Ireland’s economy is strongly based on services - the service sector account for 72% of GDP and about 75% of the workforce is employed in services (World Bank 2014). Dublin, the capital, is the administrative and commercial hub of Ireland, hosting a range of multinationals from many different industries such as banking, insurance, tech and consulting, many of whom have their R&D capabilities here also. As well as the private sector, the public sector and tourism account for a huge part of Ireland’s overall activities.

The vision for the Dublin chapter of the SDN is threefold:

• Provide a forum for existing practitioners in Ireland to to share and develop thinking around Service Design, and to connect with practitioners from other chapters.

• Work to educate and inspire aspiring service designers.

• Work with industry partners to promote the discipline and its value.

The first part of this vision will be achieved by setting up regular touchpoints with Service Design practitioners in Dublin to exchange ideas and share experiences. The further parts of this vision will be accomplished by holding events with academia and industry to promote the discipline, and to explain the value of and generate excitement around Service Design.

Tim McArthur
Tim McArthur - Service Design Lead

Tim Macarthur is a Service Designer based in Dublin. His career has seen him work in the enterprise, in consultancy and in service innovation. Tim co-founded and currently leads the Service Design Network in Ireland. Tim is deeply interested in the intersection of Service Design and other disciplines in bringing valuable, delightful services to life, and has published work and spoken at global events around this topic.

Dr. Fred Creedon
Dr. Fred Creedon - 'Designing Innovative Services' Programme Director

Fred Creedon is a lecturer in the department of Accounting & Information Systems in Cork Institute of Technology. He has over a decade of experience in design and development, through roles as a business analyst, software developer, design researcher and design educator. Fred’s design research focus ranges from artefact design (electronic vital sign observation charts), to strategic design (integrating design into a scaled agile software development process to drive innovation). His teaching focuses on service design, design thinking, systems analysis and design, and systems development. Fred works closely with public and private organisations seeking to explore how to integrate design in their work and how their employees can develop design capabilities.

Claire O'Grady
Claire O'Grady - Service Designer

Claire O’Grady is a Service Designer in Musgrave, Ireland’s largest retail group. She uses Design Thinking methods and tools to deliver better customer experiences and innovation for shoppers both in-store and online. Claire has a ten year background in marketing, having worked in brand management and innovation roles in Diageo and in strategy and brand management roles in Musgrave before moving in to the world of Service Design. She believes in using consumer-centric insights and collaboration to deliver better outcomes for businesses.

John Lynch
John Lynch - Founder & Service Designer

In 2018 John founded Context Studio in Dublin to bring a deliberate, impact-driven, Service Design approach to innovation and optimisation in businesses and organisations in Ireland. A service designer with a background in software development, he brings experience working with a global client base as a consultant in Denmark, the U.K, and Ireland. Before founding his dedicated Service Design studio in Dublin John held lead roles with Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (DK), Future Cities Catapult (UK), and Fjord (IE).

Ronan Healy
Ronan Healy - Co-founder

Ronan is Co-founder of 'How Might We', a service design agency which facilitates meaningful conversations to improve employee and customer experience. At the very core of his agency’s capability is the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method and their conviction in the power of Play to make Service Design and Systems Thinking more accessible to organisations that wish to unlock individual and team potential. Ronan has over fifteen years of director and senior leadership experience and has worked with various agencies that wish to deliver memorable employee and customer experience. He has a Masters in Entrepreneurial Management and has lectured in Service Design, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurship and Economics.

Rebecca Walsh
Rebecca Walsh - Design Director at Big Motive

Rebecca has a background in Aerospace Engineering with over 10 years’ experience in innovation, human centred design and service design. Rebecca started her career in Bombardier Aerospace working in aerodynamic design. Very early in her career she was asked to work part-time in the Bombardier Innovation Team on future aircraft design, business efficiency and lean/transformational programmes. Rebecca set up her own design and innovation consultancy in 2015 and worked with the voluntary and community sector to grow innovation capability as well as working with Equiniti, a leading technology solutions company. More recently she worked with the Department of Finance Innovation Lab as the first Service Designer in the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS). Rebecca worked across all regional government department as well as local Government to promote service design and in particular human-centred design and design for citizens needs. Rebecca is currently Design Director at Big Motive. She focuses on the delivery of high quality service and experience design projects for a range of clients in both the public and private sector.