Designing Better Public Services for Ontarians
We help ministries and agencies shape services that work — across digital and human touchpoints — where people’s lives and government programs meet.
What We Do and Why Choose Us
Since 2012, The Moment has partnered with ministries, agencies, and commissions across the Ontario Public Service — introducing hundreds of public servants to design thinking, systems thinking, innovation, and service design, and delivered dozens of impactful projects. We are an approved Vendor of Record for Experience Design.
OPS leaders choose us because:
OPS leaders often face a familiar gap: big ambitions, fragmented delivery. Policy, program, service, and technology speak different languages—momentum stalls and risk grows. We help you bridge the gap and keep progress moving.
Work upstream, together: In the Ontario Service Design Playbook, Discovery is about understanding needs; Alpha is about testing ideas quickly. Our Insight to Impact approach helps you excel in both.
Design end-to-end services: We align digital channels, in-person interactions, and the policy rules behind them—translating across boundaries so services work as a whole.
Design with care for vulnerability. Many services meet people who are under stress or navigating crisis. We bring a social challenges perspective, co-creating services that ensure equity, respect, and access.
Build capability as we go: Every engagement is co-created, so public servants gain skills and confidence that remain inside government.
Aim for real impact: Together, we find leverage points in complex systems and improve outcomes for Ontarians.
Public Service Project Portfolio
For over a decade, we’ve worked with ministries and agencies at multiple levels of government to reimagine programs, services, and systems.
Each project highlights how we:
- Start from real user needs and lived experience.
- Work across digital, human, and policy touchpoints.
- Translate insights into prototypes and pathways forward.
Explore our portfolio of projects that show what’s possible when design and public service come together.
Niagara Escarpment Commission
Modernizing Permit Applications
Developed and tested Alpha prototypes for a modern permit system, producing user-validated designs, service blueprints, and a roadmap to guide NEC’s Beta phase.
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Midcareer Worker Transitions
Scanned signals of labour disruption, designed and tested new service concepts to support midcareer workers adapt more easily to a rapidly changing labour market.
OCAD University
Rethinking the Student Wellness Centre | Engaged more than 250 students and staff to co-design future service models, generating recommendations and prototypes for more integrated, accessible wellness supports.
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St. Joseph’s Health Centre
Improving the Patient Discharge Experience | Co-created with patients and staff to prototype a simple “patient passport” tool, improving communication during hospital stays and after discharge to reduce confusion and readmissions.
Farm Credit Canada
Crowdfunded Farm Lending Pilot
Tested prototypes of a crowdfunded lending platform, helping underserved agri-food ventures access financing and generating insights to guide FCC’s innovation in alternative lending.
Metrolinx
Applying Design Thinking to Transit Challenges | Delivered hands-on design thinking training through a live transit safety challenge, building prototypes and momentum to help Metrolinx foster a more agile, customer-focused culture.
Department of Canadian Heritage
Redesigning the Grants Experience
Co-created with program officers and applicants to design a more modern grants service, producing principles and concepts for a streamlined and user-friendly experience.
Elections Ontario
Strategy Refresh
Explored signals of change, emerging disruptions and their impact on Elections Ontario’s vision in order to update priorities and strategic moves.
Hamilton Health Sciences
Community Voices in Healthcare Planning | Engaged over 800 community members and staff to gather insights on future healthcare needs, directly informing HHS’s 20-year clinical service vision and planning.
Ministry of Education
Rethinking Curriculum and Report Cards | Partnered with the Incubation and Design Branch to create future-focused curriculum and report card prototypes, integrating design and systems thinking into education.
Ontario Power Generation
Designing Better Customer Experiences | Worked with OPG’s IRI division to co-create customer-centered service models, developing value propositions, prototypes, and business models to support a service-oriented shift.
Canada's Digital Supercluster
Digital Skills Framework for Career Transitions | Developed a practical methodology and framework to help workers navigate career transitions, giving partners tools to build clear, transferable, and worker-focused competency models.
Policy Horizons Canada
Learning Systems Thinking
Designed and delivered interactive systems thinking training, giving Policy Horizons staff practical tools and methods to strengthen foresight and policy design capacity.
Veterans Affairs Canada
Streamlining Applications for Funding
Through co-design with applicants and staff, we created prototypes of simpler forms and clearer workflows, streamlining the process to help reduce effort on low-risk applications and free up staff time for complex ones.
OCADU & OntarioTech University
Building a University Partnership Blueprint | Co-designed a framework for collaboration between OCAD U and Ontario Tech, creating structures and strategies for innovative STEAM+D programs to prepare students for the future.
Nova Scotia Employer Services
Helping Small Businesses Retain Workers | Conducted field research with small businesses and workers to uncover root causes of employee churn, producing design principles and opportunities to improve retention.
Our work in action
Transforming permitting through user insight
and practical prototypes.
GET IN TOUCH
Find Your Path
Let's explore how we can design
better outcomes for Ontarians.
We are an approved Vendor of Record for Experience Design and Related Services (#18702). Ministries and agencies can engage us directly — no lengthy procurement required.
Looking for a small first step? Our Pathway Discovery engagements (starting at $15k) help teams find their way to impact and alignment before investing further.
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What we're thinking about