“Service Design and Theatre Is Exactly the Same Thing” With the topic of this Touchpoint issue in mind, I met Adam Lawrence and Markus Hormeß of WorkPlayExperience to discuss the connection of service design and theater and to find out more about their unique approach. Markus Hormeß and Adam Lawrence lead WorkPlayExperience, a service innovation consultancy with a uniquely theatrical approach. With a joint resumé that includes process design, rock musicals, psychology, theoretical physics, product development and stand-up comedy, their mission is to help companies “...put the rock and roll into their services.”
Miriam Becker studied integrated Design at KISD, Germany and Visual Communication at PolyU, Hong Kong. As projekt manager at Service Design Network she is responsible for the Journal ‘Touchpoint’ and the Newsletter ‘Insider’.
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Miriam: You come from a background of natural sciences, Markus and you, Adam, come from a background of acting, right? Adam: It's a bit more complicated: I am a scientist too, originally. A zoologist and a psychologist. Then I worked in marketing and product development. And Markus also has a pretty colourful resumé. Markus: I started off at university with theoretical physics and then moved over to the dark side of business consulting. (Adam: Darth Vader breathing) Markus: Yeah. So I have been involved with knowledge- and innovation management and consulting ever since university. Did you meet in that area or in theatre? Adam: We actually met on stage. I was director of a musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, some years ago. And my band exploded and my assistant director knew a guy who she phoned up and she said: we need a band. And he hadn't got a band, so he built a band. Markus: Yes, I had two days to form the band and then one week of rehearsals
before opening night, which was a tough time scale, but I loved it. Adam: And he did a fantastic job and since then we have been working together. How did you come to acting or to theatre then, Markus? Markus: I am a musician so, ever since school, I have been in bands, and that's where we met. I have been doing theatre slash music slash musical productions a lot of that time. And then you were so excited about each other that you decided to join forces forever? Adam: Markus went to Scotland but we kept in contact. After that, we started various projects in a mediaeval club and we organised events together. We also ran a Jazz festival for eight years and various other bits and pieces. That was the start. It came out of theatre and it was always about human experiences. That was the common thread. Markus: We always kept talking about what we do in our day jobs. I did a lot of
