A new Australian initiative, House of Complexity, has launched with a mission to help organisations, including brands and marketers, rethink how they approach change in an increasingly unpredictable environment.
Founded by strategic designers Steven Sullivan and Christian Verlaan, the initiative is built on the premise that many of today’s organisational and societal challenges behave less like machines and more like living systems – requiring new ways of thinking beyond traditional linear planning models.
“In a complex world, we cannot keep using ways of thinking designed for simpler conditions,” said Sullivan. “The challenges organisations face today do not sit neatly inside a single perspective.”
For the marketing, advertising and media industry – which is grappling with fragmentation across platforms, evolving consumer behaviour, and the rapid adoption of AI – the emergence of complexity thinking signals a shift in how brands may need to operate, plan and innovate.
House of Complexity positions its work across three arms: a design studio focused on strategy, product and service design; an institute offering public lectures, courses and research; and ventures exploring new tools and models derived from complexity thinking. Together, these aim to build capability for organisations navigating interconnected challenges across business, government and the social sector.
Sullivan, who previously worked as director and innovation consultant at Deepend Group’s strategic design and innovation studio How To Impact, has led projects for organisations including Google, Optus, ING, KFC, Destination NSW, Uniting, ReachOut, BaptistCare and the Australian Medical Association. He also teaches at UTS Transdisciplinary School.
He argues that complexity thinking helps organisations better understand how relationships, feedback loops, history and power influence outcomes – factors often overlooked in traditional campaign planning and business modelling.
“By connecting knowledge across different fields, we can open up new ways of understanding and responding to challenges that would not emerge from any single field alone,” he said.
Verlaan, formerly head of design at SaaS companies Ortto and Publishing.com, brings experience in product design, systems thinking and scaling user experience. His work has focused on making complex systems more navigable through design.
For marketers and agencies, the implications are clear: as brands face increasingly interconnected challenges, from AI-driven personalisation to shifting media ecosystems and societal expectations, the ability to design for complexity rather than control for certainty may become a competitive advantage.
House of Complexity will officially launch with a free conference in Sydney on 16 April, featuring speakers from organisations including The Smith Family, Queensland Health, CSIRO, Prevention United, UTS, UNSW Sydney, University of Sydney and Macquarie University.
Sessions will explore themes including designing conditions for change rather than controlling outcomes, recombining ideas across disciplines, and how complexity thinking can reshape organisational practice – topics increasingly relevant to brands seeking to adapt to rapid technological and cultural shifts.
