The Design Squiggle by Damien Newman

The Design Squiggle by Damien Newman




A bit of context 

The Squiggle came to life at the beginning of the years 2000 when designer Damien Newman had the opportunity to design some complex desktop software. And the need to convince the client of the value of the process of design, in less than thirty seconds.  It's a few laters when Damien was working at IDEO a colleague surprised him by having found it online (somehow) and using it for the IDEO Intern '06 T-Shirts. One of the books that might have made it even more known is Business Model Generation where the process was displayed.

What I like about it 

The Design Squiggle is one of the images I love to show to people who are new to the design mindset because it translates visually how they'll feel emotionally.

People often react and say: "How that seems pretty messy at the start", and then you can agree and explain why. And you can show that at the beginning there is a lot of trial and error. You can show that there are moments that feel like back and forth. You can show that design isn't a perfect science with a clear step by step formula. But it's all worth it. To me this drawing is the one that visualizes the nature of the iterative way of working in the best way possible because it doesn't speak to your rational mind, but to your emotions.

How the community feels about it

We just need to embrace complexity and mess, then it’s not a scribble anymore. — Roman Lihhavtshuk, Design Manager at F-Secure Corporation


I feel like the end of the squiggle should be a heartbeat pattern. Satisfying customer needs and business goals (via service design) are the heart of a success framework, no? — Brian Sullivan, Principal at Sullivan Designs


Go deeper 

I found the image of this process on the official Design Squiggle website created by Damien Newman. There you'll find explanation about the history of the process and a few other fun examples of how the process has been used since then. 

Course: What is the Service design process?

Buy nowLearn more
  • ⚠️ This is a work in progress: read this first7

Introduction

  • Welcome2
  • Why I created this course3
  • Process versus mindset

Service Design Processes by academics and authors

  • Introduction
  • Stickdorn Service Design Process
  • Service Design Process by Moritz 20053
  • Kuer Process Model1
  • Austin Center for Design process model with culture & service gaps
  • New Service Development Cycle
  • Scheuing and Johnson Service Design Process
  • Connect Consortium Innovation process
  • Service innovation process based on foresight and service design

In house Service Design Processes

  • Introduction
  • Capital One Service Design Process
  • Service Design Framework by BT

Consultancies Service Design Process

  • Introduction
  • Evenson and Dubberly Service Design process1
  • Continuous Service Design by Futurice2
  • Frog Service Design Process2
  • Koos service design
  • The "old" Livework's Service Design Process
  • The "new" Livework's Service Design Process
  • Service and Business Design Process by Livework
  • Engine Service Design Process
  • Whitespace's Enterprise Service Design Process
  • Nile's Service Design and Future Forecasting2
  • Manyone's Service Design Process

Public Service Design Processes

  • Introduction
  • Service Design Playbook by British Columbia Government Public Service1
  • Civic Service Design Process
  • Service Standard by the UK Government Digital Service 2
  • Digital Service Standard criteria by the Australian Digital Tranformation Agency
  • The Scottish Approach to Service Design (SAtSD)1
  • Project X's innovation model by Innovationsguiden
  • Colour-in City design process
  • Go further: A guide for the application of Service Design in public organizations2
  • Service design and delivery process by the Digitial Transformation Agency of the Australian Government

Design process that inspire Service Designers

  • Introduction
  • D. School Design Thinking
  • Human Centered Design by Design Kit and IDEO
  • Double Diamond by The Design Council
  • The Design Squiggle by Damien Newman
  • Google Design Sprint
  • Design Sprint Quarter by Design Sprint LTD
  • Entreprise Design Thinking by IBM
  • Strategy development process by ABB
  • Living Lab's Innovation Process

Going further

  • Bravo
  • But remember don't become a process asshole
  • The limitation of the project view
  • Books and articles to go further
  • Next recommended course and a little 🎁
  • Thank you note1