Service Design Show
249 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★★ - 11 ratingsGo beyond the basics of service design and learn what it truly takes to deliver services that make a positive impact on people, business and planet.
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Episodes
Moving away from service design projects / Emma Aiken-Klar / Episode #90
December 30, 2019 15:00 - 38 minutes - 35.1 MBWhat if clients buying service design projects? Which is already happening if you look closely. It's not that the appetite for service design work is getting smaller. On the contrary. More and more clients see the need to do service design. Rather it's the fact that clients are building in-house service design teams and taking on the work themselves. This requires agencies to rethink how they are going to add value in the future. In this episode Emma Aiken-Klar, who is the SVP Human Insigh...
The scope of Service Design / Simon Mhanna / Episode #89
December 19, 2019 07:00 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBWhen is a challenge really out of scope for a service designer? What's the point where it becomes obviously too far fetched? As designers we are overly optimistic. In general we don't shy away from new challenges. It doesn't really matter if we haven't worked on a similar challenge in the past as we'll just figure it out as we go along. This confidence in being able to solve any challenge often feels like a superpower. But it's also a major pitfall. Are we as service designers overly opt...
Asking the tough and uncomfortable questions in design / Sarah Schulman / Episode #88
December 05, 2019 11:01 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBThere's a good bit of tension in most service design projects. Often caused by factors that aren't obvious when you start. Factors like the fact that designers bring a quite different approach, attitude and mindset to the table. Your typical "they just don't get it" (coming from both sides) is a pretty strong indicator that there's some tension in the room. In this episode Sarah Schulman shares how she and her team at InWithForward have found a way to embrace this tension. And actually use...
Taking co-creation to the next level / Peter Horvath / Episode #87
November 28, 2019 07:00 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBCo-creation is still an ad-hoc activity in most organisations rather than something which is deeply embedded into the operating system. How can we change that and take co-creation to the next level? In this episode you're going to get some inspiration from Swiss direct democracy. I bet you didn't see that one coming. Peter Horvath has studied how the Swiss have embedded co-creation into their democratic system. A system which has been operating for about 150 years now. Involvement of custo...
The Secret Powers of Customer Insights / Emma Laurentz / Episode #86
November 21, 2019 07:00 - 31 minutes - 28.6 MBCustomers don't care about your internal departments. They only care about the experience they have with your service. So in order to deliver great services you need to organise around your customer. Not the other way around. But breaking down internal silos is easier said than done. Many have tried and failed. Big time. In this episode you'll learn from Emma Laurentz how customer insights can help to build those much needed internal bridges. Because when used in a smart way customer insi...
The best place for design to make impact / Judy Mellett / Episode #85
November 14, 2019 07:00 - 46 minutes - 42.7 MBWhat is the best place for an internal service design team so that it can bring the most value to the organisation? A question which is becoming more and more important. Even if you're with an agency or freelancing. Because knowing where service design fits into the organisational structure allows you to help your clients more effectively. Judy Mellett leads an internal team at Telus. In this episode we talk about the benefits and the downsides of being close to the day to day operation. And...
Taking user research notes from copywriting / Joel Klettke / Episode #84
October 31, 2019 09:00 - 37 minutes - 34 MBIn this episode you'll learn about some time and cost effective ways to do proper user research inspired by the world of copywriting. Successful conversion copywriter Joel Klettke takes you along his process to craft copy which deeply resonates with readers. As you'll hear that process evolves for a large part on conducting user research in order to understand the people you're going to write for. The similarities between how Joel does research and the way we do it as service designers is ...
Why we have to stop Human Centered Design / Nik Parekh / Episode #83
October 17, 2019 10:49 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBAre you saying that I have to stop practicing Human Centered Design? Well yeah that's basically the answer. According to Nik Parekh human centered design has brought a lot of positive change to the world but it's not sustainable. And to be honest Nik isn't the first one to make this argument. Former guests like Mauricio Manhaes and Anab Jain have also made a similar plea. We have to adopt a different design approach which is even more inclusive... Nik shares some inspiring examples how we c...
Recognising good Service Design / James Samperi / Episode #82
September 26, 2019 06:00 - 40 minutes - 36.7 MBIs all service design ** good ** service design? If we assume it isn't how do you recognise what's good and what's not? In this you'll learn about the importance of ethics in design. Because it's your moral compass that guides you forward when you have to make decisions which require certain trade offs. The guest in this episode James Samperi talks about how they are developing a manifesto to help them in this process. We also talk about craft within service design. A topic that we've addre...
Using spaces to support change / Scott Witthoft / Episode #81
September 05, 2019 06:00 - 44 minutes - 40.6 MBWhat happens when you start using spaces as a distinct design material rather than a just designing a space? That's exactly the question Scott Witthoft is has been exploring for the last decade. Scott wrote the book Make Space along with Scott Doorley back in 2012 to provide a starting guide on how we can take control of the spaces around us and shape them in a way they support our needs. We talk about what has happend since the book was published and what Scott has learned years that have g...
Empowering Communities Through Design / Keneilwe Munyai / Episode #80
August 22, 2019 06:00 - 35 minutes - 32.1 MBWouldn't it be great if we could get the design approach into the hands of many more people and empower them to improve their life? Keneilwe Munyai is on an inspiring mission to get design out of the corporate lab environment and make it accessible to people in rural areas of Africa. In this episode we talk about the barriers that we've put in place that make design less inclusive at this moment. And of course what we can do to break down these barriers. Because we can't afford to restricte...
The path to a fulfilling design career / Angela Yeh / Episode #79
July 25, 2019 06:00 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBOnce you start working as a service designer you'll quickly realise that climbing up the corporate ladder isn't the typical career path. Usually there is no "up the ladder" for service designers... So how do you make sure you don't get stuck in your career after a few years. The guest in this episode, Angela Yeh, has 20 years of experience helping designers to navigate their career. She works in the super interesting chasm between employers and design talent. In this episode Angela shares ...
The Human Nature of Services / Joel Bailey / Episode #78
July 11, 2019 06:00 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MBHow come we as customers rarely feel truly served even when we're surrounded by services? What has caused the disconnect between services and actually serving people. And more importantly how can we reverse this? That's what you'll in this episode with Joel Bailey. Joel is a true service design pioneer who can be credited for starting the notorious service design drinks and thinks events in the early days. We explore how the quest for efficiency has create a big gap in most organisations be...
Building Winning Service Design Teams / Patrick Bach / Episode #77
June 27, 2019 06:00 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBIn this episode Patrick Bach shares his learnings about what it takes to successfully build and lead a service design that is able to create sustainable value within a large corporate. We talk about the need to expand our existing service design toolkit with new tools and methods. This might mean that we need to tap into areas like behavioural economics and lean six sigma. Collaborating much more with people who wouldn't necessarily call themselves service designers. Next we addresses the ...
Who Wants Service Design / Slavo Tuleya / Episode #76
June 13, 2019 06:00 - 31 minutes - 28.9 MBWhat can service designers learn from how different industries, different markets and even different countries respond to the value of our field? Because as you know not everyone perceives the need for service design in the same way we do. In this episode Slavo Tuleya shares his experience from setting up an innovation lab focussed on mobility services in China. Slavo has a nice comparison as he previously setup a similar lab in Europe. It might not come as a big surprise that the perceptio...
Growing the Supply and Demand of Service Design / Christian Bason / Episode #75
May 30, 2019 06:00 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBService Design can be a great driver of value. Not just for businesses but for a whole nation. Knowing this one might wonder how you can accelerate the pace at which service design spreads and is adopted by a community. As the CEO of the Danish Design Centre Christian Bason thinks about this every day. Spreading service design requires growing both the demand side and the supply side. More organisations need to be interested in applying service design to solve their challenge and there need...
Beyond Human Centered Design / Anab Jain / Episode #74
May 16, 2019 06:00 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBHuman Centered Design is getting a lot of attention these days. But what are we giving up if we put the human at the center? What are the limits of our current practice? In this episode Anab Jain shares her perspective on why we need to look beyond human centered design. Or at least augment it with more holistic view. Next we challenge the notion of the designer as problem solver. Are we really solving problems or are we creating more and maybe even more complex challenges? Anab advocates ...
Designing services for real people / Lara Penin / Episode #73
May 02, 2019 06:00 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBIs Service Design a true distinctive design discipline? According to Lara Penin it certainly is. It's certainly a topic that evokes a lot of debate in our community. The transdisciplinary nature of service design often makes it hard to point out the craft in our work. Also the fact that we don't have a tangible design material doesn't make things any easier. But in this episode we explore what makes service design a distinctive design discipline. Lara also explains why service design is ac...
New Ways To Spread and Scale Service Design / Jacquelyn Brioux / Episode #72
April 18, 2019 06:00 - 44 minutes - 40.4 MBWhat does it mean to work as a Service Designer in a team that heavily relies on #RemoteCollaboration to get their job done? Can you still successfully operate as a Service Design when you don't have the ability to physically interact with your team mates, stakeholders and customers? Jacquelyn Brioux is exactly in this spot in her role at Shopify. She shares her learnings and gives some tips on practical tools that help to make this work. We also dive into the topic of #EmotionalIntelligen...
Service Design means Business / Priscila Williams / Episode #71
April 04, 2019 06:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBHow do you turn a customer centric vision into reality? This is exactly what Priscila Willams is tasked to do within large banks and in this episode she shares her most valuable learnings. How important is support from top level management? Do you need to make a business case upfront? Who are the people you should have conversations with in order to operationalize your ideas? These are just some of the challenges that Priscila has had to deal with. Every organisation is different and requir...
Using stories to explore, understand and co-create / Marcy Alice Arthur / Episode #70
March 21, 2019 07:00 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MBIf you're a human being you are a storyteller. Stories are the human operating system. In this episode you'll learn that stories are not just useful for transferring knowledge or communicating results. They can also be used as a tool to explore, understand and co-create. Mary Alice Arthur proudly calls herself a story activist. She's on a mission to help people and organisations find the stories that make them flourish. It's hard to deny that stories and storytelling are getting a lot of a...
Service Design Thinking, Doing & Understanding / Greg Lakloufi / Episode #69
March 07, 2019 07:00 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBOften there is a big gap between what clients want and what they truly need to solve their challenge or achieve their goal. As a service designer you'll need to use all your diplomatic skills to open clients up for a fresh perspective. This is a crucial step if you want to make impact. We know about Service Design Thinking, Service Design Doing and in this episode Greg Lakloufi talks about Service Design Understanding. The rise of toolkits and the availability off the shelf methods makes ser...
The case for legal design / Angélica Flechas / Episode #68
February 21, 2019 07:00 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBWhile law might not be the most sexy thing for designers to think about they are an essential part for delivering great services. You might not realize it but almost every aspect in our daily live has a some legal aspect to it. And the legal side of things is now primarily handled by people graduating for law school rather than by designers. But there's no rule in the law stating that rules and regulations should be boring and not user centered. Having both a background in law and design A...
Designing thoughtful public services / Chelsea Mauldin / Episode #67
February 07, 2019 07:00 - 33 minutes - 30.2 MBWhat is the secret to designing and delivering great public services? In this episode Chelsea Mauldin shares her experience from running one of the leading service design agencies in the United States that focuses on the public sector: Public Policy Lab. We talk about the challenges associated with scaling and implementation of services in a public context. And why you should never engage in a project that lacks people who will eventually be able to execute on the generated ideas. Chelsea ...
Stories teach us to be human / Annette Simmons / Episode #66
January 24, 2019 08:55 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBWhat happens when stories are used just to gain a financial profit? According to best selling author Annette Simmons the impact is profound on our society. In this episode we talk about the role stories play in passing on morals and building emotional connections in our society. Further Annette elaborates om the two ways of knowing what is true. The object and the subjective kind. And especially the latter is interesting from a service design perspective. As you'll learn our clients don...
Coming up in 2019
January 10, 2019 12:44 - 10 minutes - 9.8 MBIn this special episode we look back on some of the highlights of 2018 and talk the plans for this year. Last year we had some of the smartest and inspiring minds on the Show. This wouldn't have been possible without your support. So thank you for that! One of the things that we started last year and definitely will continue this year is sharing shorter episode in which I try to answer some of the big questions within Service Design. If you haven't seen these videos yet make sure to take a ...
The balance between thinking and doing / Fumiko Ichikawa / Episode #65
December 27, 2018 07:00 - 31 minutes - 58.7 MBDo you take the time to really reflect on your work and consciously think if the things you're doing are impactful? I guess we all recognise this to a certain degree: When you're caught up with the day to day operational stuff you rarely of (or rather take) the time to think critically about what you're doing. And we all know where that sometimes leads to... So in this episode Fumiko Ichikawa talks about ways to find more balance between thinking and doing as a design practitioner. We als...
What is your Service Design flavour? / Selene Castilla / Episode #64
December 13, 2018 07:00 - 32 minutes - 61.3 MBIn this episode Selene Castilla give us an update on the current state of Service Design in Latin America. And we also discuss what's needed to take it to really the next level. The second topic we address is a big one: measuring the impact of Service Design. Selene has a really interesting perspective on how to approach this. It's not so much about trying to measure everything but rather measuring just a few things and do that frequently. Finally we continue the converstation that we also ...
Designing highly impactful design teams / Bernardo Torres / Episode #63
November 29, 2018 07:00 - 34 minutes - 64.9 MBDesignOps. This is a big topic these days. It basically boils down to the question how can you support design teams to be more impactful? What types of structures and processes can we put in place for that? In this episode Bernardo Torres shares his findings around this topic. The topic of DesignOps strongly ties in to the topic of leadership. In order to build and scale highly impactful design teams we need to redesign leadership as well. Leadership can't operate anymore in the models that ...
A new definition for service design / Soren Bechmann / Episode 062
November 15, 2018 07:00 - 39 minutes - 72.2 MBWhat is service design? A question that is keeping the community busy up till today. And probably the foreseeable future. In this episode Søren Bechmann talks about his journey how he tried solve this question for once and for all. Søren has formulated a new definition for service design. A definition that might surprise you! Next to that we talk about how the ever growing focus digital solutions is pushing the human aspect out of the things we do. Is digital always a better answer? Final...
Great services should be a struggle / Yutaka Yamauchi / Episode #61
November 01, 2018 09:02 - 38 minutes - 70.8 MBThe more you try to please your customers the lower the valuable perception of your service will be. Yutaka Yamauchi has studied the service of sushi restaurants and found the most valuable services are the ones that are a struggle for customer. These are services that are somewhat intimidating. The challenge for the designer is to find the perfect balance between human centered design and human decentered design. We also talk about why customers are not just merely the input in the co-crea...
The Digital Transformation Within Service Design / Yong-Se Kim / Episode #60
October 18, 2018 06:00 - 36 minutes - 67.4 MBHow can we use Service Design to drive business innovation? And how is that different from using service design to drive social innovation for instance? In this episode professor Yong-Se Kim shares his perspective on this topic. You'll also learn how we can use computer aided tools to enrich and support the service design process. This is not just about digitalising post-it notes. It's about things like helping us to model human relations and interactions using technology. Finally we addre...
Context, Culture And Service Design / Diego Mazo / Episode #59
October 04, 2018 06:00 - 29 minutes - 54.8 MBWhat's a key ingredient in order to be able design great services? It's that you need to deeply understand the social context and cultural norms that exist. In this episode Diego Mazo clearly exemplifies why this is so important in service design by looking at the differences between Spain and Colombia. We also dig deeper into the current state of service design in Latin America and Colombia in particular. What is driving the growth of the field there? And what can you learn from that! F...
Synchronizing Business and Design / Victor Lidoy / Episode #58
September 20, 2018 19:40 - 35 minutes - 65.1 MBThink about it... already back in the 60s companies were designing and delivering great service. That was way before service design or design thinking caught on with the masses. So how did they do it back then? What was their strategy for success? And what can we learn from that today. In this episode Victor Lidoy shares his experience as a design director at LATAM Airline which has been in the game of delivering a service for over a century now. We also discuss what kind of incentives comp...
Designing the best Airport Experience / Stine Marsal / Episode #57
September 06, 2018 10:00 - 31 minutes - 58.8 MBAirports are a stresful enviroment. A lot of things happen and people are always in a rush. How can you impact the actual passenger experience as a service designer in these conditions. In this episode Stine shares her most important lessons she's learned being the Service Excellence Director at the Copenhagen Airport. We also talk about how to use customer feedback to drive change and innovation without huge budgets or large in-depth studies. And finally you'll learn how what it takes to...
Love, Critical Thinking & Innovation / Roberto Verganti / Episode #56
August 23, 2018 06:00 - 35 minutes - 67 MBWhat's the value of creativity in a world that is filled with ideas? How do you know which ideas are valuable and which ones are just noise? Roberto Verganti talks about the lost art of critical thinking and why we need design critique today more than ever. If you had to delete all the apps on your phone and were allowed to just keep one? Which one would you choose? Your goal as a designer should be to deliver that app (or product or service). But what's the secret to designing apps, product...
Can design make government services human centered again / Jeneanne Rae / Episode #55
August 09, 2018 06:14 - 33 minutes - 61.8 MBThere is a design revolution going on in the US government. More and more government agencies are adopting design to create and deliver more human centered services. In this episode Jeneanne Rae talks about what is driving this quick adoption of design and what's needed to accelerate it even further. We discuss the value design brings to government and how to clearly communicate that value to stakeholders. And finally we touch upon some of the challenges that are associated with spreadin...
Ask Harder Questions / Jorge Arango / Episode #54
July 26, 2018 06:00 - 47 minutes - 86.6 MBWhat does it mean to design healthier societies? And what's actually needed in order to do that... just one of the things Jorge Arango talks about in this episode. Have you ever considered how contexts influence our behaviour? We've known this for quite some time in architecture and have become quite well at delivering physical contexts that are fit for purpose. But it seems that we still have a way to go when it comes to designing digital contexts. One of the challenges with this accordin...
What's next for Service Design / Gerry Scullion / Episode #53
July 12, 2018 06:00 - 34 minutes - 63.2 MBWhat happens after everyone has gone through a service design or design thinking training? What's next?! Gerry Scullion hosts the This is Human Centred Design podcast (go check it out!) and knows a thing or two about doing Service Design. In this episode we talk about how we can democratise service design and make it even more inclusive. Inviting even more people from outside the field to participate. We also touch upon the brand of Design Thinking. There seems to be a growing number of pe...
How to kickstart your Service Design career
June 28, 2018 18:00 - 6 minutes - 13 MBHere are 3 ways that can help to kickstart your career as a service designer. Although the number of job listings for service designers is growing by the day it doesn't mean that it's easy to actually land a job. It can feel especially challenging when you don't have the formal educational background or a rich portfolio filled with hands on experience. In this episode I share 3 ways that should help to get your service design career of the ground. Looking for a short summary? Make sure y...
Design Thinking versus Service Design. Is there difference?!
June 14, 2018 18:00 - 6 minutes - 12.5 MBThere is so much talk about design thinking these days. And it tends to confuse a lot of people when they also encounter service design. I think is a lot of overlap between these two terms but there are absolutely also some meaningful distinctions. In this episode I'll explain which term I use (not that hard to guess) and what my perspective is on the differences. This episode is the first one that I'm doing in a new format. In the new format I try to answer, or at least give my perspect...
How To Unlock The True Power Of User Research / Steve Portigal / Episode #52
May 31, 2018 06:00 - 36 minutes - 68.4 MBBy now we all know that storytelling is one of the most powerful tools in the service design toolbox. But can we also use storytelling to actually improve our own practice? Steve Portigal thinks so and he explains why in this episode. And how well aware are you of your own biases, beliefs and assumptions when you go into a project? Learning to better listen to ourselves might be a key to get more meaningful work done. Finally we discuss why the value of deep research is still often not alig...
Your Secret Service Design Toolkit / Deborah Szebeko / Episode #51
May 17, 2018 06:00 - 31 minutes - 58.7 MBThere are different types of service design. Did you know? Deborah Szebeko explains the balance between service innovation, service improvement and service design. Because if you're doing a service improvement project with a service innovation mindset it's bound to fail. And we don't want that right :) We also talk about designing #BusinessModels. Whenever you're designing a new service you're quite often also designing a business. And finally... do we rely too much on technology and pro...
Service Design Trend Report - Summer 2018
May 03, 2018 18:53 - 9 minutes - 17.5 MBWhat are the trends within service design that you should be paying attention to? That's exactly what you'll learn in this 5th edition of the service design show trend report. I've gone through episodes 41 to 50 and narrowed all this great content down to 3 key trends which I've this time all formulated as a question: 1. Is technology a treat or an opportunity for service designers? 2. What is our added value today and what will it be tomorrow? 3. What does scaling service design actually me...
Should you design services or experiences? / Joe Pine / Episode #50
April 19, 2018 06:00 - 39 minutes - 72.4 MBIn this episode Joe Pine explains why it's so important that we understand the distinctions between services and experiences. There are no markets. There are just customers! So we need to stop marketing and start customering. What's customering you ask? Joe explains it in detail. Finally we discuss the different roles of the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) and why this is a vital role in companies that want to survive in the experience economy. Would you like to win a SIGNED copy of The E...
Service Design As Your Competitive Advantage / Idris Mootee / Episode #49
April 05, 2018 06:00 - 33 minutes - 62.4 MBOne of the biggest mistakes service designers make is to design for an ideal end state. In this episode Idris Mootee explains why we should stop doing that and what the alternative is. We also talk about economics of running a service oriented business. And how services can become a core element for differentiation. In this episode we're also announcing a contest in which you can win a SIGNED copy of the book by Idris called Design Thinking For Strategic Innovation! Check the episode for de...
The New Frontiers Of Service Design / Doug Powell / Episode #48
March 22, 2018 07:02 - 32 minutes - 59.9 MBHow do you scale design beyond a single team, beyond a single department and even beyond a single country? Doug Powell is tasked at IBM to do just that! We also talk about the impact designers have on the big social challenges in the world. Or rather the lack of impact and what we can do about that. Finally we touch upon what I like to call "new design material". It's technologies like AI, VR and IoT. What do these new design materials mean for us? Three topics that are truly the new front...
How Leadership Shapes Great CX / Ryanne van der Eijk / Episode #47
March 08, 2018 06:14 - 35 minutes - 65.4 MBOne of the hardest things in service design is to make actual ideas a reality... the often missing link between design and implementation. In this episode Ryanne van der Eijk shares her experience as former Chief Experience Officer at one of the biggest airlines in the world and now designing the passenger experience at two large airports. We also discuss another hot topic in the industry. Being abele to consistently measure the customer experience. So if you're interested learning how ser...
Use psychology to design better services / Luke Battye / Episode #46
February 22, 2018 06:08 - 30 minutes - 56.5 MBHow can we leverage human psychology to create a better service experience? That's the main topic in this episode with Luke Battye. Should we really focussing on improving the experience in certain touchpoints? Or should we focus more on searching for ways to improve the memory of the service experience... The last thing we discuss is how can we use psychology to help teams solve problems in less time. And who doesn't want that right? Super cool episode on the crossover between human psyc...
How To Unlock Your Full Potential / Chris Do / Episode #45
February 08, 2018 07:50 - 41 minutes - 76 MBWhy is it hard for designers get compensated according to the true value they are delivering? And what can we do to change that. The Chris Do shares his perspective. How do you define who you are? Which label do you use? This is the second topic we discuss in this episode and it's a fundamental one. Because labels can limit your opportunities to work on problems that are worth solving. And finally we talk about how you're more than the sum of what you produce... Enjoy this episode and don'...