International organisation supporting the development of service design practice, with local chapters, an academy, a journal and an annual conference.
The practical companion to service design, covering research, ideation, prototyping and implementation with a large method library. Widely used as a course text.
Co-author of Service Design: From Insight to Implementation, host of the Power of Ten podcast, and a writer on design at many scales.
A 2021 paper proposing a power literacy framework for service designers, covering privilege, access, goals, roles and rules. Open access copy from TU Delft.
Professor of service design at Köln International School of Design since 1995 and founding president of the Service Design Network.
The community for service, interaction and content designers working in and around the UK government, coordinated through the GOV.UK Service Manual.
The UK's national strategic body for design, home of the Double Diamond and the Systemic Design Framework.
The UK government's blog about design, written by the people doing it across departments. Honest accounts of what worked and what did not.
An edited academic collection on the theory and future of designing for services, bringing together researchers from the field's main university groups.
One of the first dedicated service design consultancies, founded in London in 2001, with studios in Europe and South America and a long record of published thinking.
Co-author of This is Service Design Thinking and This is Service Design Doing, and co-founder of the software company behind Smaply.
On designing experiences that unfold across channels and over time, with a strong emphasis on mapping and on the language of experience design.
Andy Polaine's podcast about design operating at many levels, from details to systems, with guests across service, strategic and systemic design.
The Service Design Network's training arm, offering online and in-person courses from introductory to advanced, taught by accredited trainers.
Occasional evening meetups in Manchester run by the Service Design Network UK chapter, usually hosted by a local studio or public sector team.
A free early-morning meetup in Brighton for people from Sussex and the South East, hosted by Clearleft every two months. Networking over breakfast, sometimes with a guest speaker.
Informal evening meetup for the Amsterdam service design community, hosted by a rotating set of studios.
Long-running informal monthly meetup for service designers in Berlin, with short talks followed by conversation.
A guide to using service design inside organisations, aimed at people who need to make the case for it as much as do it.
A volunteer-run festival of talks, workshops and open studios in London, running alongside the London Design Festival each September.
The Service Design Network's annual conference, moving between host cities each year, with talks, workshops and the Service Design Award. The 2026 edition is in Wiesbaden, Germany, with an online option.
The UK chapter of the Service Design Network, running talks, socials and an annual chapter conference for practitioners across the country.
Marc Fonteijn's long-running video series and podcast of conversations with service design practitioners, aimed squarely at people doing the work.
A clear account of what service design is and how it is done, from research through to measuring the results, by three practitioners from Livework.
London's long-running service design meetup, going since 2015, with roughly monthly talks for experienced practitioners, newcomers and the curious alike. Also a podcast and a YouTube channel of recorded talks.
Recordings of talks from the Service Lab London meetup on YouTube, going back several years. A good way to hear practitioners describe real work.
An occasional printed newspaper about service design, started by Martin Jordan in 2015, with short pieces from practitioners around the world. Most articles are also published online.
How organisations need to change, in their structures and leadership, to deliver services that work. Written from experience inside large public and private organisations.
Gerry Scullion's podcast network on human-centred design, with a dedicated strand of conversations about service design and public services.
The Service Design Network's journal, published since 2009. Each issue takes a theme and mixes practitioner and academic writing.
A journal article examining the contextual and organisational factors that limit service designers' ability to address power dynamics in their work.
Other topics
- Service blueprinting
- Journey mapping
- User research
- Discovery
- Stakeholder mapping
- Co-design
- Prototyping
- Public sector
- Health
- Systems thinking
- Systemic design
- Participatory design
- Design research
- Service organisations
- Introductions
- Policy
- Futures
- Measurement
- Service standards
- Collaboration
- Education
- Power dynamics
- Agency and autonomy
- Design ethics
- Research ethics and consent
- Interviewing
- Memory and evaluation
- Dark patterns
- Culture and context
- Inclusion