360° series
NAVIGATE AND CREATE CHANGE
As the pace of transformation accelerates and expands in all directions, affecting the foundations on which society as we know it exists, we - as professionals - must decide the role we will play in moving forward and prepare to steer the course. By shifting from design phases to design abilities, we move away from processes and focus on experience and practice.
At the Service Design College we introduce you to a set of 10 design abilities that help you navigate and create change. By joining a year-long learning program - based on these abilities - you learn how to use design strategically in many facets.
You will develop a 360° design mindset for your own professional or personal context, as a designer and - even more important - as a professional outside the design sphere.
The 360º design mindset is about how you can create value, holistically and continuously. About creating dynamic, ongoing relationships with other human beings in which value is codesigned and cocreated. A two-way exchange with every stakeholder involved. Using design strategically and questioning the status-quo requires a set of abilities and ways of thinking completely different than before.
10 DESIGN ABILITIES
Monthly, we will introduce you to one of the 10 design abilities that will help you affect change and get into a true 360º design mindset.
You can also cherry-pick one design ability to dive into but we encourage you to join as many activities as possible.
To stay relevant, we need to match today's challenges with tomorrow's solutions and make deliberate choices to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the products and services we design. By courageously addressing complex problems, thriving on imagination and opening up new perspectives, we can positively impact the future.
ABILITY 01 - JANUARY/FEBRUARY - FUTURES THINKING, SPECULATIVE DESIGN, FORESIGHT, SCENARIO PLANNING
Organisations are subjected to continuous change. The value they create and capture is challenged and their business models must adapt to these new realities. Using strategic design, incorporating adaptability, building resilient teams, organisations can gain a competitive advantage and turn innovative ideas into businesses with long-term viability and sustainable business models.
ABILITY 02 - MARCH - BUSINESS DESIGN, ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN, STRATEGIC DESIGN, DESIGNOPS
Gone are the times when we focused on one-dimensional solutions to solve a specific user problem but creating new ones. We should use our problem-solving abilities to design inclusive, planet-centric products and services. To meet this imperative, we must be critical and purpose-driven, identifying genuine economic, social and environmental viable opportunities, based on integrity and ethical principles.
ABILITY 03 - APRIL - PLANET-CENTRIC DESIGN, CIRCULAR DESIGN, SOCIAL DESIGN, DESIGN ETHICS
To design products and services that matter, it's essential to actively involve all stakeholders in every stage of the design process. Bringing a unique perspective, contextualising experiences, experimenting with potential solutions, and co-creating desirable products and services can optimally meet (future) stakeholders' needs.
ABILITY 04 - MAY - CO-DESIGN, PARTICIPATORY DESIGN, EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN, CO-CREATION
Many challenges organisations are facing are so-called 'wicked'. The increased complexity caused by globalisation and digitisation, for instance, ask for an inter and transdisciplinary stance: applying a systems approach, finding patterns and (re)framing the problem, identifying underlying and interrelated dynamics, designing successful interventions, and envisioning and contributing to more sustainable futures.
ABILITY 05 - JUNE - SYSTEMS THINKING, FRAMING, SYSTEMIC DESIGN, DESIGN THINKING
Storytelling is crucial at different stages of the design process. Clear communication is essential to convince decision-makers, explain the problem space, draw possible future scenarios, visualise solutions, persuade stakeholders, organise complexities, and co-create prototypes. Formulating narratives yields greater involvement and engagement, and ensures that everyone is on the same page.
ABILITY 06 - JULY/AUGUST - STRATEGIC STORYTELLING, BEHAVIOURAL DESIGN, VISUAL DESIGN, STORYBOARDING
Because of the current acceleration and uncertainty, the business climate has changed, and so must our approach to customers, staff and systems, as well as the way we design and operate teams and organisations. With an adaptive lean mindset, we can identify value, experiment on what's 'fit for purpose', and create demand by designing better service ecosystems ready to pivot and evolve with changing customer needs and new technologies. Incrementally releasing parts of the service ecosystem and iterating on what is to come.
ABILITY 07 - SEPTEMBER - LEAN STARTUP, AGILE DESIGN, PROTOTYPING, ITERATIVE DESIGN
Research is fundamental to support strategic design decisions and the development of products, services, interventions and systems. It builds understanding and empathy and generates reliable data, insights and new knowledge. Curiosity and genuine interest in individuals and groups and their behaviours are essential for creating solutions that respond to human needs and beyond.
ABILITY 08 - OCTOBER - ETHNOGRAPHY, CULTURAL STUDIES, ANTHROPOLOGY, EMPATHIC DESIGN
Defining the ROI of design, measuring with the right KPIs, and developing collaborative OKRs to track progress, create alignment, and encourage engagement around measurable goals. A measuring approach to design helps organisations evaluate the impact of applying design in each project, validate the actual impact of different variables, and the positive change a product, service, intervention or system creates.
ABILITY 09 - NOVEMBER - DESIGN VERIFICATION, METRICS, KPIS, DESIGN VALIDATION
Design is increasingly oriented toward transformative aims, facilitating radical and ongoing change, and achieve transformational success, by shaping new roles, new organisations, new services and experiences, systems and policies. Creating desirable and sustainable behavioural changes in individuals, communities, and organisations, and contributing to a more sustainable and equitable society through design solutions to make a positive difference in the world.
ABILITY 10 - DECEMBER - TRANSFORMATION DESIGN, INCLUSIVE DESIGN, TRANSDISCIPLINARY DESIGN, IMPACT
3 DEPTH FILTERS
On top of the 10 design abilities, we offer 3 ‘depth filters’. These filters help you select the optimal content required, and define your own learning track.
The first level, explore, is about joining learning activities that expose or demonstrate the conceptual and theoretical aspects of a specific design ability. They cover the understanding of methodologies, tools and other actionable knowledge and introduce you to their practice. At the second level, excercise, you participate in learning activities that focus on the practice of a design ability.
These activities pursue use, implementation and application of tools, methods and techniques in an applied context.
Learning activities at level three, execute, focus on leadership and delivering change. At this level, design abilities interlink as you master their implementation and transformative application. You will be in possession of all the knowledge, tools and strategic vision to become catalysts for positive impact in your professional practice.
DEFINE YOUR OWN TRACK
Every month you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions, look at your role from a new perspective, learn from others, practice new methodologies, and join forces with peers from all over the world.
We offer different approaches to the design abilities; from generating awareness to leading and putting strategies in place. The depth levels are not proficiency levels as they do not 'measure' or grade personal achievement in an academic sense.
We offer learning activities that are tailored to your needs. But how to define a learning track that really works for you? Would you like to dive into one design ability to the fullest? Or would you rather define a 360° track by exploring all 10 design abilities?
We have split the content into smaller chunks, enabling it to be delivered based on very specific criteria. Explore the current learning activities.
Study points & certificates
You will earn study points for each hour invested in knowledge growth. There are many options available to you that will help you earn study points, such as joining talks, participating in workshops, starting a reading club, becoming a mentor, or following courses, just to name a few.
You can also earn certificates for completing activities such as courses and the global conference. A certificate is proof that you completed and/or passed the learning activity. Both study points and certificates are free of charge.
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