How do you break in to service design?

Hello friend!

And thank you for sharing your inbox with me! This is the first ever email I'm sending out to my lovely subscribers, woohoo! To jog your memory, you either signed up online or perhaps attended an event or training - I won't be offended if you need to unsubscribe.

The truth is, I've been so nervous about starting this newsletter as I want to make sure it's something really useful for you. And then, well, 2020 happened... so let's just leave that there.

In the spirit of prototyping, I'm trying out an 'Ask a Service Designer' advice column style approach. You can submit questions through this form, and who knows, maybe your Q will get answered in a future edition!

Every few weeks (let's see how we do!), I'll send out an email with an answer to a question, and perhaps some other links or thoughts. Let's get to it!

Q: How do you break into the service design space? Especially if you’ve been primarily focusing on interaction and experience design.

This felt like a fantastic question for a few reasons. First of all, it feels like a natural beginning for this little newsletter ;-) Also, a lot of people ask this - it's probably the number one question I get asked.

In addition, I can offer lots of experience from my own transition to SD (service design) from an undergrad in Industrial Design and UX jobs, as well as coaching and supporting other folks who wanted to make the transition.

I've written a really detailed post about this for those who want to go deep beyond this newsletter!

The TL;DR of the post is contained below! (Plus, I've added some new links and a bonus section at the end, in case the post is old news to you).

Step One: Foundational Reading and Learning.

I always recommend people soak up as much (quality) service design material as they can. This will help you to get a sense of whether service design really is for you, and build your familiarity comfort with some of the ideas. Some great starting points:

What is Service Design - Marie Cheung
Good Services - Lou Downe
The Service Innovation Handbook - Lucy Kimbell
Service Design: from Insight to Implementation - Andy Polaine, Ben Reason & Lavrans Løvlie
Orchestrating Experiences - Chris Risdon & Patrick Quattlebaum
Practical Service Design 101 Page
The Service Design Show - hosted by Marc Fonteijn
The Service Design Podcast - hosted by David Morgan and Stina Vanhoof

Step Two: Engage with the Community and Build your Network.

Like any discipline or career, service design is made up of people! Building the practice is an ongoing effort and we need lots of new voices and ideas.

Find out if there is a Service Design Network chapter in your area
Join the Practical Service Design and SDN global slack communities
Follow service designers on twitter (you can start with me and say hi if you like!)

Step Three: Build your Skills and Experience (from where you are).

What do you need to be successful in service design? What do you already have that is are transferrable skills or experiences?

Find ways to apply service design in your current work! Don't wait for permission - start applying the tools and methods now! (I give examples in the in depth post.)
Understand what skills you might want to learn or brush up. The Moment's Capability Map or Core Capabilities for Service Design could be a good place to start a self assessment.
Consider online courses such as Jon Kolko's Udemy course or Practical Service Blueprinting.
Some folks may also consider going back to school - however I would personally consider this a last or later step.

These three steps are essentially the advice I would give anyone, no matter where they are coming from.

For folks who have been focusing on interaction and experience design, the good news is that you already have a huge amount of transferrable skills, and are likely in a position to quickly start trying out service design tools and methods on your existing projects.

Bonus: here's what some other people have to say on this topic:

So You Want to Be a Service Designer - Jamin Hegeman (VP Design Capital One, VP Service Design Network)
How to Get a Job in Service Design - Lauren Currie (Founder of UPFRONT, CEO of Stride)
Hey, service design job seekers, we need to talk. - Megan Erin Miller (founder of Practical Service Design)

Until next time, stay well.
Linn

P.S. This email list is nice and TINY so I read every reply - and I welcome your feedback and comments. How can I make this email better for you? What do you want in your inbox when it comes to service design? Thoughts or further questions? Just hit reply! I'll read every one.

View this email in your browser