TRIBUTARY DESIGN

At the Confluence of Systems and Design

Amplifying systems change

Mobilizing communities and creating lasting transformation requires innovative approaches. At Tributary Design, we partner with communities, institutions, and researchers. We leverage community based system dynamics to examine complex problems and human-centered design to translate insights into action.

What we do

  • Training

    Building individual and team capabilities for planning and implementing systems thinking and design projects

  • Guidance

    Consultation and coaching on your use of systems methods and design for research and community action

  • Implementation

    Partnering to lead community based modeling and participatory co-design

How we work

  • We recognize that each community, organization, and project is unique. We begin each engagement by understanding your specific needs, existing capabilities, and goals to develop a customized approach for our work together.

  • We believe cultivating lasting change requires building strong partnerships with our clients. We work collaboratively to build your capabilities and involve you throughout the process. By combining our expertise with your deep understanding of your research domain or lived experience of the problem, we co-create the conditions for sustainable change.

  • Our team has extensive experience in community-engaged research, systems thinking, and human-centered design. We also leverage our network to give you access to diverse expertise and specialized skills, create scalability and flexibility to respond to your unique needs, and refer you to our trusted colleagues if you need additional services.

About

We are long time researchers and practitioners who saw a need for new ways of working and partnering to realize the promise of high impact work with community at the intersection of systems and design