Black Swan Events: Service Design to Prepare for the Future

Our expert panel of Service Design practitioners discuss and share their learnings from various Service Design case studies, Transformational projects, as well as tools and methodologies, such as Future-Casting and Strategic Foresights, to prepare businesses with new and unexpected business environments.

More than 3.9 billion people, half of the world's population, have been confined.

The world just very unexpectedly encountered a massive Black Swan Event.

A Black Swan event is defined as an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences.
Black Swan events are by definition impossible to predict due to their extreme rarity, and yet have catastrophic consequences.


It is crucial for businesses to always assume such events are a possibility, whatever it may be, and to plan accordingly to the best of their abilities.

Enters Service Design.

“There’s suddenly a huge need for Service Design. Nowadays companies need to change in a timeframe that we’ve never seen before, and for that, they actually need to come up with quick solutions for really urgent problems.”
— Marc Stickdorn, This is Service Design Thinking

Our expert panel of Service Design practitioners will discuss and share their learnings from various Service Design case studies, Transformational projects, as well as tools and methodologies, such as Future-Casting and Strategic Foresights, to prepare businesses with new and unexpected business environments:

• Gassia Salibian, Principal, Future-Proof, San Francisco
• Darren Schliser, Experience Design Practice Lead, Slalom, Toronto
• Brandon Ward, Director User Experience, Precocity, Dallas
• Tamarah Usher, Strategy Practice Lead, Slalom, St Louis

Our panel will be followed by an open Q&A session for all virtual attendees who wish to ask specific questions to our guests.

Related Headlines

SDN Chapters Meet, Mingle & Make an Impact – See You at SDGC25!

Meet, Mingle & Make an Impact – See You at SDGC25!

Join us at SDGC25 in Dallas and online, this October 15–17. In-person and virtual tickets are available now—your invitation to connect, share ideas, and explore service design's impact on business.

Continue reading
SDN Chapters Highlights from the webinar "Community and Service Design" with Birgit Mager

Highlights from the webinar "Community and Service Design" with Birgit Mager

We are excited to share the entire recording and transcript of this event with president and co-founder of the Service Design Network Birgit Mager.

Continue reading
SDN Chapters Highlights from the webinar "Service Design meets Stakeholder Needs" with Julia Borkenhagen

Highlights from the webinar "Service Design meets Stakeholder Needs" with Julia Borkenhagen

We are excited to share the entire recording and transcript of this event with co-founder of Whitespace and Design Leader Julia Borkenhagen.

Continue reading
SDN Global News Call for Volunteers -  Play a Role in the Creation of SDGC25

Call for Volunteers - Play a Role in the Creation of SDGC25

Want to take part in the most important event the service design community attends all year? We need you!

Continue reading