Swiss Innovation Academy

Hi lovely human 👋

Here's all what I've published last week and a few events that might interest you that I'm a part of. If I had to pick only one I'd recommend you join this event with Linn Vizard.

2 Service Design Q&As

Prototyping: Why I go for alternatives instead of variations when making and testing protoypes
Thesis funnel: How to use a thesis topic funnel to find the right flight level for your thesis?

2 new Service Design events

24.09: Webinar: Is it a service? (Play, Reflect, Ask): My good friend Linn is launching a new game and for the occasion she invited me to join her for a webinar around the question: Is this is a service?
29.09: Community Workshop: Future of the Service Design Network Switzerland community Workshop with Maria Carla Sarrecchia where you can share your ideas, dreams and wish for this community.

1 reminder of upcoming Service Design events

23.09: Educator Intervision: A 1 hour workshop where Service Design educators work on a challenge from a peer in a structured intervision process.

2 Backstage blog articles

Remarkable Calendar: How I've automatically added my calendar to my Remarkable tablet without huge hacks
Repair guide: How to repair an Original 8” Time Timer blocked Red disc?

Greetings from Basel, Switzerland,

Daniele 🧔🏻‍♂️

p.s. you can find more details below including three positive news to start your weekend with a smile.

Service Design Events

Upcoming workshops and webinars that I'm a part of and that are related to Service Design.

An illustration showing two people playing the game Is this a service where they need to decide if spotify is a service

Webinar: Is it a service?
(Play, Reflect, Ask)

Thursday 24th of September at 16:00 (Swiss time)

A one hour webinar to reflect, play and debate around the question: What makes a service, a service?

My good friend Linn Vizard (by the way I'm jealous of her last name), has created a little game to help service creators, workers and designers reflect on what makes a service a service.

For the occasion I'm joining her on a little webinar where you get to:

Play: Try out the game in a group setting
Reflect: Debate and reflect about what makes truly a service a service
Ask: Ask all your Service Design questions to Linn and myself

See the details

Future of the community Workshop with Maria Carla Sarrecchia

Tuesday 20th of September at 20:00 (Swiss Time)

Help us better understand the needs, dreams and wishes of the Service Design community so that the Swiss Service Design Network can better support you in the future. Facilitated by community member Maria Carla Sarrecchia

Meet the workshop facilitator

Maria Carla Sarrecchia is a Service Designer Lead working currently at Tata Consultancy Services

Maria is a Service Design practitioner with experience leading projects in complex organisations, where she helps teams clarify problems, structure services and make decisions grounded in real user needs. With a background in marketing and digital consulting, she brings a strong understanding of communication, behaviour and value creation into cross-functional design work.

Maria works at the intersection of systems, behaviours and operations, with a focus on reducing friction, improving workflows and enabling better collaboration across functions. Maria is particularly interested in how design principles apply beyond the workplace, to the routines, environments and invisible workloads that shape everyday life, because the ability to navigate complexity is both a professional and a human skill.

She brings structure, clarity and a systems perspective to teams and organisations that want to design more intentionally and lead with understanding.

Service Design Q&A

Simple and short answers to common Service Design questions.

Why I go for alternatives instead of variations when making and testing protoypes

In short: alternatives that are opposing make you learn more than small tweaks.

Read the full Q&A

How to use a thesis topic funnel to find the right flight level for your thesis?

In short: make different empty sketches of a funnel with a large top that then becomes a triangle with the narrow part down and divided in sections. At the topic comes your topic idea. Then add elements that make it more specific.

Read the full Q&A

Backstage Blog

Articles about what happens in the backstage of the Swiss Innovation Academy project and how I create this content and run my life.

How I've automatically added my calendar to my Remarkable tablet without huge hacks

In short: I've built a tiny menu bar app that automatically turns my calendar into a PDF and adds it to Google Drive each hour. Then I can import the calendar when I need to my Remarkable with the Google drive integration.

Read the full blog post

How to repair an Original 8” Time Timer blocked Red disc?

In short: lift the lid of the black dial, unscrew it and take out the plexiglass. Now you can put back the red disc behind the top layer. Voila.