How can you use your Service Design skills outside of work?

We are excited to share the entire recording and additional resources of this talk by Maaria Tiensivu at the Swiss Service Design Day 2024.

About this talk

Can Service Design be used outside of work projects?


We often explain that there are three levels of Service Design: 

  1. Understanding the mindset, 
  2. Practicing it in projects (what most people do) 
  3. And finally using it in all aspects of your life. (what almost no one does)

 

In this talk, Maaria Tiensivu explored the question: « How can we use Service Design beyond projects? » 


During her talk she explored how Service Design can be a tool for professional and even personal growth.


After this talk, you will have practical tips to implement Service Design outside of the classical innovation and work projects. You’ll see how Maaria has turned the Service Design process into a tool for coaching that you can use yourself for your personal growth.


About Maaria

Maaria Tiensivu is the founder of KNOW-ME a coaching service that provides provides teams, organizations and individuals with personalized growth paths to help them tackle their greatest challenges for productivity, collaboration and wellbeing.


About the Swiss Service Design Day

This talk was part of the Swiss Service Design Day 2024. A one day hybrid conference that happened on June first 2024 and hosted by the HES-SO Valais Wallis.


This was a relaxed but insightful day that felt more like a family reunion than a fancy conference with lots of buzzwords but no practical learning.

 --

The one image of the talk


Summaries by communities members

Some lovely community members who attended the talk shared on LinkedIn what resonated with them from this talk. Here's what they said:

Mustafa T.
Mustafa T. -

Maaria emphasized the importance of understanding and experimenting. The cycle of experimentation leads to better understanding, which in turn informs new experiments.

Odja Vieira
Odja Vieira -

How do you turn an experience into an experiment? The main difference is that it's not just about living and understanding, but also about learning some lessons and conclusions that will help you in your future decisions. And reflecting on what you want to absorb, what could turn this experiment into a success, a failure or the real reason why this experiment exists, considering time, risks and other variants. In the professional sphere, how do you convince your team to encourage and adopt experiments with you? You could start with small experiences with fewer risks, not an experiment by definition, but get some answers and use the experience as an example. Or perhaps you can exercise your experiments by looking for answers in your personal life with your networks. The million dollar question: What is the right question to ask to metrify an experiment? Speaking of experience, the answer is DEPENDS on the scenario. But we can always reflect and generate a "trail" of questions and answers, not necessarily the million-dollar answer, but a few dollars that have an impact on the experience.

Related Headlines

SDN Chapters Touchpoint 17-1––From AI to Synthetic Services | Roundtable

Touchpoint 17-1––From AI to Synthetic Services | Roundtable

On May 20th 2026, we are holding a special event connected to the publication of the most recent issue of Touchpoint, the journal of service design: Touchpoint Vol.17 No. 1 | From AI to Synthetic Services.

Continue reading
SDN Chapters From AI to Synthetic Services

From AI to Synthetic Services

AI continues to disrupt our work as service designers, fundamentally changing the way we design, deliver and analyse services. The advances are rapid as well, presenting new opportunities while at the same time forcing us to answer some challenging questions on where and how its capabilities are deployed. This issue of Touchpoint answers an ongoing need in our community to learn from each other - as well as those outside our field - to confidently apply AI, as well as know where it should be avoided.

Continue reading
SDN Chapters Register by May 15 for the maximum Early Bird discount!

Register by May 15 for the maximum Early Bird discount!

Connect, Collaborate, and Create Change – SDGC26 Awaits! Join us in Wiesbaden, Germany and online, 28–30 October. Registration is open, with Early Bird tickets on sale until May 15.

Continue reading
SDN Global News Become a Certified Service Design Professional at the SDN Academy!

Become a Certified Service Design Professional at the SDN Academy!

Created for service designers with 2+ years’ experience, the 8-week, 8-module course offers you the chance to strengthen your core skills, expand your capabilities, and earn Professional Accreditation.

Continue reading