As human-centered design (HCD) gains traction in the market, so does the expansion of knowledge surrounding different design methodologies and functions.

Some have very stringent definitions of Service Design as opposed to other HCD methodologies (i.e. Experience Design, Design Thinking, etc.), but most executives implementing Service Design at scale realize that there are many interconnected and overlapping facets between Service Design, UX Design, Design Thinking, and Experience Design.

This year, we not only explore deeper clarity as to the definition of Service Design but take a step back and evaluate what differentiates Service Design, areas of priority, and aspects that remain continuous across all avenues of human-centered design.

While the focus will be the native principles of Service Design—backstage players, service strategy, blueprinting, co-creation, customer centricity—we also acknowledge a singular definition may not be appropriate as the market transforms.

The more interesting pieces of Service Design include the narrative and journey maturity as organizations evolve in the experience economy, heavily reflected in our theme: Vision to Transformation. From first hearing about this “HCD thing”, to garnering buy-in and quick wins, scaling, getting C-Suite support, redesigning services & infrastructure, and design transformation all the way to the goal of futures design.

We are excited to illuminate the journey through series of exciting formats this year:

Our first Ever Service Jam

An introduction to Service Design, this jam session convenes a crash course in the fundamentals of Service Design through a highly collaborative, interactive format around a singular challenge.

Utilizing our Design & Innovation Awards Winner Pact, a non profit organization devoted to bettering the future of those challenged by poverty and marginalization, Michelle Risinger will facilitate a full day jam utilizing real case study research and data to begin to put the pieces of service design into action.

Expect to discuss, research, iterate, and design around new service innovation in a high-energy format packed with networking, tools, and resources to take your learnings back with you post-event.

This session is ideal for those who are new to Service Design methods, need a deeper understanding of the Service Design process or who require a refresher on how to effectively facilitate the Service Design process.

Financial Services Focus Day Back by Popular Demand

Traditional ways of business continue to face disruption in a rapidly evolving experience economy, and one of the largest industry’s at the forefront of this transformation includes the Financial Services Industry.

Bringing back the focus from last year, as well as some exciting upgrades, we look to take this day to a new level with:

·         Longer sessions with built in interactivity to really drive home key points, enhance discussions, and share more resources.

·         Facilitated networking to help you connect with as many industry leaders as possible

·         Maturity break-outs to be able to have adjacent level conversations at both the advanced and beginner maturity

Whether you are a native designer navigating the FinServ landscape, or a Financial Services veteran learning the in’s and out’s of human-centered, this focus day brings all levels of maturity together to navigate the industry’s top challenges through effective service design.

Follow the Vision to Transformation Keynote Narrative

Our Keynote presentations follow the journey from the first understandings around the impact of service design, to developing principals, brand, implementation and further future design.

Attendees will be able to resonate with each step of the journey and take insights into their current design and inspiration for the future steps to come on the journey to design-led.

Service Design at Every Maturity Level

The entire conference will have content catered to Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Service Designers to allow folks to network on a true peer to peer basis, while allowing the benefits of interacting with leaders at every level to still take place during the program.

Our first Maturity Track break-out focuses specifically on your role in building and scaling service design at every level—whether you are a practitioner aiming to motivate your team, a VP building a new organization, and everyone in between, these quick fire presentations give you a toolset for approaching scale & buy-in.

From there, we break out and drive home principals from one of the most impactful tools: The Service Blueprint.

Finally, our Interactive Discussion Groups will be coded by level to allow you quick access to small roundtable discussions with peers at your maturity.

Fail Forward to Drive Success

The entrepreneurial and experimental culture that is native to most Design Led organizations arises from a culture that embraces failure as a tool to refine and improve current services, products, and innovations. A series of case studies followed by discussion and audience Q&A, we explore three case studies where misdirection that could have easily been characterized as a failure, instead redirected the project to improved outcome.

Deep Dive into Service Blueprinting

A core piece of the Service Design handbook, service blueprints provide the roadmap for success when fostering buy-in. In true workshop fashion, each of the following sessions provides a unique template for success while also opening up the conversation to varying levels of familiarity with the blueprinting process.

And Much More to come!

Stay tuned as we feature our top-notch speaker faculty, introduce our new site tours, and continue to innovate to meet the needs of our attendees. We look forward to seeing you in the Windy City!

Interested to learn more? Download our full event guide here.