Explore
Everything, in seven doors.
The directory currently holds 59 resources. They are grouped here by what they are, but many belong in more than one place. Wander through the categories, or go sideways by place or topic.
The community for service, interaction and content designers working in and around the UK government, coordinated through the GOV.UK Service Manual.
A volunteer-run weekend where people in cities around the world prototype new services around a shared theme. No experience needed.
Informal evening meetup for the Amsterdam service design community, hosted by a rotating set of studios.
Fifteen principles of good service design, drawn from Lou Downe's time leading design across the UK government. Short, plain and opinionated.
The practical companion to service design, covering research, ideation, prototyping and implementation with a large method library. Widely used as a course text.
An edited academic collection on the theory and future of designing for services, bringing together researchers from the field's main university groups.
The UK government's manual for designing and running public services: the Service Standard, guidance on discovery, alpha, beta and live, and on user research and service design.
A method for mapping a service end to end, showing what the user experiences alongside the frontstage and backstage work that makes it happen. Explained clearly by Nielsen Norman Group.
Ten principles for designing government services, starting with 'start with user needs'. Short enough to read in five minutes and widely borrowed outside government.
Nielsen Norman Group's short introduction to service design: what it is, how it relates to UX, and the core concepts of frontstage and backstage.
The UK government's blog about design, written by the people doing it across departments. Honest accounts of what worked and what did not.
Andy Polaine's podcast about design operating at many levels, from details to systems, with guests across service, strategic and systemic design.
The Systemic Design Association's annual symposium, held in several locations at once and online, bringing together systems thinking and design practice.
Occasional evening meetups in Manchester run by the Service Design Network UK chapter, usually hosted by a local studio or public sector team.
A volunteer-run festival of talks, workshops and open studios in London, running alongside the London Design Festival each September.
A focused journey mapping tool with a free tier, popular with people who want something simpler than a whiteboard and lighter than a platform.
Figma's collaborative whiteboard, often used by teams who already prototype in Figma for workshops and mapping.
Online whiteboard used widely for journey maps, blueprints and remote workshops, with a large library of service design templates.
People & organisations
Practitioners, researchers, educators, consultancies, public-sector teams and other organisations.
All 12 resourcesInternational organisation supporting the development of service design practice, with local chapters, an academy, a journal and an annual conference.
Co-author of Service Design: From Insight to Implementation, host of the Power of Ten podcast, and a writer on design at many scales.
Professor of service design at Köln International School of Design since 1995 and founding president of the Service Design Network.
By topic
- Professional practice26
- Public sector15
- Education9
- Journey mapping8
- Introductions8
- Design research6
- Service organisations6
- Service standards6
- User research5
- Prototyping5
- Systems thinking5
- Co-design4
- Systemic design4
- Service blueprinting3
- Stakeholder mapping3
- Collaboration3
- Discovery2
- Health1
- Participatory design1
- Policy1
- Futures1
- Measurement1