Service Design for the 21st Century 22/02/2012

8 – 10 Feb 2012 – Braving temperatures of 20 degrees below zero  Helena attended ServDes, the sevice design and innovation conference in Espoo, Finland. This three-day conference presented the broad area of service design in a highly participatory and and enjoyable way. 

The first day consisted of nine workshops sited across a number of diverse locations ranging from a shopping mall, to a theatre and Finland’s largest Swedish speaking business school. The organisers allocated each participant three workshops to attend where they had the opportunity to try different design tools and communication methods related to the service design process. Participants had a busy time travelling from one workshop to another via public transport and on foot. The most popular workshop was about theatre methods conducted at the Alexander Theatre in Helsinki by WorkPlayExperience – Markus Hormess, British comedian Adam Lawrence and their colleague Anna-Lena Kuehner.

The second day focused on research. Speakers presented papers on subjects such as the co-designing of a mobile service with London homeless people, designing emotional touchpoints for people with mental illness and a community centred design approach used to develop an organic food service in Milan.

Day three was all about business and included keynote speakers who presented their vision of services for the 21 century. Prominent Scandinavia professor Evert Gummesson talked about the importance of environmental sustainability in service design; Kone Design Director Anne Stenros elaborated on future trends in service design, and communications expert  Anna Thygesen talked about the importance of  knowing your customers and how to connect with them in a respectful, non-patronising, way.