SDN Insider July/August 2009

			New sdn Members During the last few months, five new members have joined the Service Design Network. Find out more about our new members: NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement \| Warwick, UK Rotterdam University \| Rotterdam, The Netherlands Design London \| London, UK University of Madeira \| Funchal, Portugal Ascent Group \| Vancouver, Canada Mixe - medical marketing \| Zeist, The Netherlands

	Service Design Conference Website Online Now! Finally, the official Service Design Conference Website of the Service Design Network is now online! It provides you with all necessary information on the event and the conference location. The website will be updated regularly to keep you as involved in the planning process as possible. Register now to benefit from the early bird offer and book your Conference Complete Package, which includes all necessary conference elements and leaves you with nothing to worry about. As the call for papers is still open, you are more than welcome to submit abstracts for contributions to the conference taking place from 26th to 27th of October 2009. The deadline for abstract submission is Saturday, 15th of August 2009. We look forward to your submissions! Go to Website. Go to Call for Papers. Service Design Competition In the context of this year’s Service Design Conference, the sdn office announces a Service Design Competition entitled “automotive mobility and future services” sponsored by Volkswagen AG. The intention of this competition is to find new services to keep people (auto)mobile since modern life and new work realities have changed our behaviour and mobility needs. Submissions are welcome from Service Designers from around the world as well as students, organizations or companies. The first winner (or winning team) receives a prize money of 1,000 € and will be invited to the Service Design Conference 2009 on Madeira, where his or her project will be introduced and awarded. Read more and submit material here. Please note: All rights regarding submissions (apart from publication, press and advertising activities related to the competition itself) will remain with the competition participants at all times.

			SDN Members Day 2009: Opportunity to Co-Design! This year, the sdn Members Day takes place on Sunday, 25th of October 2009 from 2pm, one day before the Service Design Conference. This day is reserved for sdn full members only. Participants will have the opportunity to get to know each other or deepen existing relationships and reflect on the network’s development so far and in the future. In order to plan this day, the sdn office would like to ask for your input and help. About five workshops will take place during the afternoon. The following topics are planned so far: “European Master of Service Design”, “National Service Design Network Chapters”, “The New Service Design Network Interactive Platform” and “Agenda: charter or accord that Service Designers sign-up to”. We are welcoming any suggestions on other possible topics from you! Please do not hesitate to suggest ideas related to the network that might be worth discussing. In addition, we would be more than happy if some of you would like to get involved and participate in the preparation of one of the workshops. Of course, you can also do so together with a colleague or other sdn members. If you would like to make topic suggestions or get involved in the preparation, please contact us at info@service-design-network.org. We look forward to hearing from you!

	The Dos and Don'ts of Health Services In preparation of the second issue of Touchpoint, the Journal of Service Design, we are once again looking for some “Dos and Don’ts” of Service Design. As in the first issue, we would like to include your pictures and short texts about funny flaws and outstanding successes from the world of services. This time, the journal’s topic is “Health and Service Design”. Accordingly, we are asking you to send us pictures of positive or negative Service Design highlights within the field of (public) healthcare services! Read more

			Engine: Article by Sophia Parker and Peter Gilroy on the SILK programme Over the last two years, Engine has been working with Kent County Council to develop and support a social innovation lab for the authority. It is aimed at providing a creative environment for a wide range of staff to work together on some of the toughest challenges the county faces. SILK is aimed at establishing a way of working that places the citizens at the very centre of every action. Peter Gilroy (Chief Executive, KCC) and Sophia Parker (Founder, SILK) have now published an article on the status of the SILK programme. Read article. Engine: “Service Design Thinks” Nick Marsh, Service Designer at Engine in the UK, has announced the first "Service Design Thinks" event in London scheduled for September 3, 2009. Going beyond basic questions such as "What is Service Design?" this event serves as a forum for conversation and discussion around Service Design practice. Each event presents inspiring perspectives and reflections on Service Design practice, to spark conversation and debate and ultimately, move Service Design thinking and practice forward. The focus is on practical, inspiring stories and observations from people who design services every day. Each speaker will talk for 10 minutes, with time for questions and debate. The sold out inaugural session will feature the speakers Jo Harrington, Joel Bailey, Alice Casey and Karl Humphreys. Read more..



			Tieto: Tieto Brings Service Design Competence to the German National IT Summit Tieto’s specialists for Digital Transformation and Consulting will be in the driver’s seat of the work group “Service & Support” in the Excellence Network IP Initiative. This network of experts is part of the work group “Media Convergence – Future of Networks and Services”, headed by Telekom CEO René Obermann within the German IT Summit. The National IT Summit is initiated and supported by the German Government. With Tieto, one of the largest IT services companies in Europe is now part of an expert network that supports companies in the evaluation of new digital services and business models before they are launched. Tieto adds its core competences in service design and digital customership to the network and drives the effort to put more emphasis on the service and support subject. Addressing multi-channel customer service, an essential part of a high quality and still profitable consumer offering, Tieto enables companies to create even more customer focused services and relationships. Read more.



			proto partners: Outside-In Thinking by Damian Kernahan A couple of weeks ago, an article of Damian Kernahan from proto partner entitled “Outside In” was published in the Australian magazine Fast Thinking (Australia’s answer to Fast Company). In it, Damian highlights his point of view on user centred design and human centred design. Nice Read! Download PDF



			Carnegie Mellon University: Podcast on Service Design Some weeks ago, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) recorded a podcast on Service Design featuring Shelley Evenson from the School of Design and CMU alumni Maggie Breslin from the Mayo Clinic. The podcast delves into the Service Design coursework at CMU and the Advanced Medical Home project that the Mayo Clinic and Boston-based design firm Continuum sponsored last year at the university. Listen to the podcast here.


			Service Design Tools, Communication Methods Supporting Design Processes: A New Resource For Service Designers Service Design Tools is an open collection of tools used during design processes that deal with services or other complex systems. It is the result of a research activity done by Roberta Tassi during her graduation thesis in Industrial Design, further developed within the framework of the cooperation between DensityDesign research group at INDACO Department -Politecnico di Milano- and DARC, Domus Academy Research & Consulting. Interesting read and helpful overview! Go to website.



			Transform: A Collaborative Symposium on Innovations in Health Care Experience and Delivery From 13th to 15th September 2009, the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation hosts a collaborative symposium on innovation in healthcare experience and delivery at the Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, Minnesota. Maggie Breslin, Tim Brown, Christi Zuber, Larry Keeley and Clayton Christensen are among the scheduled speakers. The symposium is presented by the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation. Go to website.



			Social Innovation Camp in Glasgow, Scotland From 19th to 21th of June 2009, over 60 people joined the Social Innovation Camp, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland. From a Friday evening to a Sunday afternoon, the participants were asked to make six back-of-the-envelope ideas for web tools to change the world into real social start-ups. All this was to be done in less than 48 hours. In the end, the first price went to “mypolice”, an idea for a website where members of the public can give feedback, express thanks or tell their story about their experiences with the police and offer suggestions for improvements. In doing so an otherwise alienating procedure is focused upon the member of the public concerned and their experience as a victim of crime is made central to the process. The winner is a project team led by Sarah Drummond from Edinburgh and a Glasgow School of Art (GSA) Product Design graduate. Find out more!



			Dutch Service Design Drinks The very first Dutch Service Design Drinks, organised by the Service Design Network Netherlands, took place on the 17th of June in Utrecht. The monthly event was inspired by the Service Design Drinks taking place in London, UK and is thought to offer an informal platform for all those interested in Service Design to meet up, share ideas and socialise. Read more at Linkedin.



			New Website: Service Design Research Design researchers Daniela Sangiorgi, Stefano Maffei and Nicola Morelli have launched a new website focused on Service Design research. In their own words, the website „aims to collectively build an understanding and foster a dialogue on where ideas and concepts of Service Design have come from, how these evolved over the last two decades as well as report and review current research and service design practices. The motivation is to consolidate existing knowledge and to support the growth of a research community that engages in meaningful research relevant to the challenges design is dealing with today and in the future.“ They have already posted a series of interviews with key people in the field of design research, including Ezio Manzini, Cameron Tonkinwise, Robert Young and Clare Brass. Go to Website.



			Upcoming Events INFORMS 2009 International Conference on Service Science August 6-8, 2009. Hong Kong, China Read more NORDES ´09, Engaging Artefacts August 30 - September 1, 2009. Oslo, Norway Read more “Experience Service Design” at Kuopio Academy of Design September 7-9, 2009 Kuopio, Finland Read more “Transform: A Collaborative Symposium on Innovations in Health Care Experience and Delivery September 13-15, 2009 Toronto, Canada Read more IDEA2009 September 15–16, 2009 Toronto, Canada Read more UX Week 2009 September 15-18, 2009. San Francisco, USA Read more IIT Institute of Design: Design Research Conference October 1-2, 2009. Chicago, USA Read more Designing Slow Life Conference October 21-22, 2009. Lahti, Finland Read more IASDR Conference October 18-22. Seoul, South Korea Read more OLO.MUOTO-09 Future-oriented Designer Expo October 22-25, 2009. Lahti, Finland Read more sdn Service Design Conference October 26-27, 2009. Madeira, Portugal Read more. The 20th Annual Compete Through Service Symposium November 4-6, 2009 Phoenix, USA Read more The 23rd Service Conference & Workshop by Academy of Marketing November 5-6, 2009. London, UK Read more DeThinkingService \| ReThinkingDesign First Nordic Conference on Service Design and Service Innovation November 24-26, 2009. Oslo, Norway Read more

			Power in People’s Hands: Learning form the World’s Best Public Services The UK Government has published a new study of innovative public services from around the world in the context of its drive to reform public services by giving more power back to the citizens. It investigates more than 30 examples worldwide and shows that better services and greater value for money can be delivered when giving people more control over the services they use and when freeing frontline public servants to innovate Download publication here.



			Re-public: Innovative Service Design for All The online journal Re-public has published a special issue on Service Design entitled Innovative Service Design for All. The journal focuses on innovative developments in contemporary political theory and practice. This special issue presents a topical variety ranging from theoretical explorations of the industrialisation of services to outlining new university programmes focusing on service design; from waste management in Bangladesh to dyslexia-friendly classes in Greece. Find out more. To online articles.



			A Guide to Using Patient Feedback to Transform Services The UK Department of Health has published a guide aimed at helping the NHS to collect and use feedback from patients in order to improve services. The guide called ‘Understanding what matters: A guide to using patient feedback to transform services’ has been published in May 2009. It sets out best practice in terms of collecting, analysing and using patient feedback to transform services. It also includes examples of how the NHS is already using feedback from patients to get results. Download the guide here.



			Focusing Design Solutions on Social Problems” Alice Rawsthorn profiles Copenhagen-based ReD Associates in the New York Times for an article entitled Focusing Design Solutions on Social Problems. In the article, she quotes Filip Lau, a partner of ReD, who points out that “You are not taught design thinking at university, and you are not taught social science in design school, so the designer and the social scientist need each other to come up with good results. Designers have a more holistic worldview, and context has a higher priority. But I guess the most important contribution they make is in creating solutions. Designers are taught to create, and social scientists to criticize what already exists. When we need to go from ‘insight' to ‘solution,' designers are indispensable." This is Rawsthorn's third article on emerging practices in design. She previously covered London firms live\|work and Participle for the International Herald Tribune. Read full article.



			Social Animals: Tomorrow’s Designers in Today's World The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has recently published a paper on how Design education is failing to equip students with the necessary skills to work in public services if it keeps its focus on industrial and product design. The publication „Social Animals: Tomorrow’s Designers in Today’s World“ points out that new design professionals will have to cope with a range of service-based environments and thus, need to be equipped with a broader range of research and communication skills. Read RSA Press Relase. Download paper.



			Interesting Publications from the Web “Time for a debate on private sector's role in delivering public services” (Peter Martin, Telegraph.co.uk, 7. June 2009) Click here “Chance to rethink service delivery” (Tom Shakespeare, Local Government Chronicle, 4. June, 2009) Click here “In Search of Innovation. When companies try to come up with new ideas, they too often look only where they always look. That won’t get them anywhere.” (John Bessant, Kathrin Möslein and Bettina von Stamm, The Wall Street Journal online, 22. June 2009) Click here Slide show on E Services presented by Eric Reiss (at UX London, 15. June 2009) Click here “A Framework for Building Customer Experiences” (Peter Merholz, Harvard Business, 11. June 2009) Click here

			New BFA and MFA in Service Design at SCAD The new BFA and MFA at the Savannah College of Art and Desin in Service Design will be the first of its kind in the USA. The Bachelor program will provide an opportunity to explore the fundamental principles and practices of Service Design. The course will explore the concept of ‘Service’ and ‘Touch Points’ and their symbiotic relationship and ecologies. The Master is aimed at high potential designers seeking to re-define a new type of design practice. The course will nurture talented students seeking professional careers designing services, identify touch points and developing engaging user experiences. The new degree program will provide an opportunity for students to explore both established and emerging principles, theory and practices in Service Design. Read more. SCAD seeks Professor of Service Design The Savannah College of Art and Design seeks candidates for a full-time faculty position for an innovative new program in Service Design offering BFA. and MFA degrees. Among others, the position requires a minimum of five years experience as a designer developing innovative concepts and experiences at a senior level and extensive experience designing interactions within the context of consumer products and/or for the Web. Read more.

			sdn Insider Editor: Judith Altenau Editor in Chief: Prof. Birgit Mager sdn News Scouts: Jeff Howard (USA) and Lauren Currie (UK) sdn Insider is a bimonhly newsletter published by the Service Design Network, which delivers the most current Service Design news from around the world to all sdn Members. To submit news, email at info@service-design-network.org To unsubscribe, click here.