In short: You can build a service design community by using existing formats or creating your own.

• Service Design Drinks: Informal meetups for drinks and conversations.

• Service Design Network Local Chapters: Global association with local chapters.

• Service Design Jam: Two-day workshops tackling challenges.

• Non Service Design specific: Communities like Creative Mornings, which are broader for creatives or designers in general.

Service Design Drinks

This is an informal way to gather people interested in service design. People meet just for drinks and conversations, without the pressure of a full-blown conference. From what I could find out, there is not a formal global association for it. Instead it's a term used globally to describe these casual meetups. It’s all about connecting with enthusiasts and practitioners over a drink.

With the Swiss Service Design Network we have the crazy idea of hosting in 2030 100 Service Design Drinks locally in Switzerland. So that's surely a way to get started! If you are interested to help speak with Juliana Magalhães Cardoso.

Service Design Network Local Chapters

The Service Design Network (SDN) is a global association that brings together Service Design enthusiasts. They organize events like Touchpoint, the Service Design Journal, and the annual Service Design Global Conference. It's maybe the biggest Service Design community out there.

If you want to start a local chapter, there's a process you can follow to send your subsmission. You'll need a group of friends with different backgrounds. Your chapter can cover a country, region, or city.

Service Design Jam

A Service Design Jam is a two-day workshop where people worldwide tackle challenges through service design. You can apply to host a Service Design Jam online here.

Other design communities

Though not specific to service design, Creative Mornings is worth mentioning. It’s another interesting format for building a creative community.

The Advantages of Building a Community

Using an existing format or name has benefits.

• People recognize it faster, making it easier for you to organize.

• You might get access to specific tools like websites or branding elements, giving your community an established look.

• You benefit from traditions within those communities. For example, if you start an SDN chapter, you can leverage events like the annual Service Design Day on June 1st.

Written with AI help

This article is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then reviewed and improved the text by hand.