include:
Busy Mayors: a collaborative game about decision-making, balancing competing priorities and avoiding disaster
Systems Mapping: we’ll lead your group in a game-changing mapping exercise to build a complex picture of your organisation
Systems Mapping Workshop at Proud Archivist, London
Image by David Shaw
We’ll work with you to develop a session for your organisation, team and needs, from introducing systems concepts through playful games, to delving into a more complex area of your work and creating a systems map.
“Our experience was nothing short of exceptional and has left a lasting impression on our team’s approach to collaborative work.”
“We sorely need this kind of experience because many of the show’s systems concepts are missing from our public discourse, and yet we cannot hope to navigate the challenges facing humanity without them.”
Please contact Melanie Frances at melaniefrancescontact@gmail.com for bookings and more information.
Photo by Shamphat pro
ABOUT
Melanie Frances
Melanie Frances (UK) is a game designer and writer. She makes interactive experiences - books, performances and games - that travel to unknown places, speculative futures and alternative realities. Her work is for people who like adventures, probing rules, and finding hidden possibilities.
Melanie’s work spans from collaborative climate decision making games, such as Future for Beginners, created with David Finnigan and Becky-Dee Trevenen, in collaboration with Chatham House, and the London Design Biennale, to escape room books, published by Ammonite Press.
Much of Melanie’s work is concerned with play as a tool to explore climate decision making, with a focus on climate justice. Melanie has worked on climate education tools with Greenpeace, community card games about flood risk, funded by DEFRA, and immersive installations about the environmental impact of AI.
Photo by Jamie Simmons
Nathan Harrison
Nathan Harrison (AUS) is a writer, performer and game designer living on Bidjigal Land in Sydney, Australia. He creates games and theatre that translate complex ideas into playful, personal contexts.
As part of Australian science-art collective Boho Interactive, Nathan collaborates with research scientists, governments and communities to create games used for training, science communication and community outreach.
Boho Interactive projects include Best Festival Ever, a game about climate systems created in collaboration with University College London, the Stockholm Resilience Centre and CSIRO Australia, and Found in Translation, a game about interdisciplinary collaboration made with Australian National University’s Population Health Exchange. With The Lowitja Institute Boho created A Week in the Bush, a series of games about Indigenous health research. Boho’s work has been presented globally in universities, galleries, theatres and conferences.
Nathan’s other work includes plays about ecology and wildlife conservation, and games about speculative futures.