Switzerland is not like most countries. It has no official capital city but makes up for it by having 4 official languages. Regional characteristics are strong, and the 26 cantons function as states within the federation. Nonetheless, there is a strong feeling of belonging together, despite the differences. To the outside world, the “Swiss” brand is thus homogenous, strong, enviable, precise, orderly. By joining forces, the Swiss federal states have achieved what they never could have done alone.
These concepts apply to the founders of this local chapter initiative as well. Our group brings together educational, research, enterprise, agency and freelance experience, backgrounds in architecture, design, human-computer interaction and business. It is along these same concepts that we have identified the SDN Swiss chapter goals:
1. Join Forces
2. Mix Differences
3. Grow Together by Building on Heritage
Current leadership team
These are the members of the Service Design Network in Switzerland who lead the efforts of the association.
Daniele teaches Service Design through the Swiss Innovation Academy and various schools and universities in Switzerland. He's also active as an innovation coach at the Salvation Army. Daniele is the author of several books on Service Design, like the books in the series "Service Design Principles".
Marta is a Service Designer working at the UX design agency :ratio in Lausanne. Marta has experience in the health sector, startup world and education through her years as an Assistant Professor at the Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University in Japan.
Emmanuel is a professor of Service Design and Innovation and the director of the CAS HES-SO in Treasury Management at the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO Valais).
Sabine's work sheds light on how human-centred design contributes to social change and business innovation by re-orienting policies, organisations and services around people. I am especially curious about policy work because no policy can succeed in the absence of appropriate products and services people can understand and use. Keywords Sabine's research: organisational change and transformation, design in government, public sector innovation, design for policy, design thinking, design leadership, design management, service design, and of course, interaction design. Through her international and interdisciplinary research collaborations, she hopes to become part of the solution when sincere people seek novel solutions to complex problems of business and society.
Florian Egger is the founder and principal of Telono SA, a Swiss user experience (UX) research and design agency he founded in 2005. He manages a team of UX strategists, user researchers and interaction designers who strive to make interactions with products and services more useful, more usable and more enjoyable. He has extensive international experience in sectors ranging from healthcare to finance or international organizations, where he has set up systematic user-centered design processes to achieve business success. Florian holds an MSc in Human-Computer Interaction from University College London (UK) and a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from the Eindhoven University of Technology (NL).
Biliana is the co-founder of several organizations, including Versus Virus, 42hacks, and Legacy ChangeMaker. Her work includes designing and facilitating strategy and teambuilding retreats for senior leadership teams of UN organizations, coaching startups at various innovation labs, and co-designing and co-facilitating the UNAIDS Health Innovation Exchanged Marketplace. Biliana has also taught courses on managing innovation, coaching at work, and design thinking to university students, and has designed and delivered courses as an adjunct professor at Geneva Business School. She has worked with a variety of clients, including UNAIDS, ITC, UNOG, and social entrepreneurs and high-performance teams.
Previous leadership member team and founders of the Swiss SDN
Combining experience from corporate, startup, agency and freelance environments in user / experience design, project/product management and digital strategy, Peter is a connector of dots. He has built and leads Geneva’s biggest grassroots event series at the intersection of technology, business, and user-centered design, with 2000+ members over 45 past events, and guest speakers from organizations big and small (CERN, UN, WEF, Pictet, IBM, Goodwall, Cloudsight, BBC, etc.). Peter played a key role in rolling out journey-based approach in IBM’s developing markets marketing efforts. He later worked on bringing a user-focused approach and design thinking to satellite connectivity provider Inmarsat, both on internal and external projects. He recently concluded his EMBA in Management of Technology and Innovation at EPFL, and started his own practice in experience design.
Martin is a trained architect (Dipl. Architekt HTL) and works since 2012 as vice dean at the Lucerne School of Art and Design. He is in charge of the four research groups, the bachelor’s specializations in object design, textile design, jewelry design, design management international and the master’s degree programs in design and film. Prior to this assignment, from 2001 he built up the research at the Academy of Art and Design of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. Between 2005 and 2012 he headed the Institute of Art and Design Research. During this time he carried out multiple research and service projects in art and design, especially in the fields of interaction and design thinking. Martin Wiedmer is active in various research commissions, juries and (conference) committees.
Vinzenz works as an Open Innovation Developer at the Swisscom Pirates Hub, where he is building bridges between the corporate and startup world. During his career he gathered experience and expertise in managing and running innovation ventures in large organizations. His current project focuses on the creation of intrapreneurship movements inside organizations with getkickbox.com. Vinzenz is active in further developing the open-source innovation framework “Kickbox” through the non-profit association Kickbox.org. He is a guest lecturer at several Swiss universities on the topics of Design Thinking, Lean Startup and Corporate Innovation. Vinzenz holds a BA in Industrial and Product Design with a specialization in Design Management from the University of Arts and Sciences Lucerne.
Klaus is a trained designer and architect. Running his own design agency, he devised, among other things, new writing tools for the pen and marker manufacturing company Stabilo or a remote control programme for the company Somfy with a focus on user interface. As an architect he worked for the Basel Architects Herzog & de Meuron on various types of projects – among others as the head of the design team for a research and laboratory building for the Swiss global health-care company Hoffman-La Roche, where various user needs and complex technical requirements had to be integrated. In 2010 he became an independent architect and designer where he follows a strong user-centered approach. Since autumn 2015 he teaches Product Design, Service Design and Design Methods in the Master’s degree programme and is researching in the field of visualization of service processes at the Competence Center Visual Narrative - both at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
Thanks to all the volunteers that contribute in one way or another in making Service Design better know in Switzerland.