What is the mantra I repeat in every service Design course?

In short: we are curious. We make shit happen. We can talk about our feelings.

An illustration showing the three parts of my service design mantra that I repeat in every class - curiosity - craft and emotions

At the start of every class of the MA Service Design of HSLU that I teach I repeat the same mantra.

We are curious. We make shit happen. We can talk about our feelings.

This tiny mantra helps me to do two things:

  • Set expectations: it defines what I expect from every learner.

  • Clarifies key skills: it shows what key Service Design Skills (curiosity, prototyping) and what human skills (being emotionally intelligent) are the most important in all the many skills we explore throughout the year.

So this mantra guides learners when they are overwhelmed by the many expectations and many skills they learn. And hopefully it helps them through the repetition to realize that these three pieces are what matter most.

Backstage of this article

This article was illustrated and written by hand on a refurbished Remarkable II tablet. The text was then converted into typed text through the connect service of Remarkable. You can download a PDF version of the original note below if you are curious.

Original note.pdf (209 KB)