Service design fundamentals

SDC_illustration_fundamentals
START DATE
Start at any time
DURATION
12 weeks
WORKLOAD
3 - 5 hours per week
LANGUAGE
English
PRICE
EUR 495.00 *
Join

If you are not yet a member of our online campus, this link will take you to the registration page. Membership is free but required to sign up for activities.

DESCRIPTION

Service design is a discipline that focuses on designing and improving the quality of services to meet both service users' and providers' needs effectively. In today's interconnected world, where employee and customer experience reign supreme, mastering the principles of service design has become increasingly crucial for businesses and organisations across various industries.

The course Service design fundamentals is a complete introduction to service design. It delves into the creative and holistic world of service design, exploring its key fundamentals and methodologies. Whether you're a seasoned designer looking to expand your skill set or a professional from a non-design background interested in understanding how to create (better) services, this course offers a comprehensive introduction to the principles and practices of service design with a strong connection with strategic design.

Throughout the course, you will embark on a journey to uncover the core principles of service design, from empathising with and understanding context and needs by conducting qualitative and quantitative research to service ideation, experimentation, prototyping, implementation, and ongoing iteration/improvement. You'll explore how to apply both well-known and new tools and methodologies to service contexts, emphasising a human-centred approach to problem-tackling.

What sets this course apart is its practical approach. Through a combination of theoretical insights and hands-on exercises, you will gain actionable skills that you can immediately apply in your professional endeavours. Whether you're designing digital platforms, physical spaces, or customer interactions, the principles of service design are universally applicable and can drive meaningful improvements in your work.

Join us in this journey into the world of service design and unlock new possibilities for creating valuable and sustainable services, contributing to positive experiences for everyone involved.

OUTCOMES

  • Human-centred design: Understanding the needs, behaviours, and preferences of service actors is paramount in designing successful services. By adopting a human-centred approach, participants will learn to empathise with all people involved and design services that truly meet their needs.

  • Holistic perspective: Service design involves looking at the entire service ecosystem, including both frontstage interactions and backstage processes. You will gain insights into mapping out service touchpoints, identifying pain points, and designing for a lasting service experience.

  • Iterative process: Service design is an iterative process that involves experimenting, prototyping, testing, and refining solutions and interventions based on actors' input and feedback. You will learn how and when to experiment, cocreate prototypes to validate service concepts, refine through iteration, improve usability and maximise effectiveness.

  • Cross-disciplinary collaboration: Service design often requires collaboration across different disciplines, including design, business, and technology. You will understand the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and learn how to effectively communicate and work with actors and stakeholders from diverse backgrounds.

  • Measurable impact: Valuable and sustainable service design goes beyond aesthetics and focuses on delivering measurable outcomes. You will learn how to define key performance indicators (KPIs) and use data-driven insights to evaluate the success of service design initiatives, drive continuous improvement, and stay relevant. 

FORMAT

Learn the fundamentals of service design at your own pace and on your own schedule. You will follow a series of lessons bundled in 6 chapters. In total, the course consists of approximately 40 to 50 hours of material. Our team will monitor your progress, support you when needed, and offer expert feedback on your exercises. All course material, lessons, exercises, tools, etc., will remain available to you for a total of 12 weeks.

By the end of the course, you will have developed a solid understanding of service design principles and methodologies, equipping you with the key tools and techniques to start tackling service challenges. Whether you're aiming to design for better customer experiences, streamline service processes, or innovate new service offerings, this course will empower you to drive positive change within your organisation.

STUDY POINTS

This course is worth 40 SDC study points. You will receive a certificate of completion.

KEYWORDS

Service design, organisational design, business design, design thinking, systems thinking

COURSE SYLLABUS

Download (pdf)

360° SERIES

SDC_illustration_360_degrees_series_all_abilities_explore_magenta

ALL ABILITIES
LEVEL - EXPLORE

360° SERIES

SDC_illustration_360_degrees_series_all_abilities_explore_magenta

ALL ABILITIES
LEVEL - EXPLORE

START DATE
Start at any time
WORKLOAD
3 - 5 hours per week
PRICE
EUR 495.00 *
Join
DURATION
12 weeks
LANGUAGE
English

If you are not yet a member of our online campus, this link will take you to the registration page. Membership is free but required to sign up for activities.

* US$570,00. Prices are exclusive of VAT. Non-EU citizens are exempt from VAT on e-services which includes online courses, workshops and talks.

Meet the tutors

SDC_people_silvia_lleras

Silvia Lleras (Colombia) is an independent consultant in research, service design, and product strategy, leveraging her expertise to guide businesses, design teams and individuals towards success.

Her significant roles include Head of Research at Wallapop, the used-goods marketplace, where she spearheaded the development of user research capabilities, and Service Design Lead at Designit, where she led the service design practice and the executive education programs from Cooper Professional Education in Spain.
SDC_gonzalo_sanchidrian

Gonzalo Sanchidrian (Spain) is Senior Service Designer at Kindred, the online gambling operator, where he coordinates across global markets, collaborating with stakeholders and local teams to ensure a unified and collaborative strategy.

Employing tools such as service blueprints and ecosystem maps, Gonzalo crafts holistic approaches to development backlogs, emphasising the customer's experience while optimising employee satisfaction. He holds an MFA in Industrial and Product Design from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
SDC_soledad_fernandez

Soledad Fernández (Colombia) is a senior design strategist and researcher, currently working at tech start-up Lodgify, where she creates a safe space for sustainable innovation, service improvement, and new business opportunities.

As a service design lead and consultant she worked at consultancies as frog and NTTData, for clients such as Roche, Airbus and Inditex to design systems that support organisational culture and operational improvement. She has been a teacher in different design schools, applying her vision of design.
SDC_laura_duarte

Laura Duarte (Colombia) is a Futures & Strategy Design Lead at Scottish government, co-designing a citizen-centred, non-paternalistic and trauma informed, Social Security Department capable of responding to the challenges presented by the polycrisis.

With a background in international relations, Laura has leadership-level working experience in corporate communication, change management and employee engagement. Her work sits in the intersection of service design, design futures and government institutions design.
SDC_people_inge_keizer

Inge Keizer (the Netherlands) is a senior service design consultant specialised in business design, strategic innovation, customer experience and entrepreneurship with 20 years of experience.

She is a conceptual thinker, and an experienced design researcher. In 2015 she co-founded the Service Design Days and later the Service Design College; growing a global service design network and supporting organisations, teams and individuals in becoming human-centric, with a primary focus on designing valuable and relevant services based on qualitative insights and successful business models.
SDC_apurva_dabhade

Apurva Dabhade (India) is Design Researcher at Microsoft, where she connects dots and represents users' needs in the product roadmap, while articulating her experiences and findings through words, metaphors, narratives, and spoken language.

An advocate for cultural equity in design and research, Apurva is passionate about contributing to the global design and research communities and making design and research education accessible for marginalised communities. Her current focus is on understanding users' needs around generative AI.
SDC_people_itziar_pobes

Itziar Pobes (Spain) is strategic designer and researcher, specialised in service design and innovation with 20+ years of experience in interdisciplinary design, creativity, design research and cultural studies.

She is passionate about understanding people and organisations, supporting them when services, products or policies need re-steering, exploring a variety of opportunities and uncovering hidden aspects that need to be questioned and designed. Former co-founder of service design agency We Question Our Project and coordinator of the Master in Service Design at IED.
SDC_people_ariel_guersenzvaig

Ariel Guersenzvaig (Argentina) teaches and writes about the philosophy and ethics of design and technology.  He is professor of design theory at ELISAVA Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, where he also heads the MA in User Experience.

He's the author of the book 'The Goods of Design: Professional Ethics for Designers'. His areas of inquiry is the ethical impact of machine intelligence on society, with a focus on autonomous weapons, health, and algorithmic justice. As a design consultant, he has led projects in service design, innovation, and ethical digital transformation for non-profit and for-profit organisations.
SDC_people_itziar_pobes

Itziar Pobes (Spain) is strategic designer and researcher, specialised in service design and innovation with 20+ years of experience in interdisciplinary design, creativity, design research and cultural studies.

She is passionate about understanding people and organisations, supporting them when services, products or policies need re-steering, exploring a variety of opportunities and uncovering hidden aspects that need to be questioned and designed. Former co-founder of service design agency We Question Our Project and coordinator of the Master in Service Design at IED.

Enroll as a team?

Get in touch with us for a quote!

Related activities

Design for public services (self-paced)

Design for public services (self-paced)

Service design fundamentals (self-paced)

Service design fundamentals (self-paced)

Business design for sustainable growth and innovation (self-paced)

Business design for sustainable growth and innovation (self-paced)

Strategic foresight for positive change (self-paced)

Strategic foresight for positive change (self-paced)
SDC_menu_open_20pt
SDC_button_back_20pt
SDC_button_home

STAY IN TOUCH

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date. We promise not to spam you!

© Service Design COLLEGE. All Rights Reserved.

Back to top Arrow