About
The last few years have challenged the world as never before, making us touch with our own hands what we previously had the chance to experience only through sci-fi movies; and disrupting, all of a sudden, our values, our habits, our vision of the future. But such turmoil has also proved that rapid, and sometimes even radical, innovation is possible, for both individuals and organizations. New standards of service are quickly taking over, paying attention to serious global-level problems, with more and more emphasis put on impacts they could generate on the planet in the long term.
In the wake of the acknowledgment received in the last decade, service design is going to be confirmed as the crucial discipline of our times, thanks to an approach that has improved and evolved following the challenges and the needs of the economy and the society. From design thinking to critical design, from a systemic to an ecosystemic perspective, from a human-centered point of view to behavioral transformation, a new service design era is arising, exploring new complexities and embedding into theory and practice further cross-disciplinary contaminations.
Created ten years ago in response to the growing demand for professionals capable of handling the complexity of services, the Specializing Master in Service Design by POLI.design – Politecnico di Milano is maintaining the pace with the evolution of the discipline.
Following the changes that invest in business and the society, the Master program, since its birth, is endowed with the mission of training professionals in the fascinating process of conceiving, developing, and delivering a service, fostering at the same time innovation culture, creative thinking, and cultural exchange.
Thanks to a proven and sound methodology that mixes theoretical knowledge with hands-on experiences that are renovated every year, and that are enriched by always new lectures on topics at the forefront, each Master edition awards a new generation of designers that soon go feeding the ranks of renown design agencies, consultancies, companies, as well as public organizations and research centers.
In order to strengthen the student’s abilities, the Master program relies on an educational model that merges the acquisition of broad and multifaceted methodological knowledge and a learning-by-doing approach through:
- multidisciplinary modules,
- experimental projects with real companies coordinated by international academics and professionals,
- service prototyping.
The objectives of the Specializing Master are:
- to provide the specific training required to refine the design skills of students who have already acquired experience in the design sector;
- to enhance the basic skills of students with a background in other disciplines by furnishing them with theoretical knowledge and practical experience in service design;
- to furnish the means necessary to enhance the professional experience of students already in employment.
The Specializing Master programme grants 60 CFU (Formative University Credits) equivalent to 60 ECTS.
The didactic path is composed by different kinds of learning modules:
Theoretical lessons aimed at providing the disciplinary background and introducing extra-disciplinary knowledge.
Short design sessions aimed at putting into practice methods and tools on a simulated design challenge.
Advanced lectures provided by renown experts on cutting-edge topics emerging in the service design community.
Biweekly design labs that cover all the phases of the service design process, from research to prototyping, experimenting on a real brief proposed by a partner company.
+ 475 hours of training experience in a partner company or other organizations
Timeline
Employment Opportunities
The Specializing Master in Service Design trains specialists in the design of services for firms and public sector organizations.
The programme’s overall objectives are to produce experts and consultants with a solid design culture, vision, and the ability to design, manage, and organize the conception and implementation of a service. It also aims to develop innovation and entrepreneurship.
On conclusion of the programme, participants will be able to:
- Devise systemic innovation models for services
- Deploy theoretical skills to operate with complex system
- Use specific service design tools and manage redesign
- Observe & Analyse user experience to construct a user-centred vision of complex interactions
- Manage service conception, design and development
- Foster entrepreneurship
