Recording from my live community Q&A

Wednesday I hosted a live Q&A session for the Swiss Service Design Network. You can now get the recording, additional links and the full transcript.

My favorite questions that was answered:

How do I use my service design skills when writing an academic paper?

The short answer:

1. Use visual synthesis: use graphs, diagrams, visual stories, maps to summarize what you've learned and clarify your arguments

2. Use prototyping: prototype both your thesis and transform what you've learned into practical things (this will make it easier to write about it later)

3. Be practical: answer through out the text the question "What does this help me do?" again and again.

4. Structure like a service designer: get inspired by UX writing and signage to write titles that already tell a story or give a summary. For example: "Case study: XX" vs "Case study XX: money doesn't matter"

The other questions

Outside of this question we covered topics like:

• What makes Service Design different from other fields?

• Is co creation essential to Service Design?

• What are core skills to learn when transitioning to Service Design?

• How do I find a Service Design job in a country where there are not many or none?

• What's the secret way to find answers to more than 300 common Service Design questions?

A big thank you to all the Service Design enthusiasts who shared during this event their questions and insights.

How has Service Design changed over the last years?

Here are five things I've seen change in the world of Service Design compared to when I started in the field.

1. Service Design is much more approachable: as there are more people sharing their down to earth learnings in a simpler language

2. Service Design is both simpler and more complex: because Service Designers are working on larger scale problems that need system thinking and because Service Design is taught at lower levels of education and used in smaller companies.

3. Service Design has proven its impact on public services: especially in the UK with processes and tools like the Service Standards and Service Manual from Gov.uk.

4. Service Design is now a job that is recognized by others: you can now find more easily job positions with the title "service designer"

5. Service Design is much more integrated with eco social questions: for many Service Design practitioners questions of inclusion, diversity, equality, sustainability are all asked at the start of a project and not at the end.