Patti Hunt Meet the service designer
Patti Hunt is the founder and director of MAKE Studios, a service innovation company based in Hong Kong. For this edition of the Touchpoint Profile, she had a chat with Jesse Grimes, the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, about her work with multi-national corporations, NGOs and start-ups in Patti Hunt works with multi-national corporations, NGO's and start-ups in the Asia-Pacific region to build innovation capabilities, identify growth opportunities and design new products, services and experiences.
the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the unique challenges posed by practicing service design in Hong Kong. Jesse Grimes: Your location in Hong Kong must offer a unique and exciting dynamic, with China on the doorstep, yet having a very different business environment from the mainland. How have you been working to further establish an awareness of service design and Design Thinking there, and what have been the successes and challenges?
Patti Hunt: As one of the world’s most well-known cities, Hong Kong has a dynamic that is attractive and exciting. It’s like a hybrid mash-up of the rest of the world, anchored by a strong local identity, ethic and culture. It has a lively and energetic personality, but it can also be quite challenging, especially from a business point of view. As we have seen from recent events in the news, the people of Hong Kong are very determined and resilient. They gain a strong sense of identity from working 94 Touchpoint 11-3
hard and overcoming adversity. Hong Kong is a harsh teacher – it forces you into the same dynamic and stretches you in ways you can’t anticipate. There are many reasons to love Hong Kong but being sweet and nurturing is definitely not one of them. When I arrived in 2012, I was quite shocked by the hierarchical ways of working and the risk-averse nature of many people tasked with driving innovation and change in organisations. I had to quickly figure out ways to navigate these situations, understand the prevailing mindsets and adapt the way I worked as a service designer. Working in mainland China can be even more complex; the way business gets done and the logistics of organising interviews or doing research is not as easy as you’d expect. We have found local partners and ‘fixers’ who can help us navigate and problem-solve whenever we need to work in China. There can also be a big
