Yesterday we had the second Masterclass of this edition held by Roberta Tassi, Francesca Foglieni, and Yulya Besplemennova from servicedesigntools.org. We had 70 participants between the students of our Master, other POLI.design Masters’ students from the Elective Path, (the internal lectures exchange program of POLI.design), and external professionals, students, and professors from all over the world.
Three lecturers, three topics, one aim: to enhance the service design practice and refresh the tools and frameworks we use every day with new perspectives. In the emerging context, characterized by the urgency of climate change, increased geopolitical and economic tensions, and the rise of pervasive technologies, service design practitioners are asked to face new important challenges, with increasingly higher complexity. In the past years, the Service Design Tools team has been conducting research at the interception among design and other disciplines: behavioral science, systems thinking, and speculative approaches. During the Masterclass, each of these three topics has been analyzed through theoretical frameworks, case studies, and some new, enhanced service design tools that have just been published and presented for the first time right in this lecture.
Roberta talked about behavioral science and behavioral change, presenting the new tools of Dynamic Personas, Behaviour Change Wheel, and Transition Journey. Service designers should take into account the evolution of human behavior over time, and look at behavior change theories as something that can be incorporated into their design practices. Service designers should always consider the long-term effects on human behaviors (and communities) services could generate, and not simply rely on human-centric activities as a way to expand the service’s attractiveness.
Francesca tackled the topic of systems thinking presenting the Ecosystem Loops, the System Scenario, and the Impact Journey. Service designers should take into account the reciprocity of any exchange and consider elements from other systems/ecosystems that could contribute to the creation of virtuous relationships, reducing the impact of the service itself on the environment and the broader society. Service designers need to push the boundaries of how companies and organizations think of what they do and their role towards our economy, society, and planet, to reflect on the broader concept of sustainability across the different moments of service delivery.
Yulya presented the topics of future casting and speculative approaches through the tools of Future Backcasting and Signal Cards. Service designers need to consider how the broader context may evolve and work on anticipation and prevention, with a higher awareness on how we could affect/influence the system to evolve towards a future that we consider more desirable. Service designers should encompass and encourage the use of future-casting elements to help companies and organizations make more conscious decisions, instead of focusing only on the optimization of the service/business models based on the existing market.
It has been a very intense and interactive lecture, with three quick exercises to let participants experiment by themselves with these new and enhanced tools, and moments of open discussion to share thoughts and ideas about the topics. We’d like to thank again all the students and the practitioners who joined us. See you next Thursday at the Masterclass of Stefaan Verhulst!
