The Systems Turn in Service Design

There is a transition underway in service design that is challenging traditional ways of working. As the scope of service design projects continues to expand, service designers are increasingly confronted by the immense complexity of overlapping service systems. Amid entangled global crises – including climate change, migration, eroding democratic norms and strained healthcare systems – there is growing awareness of the urgent need for significant societal shifts. The discipline of service design is being looked to as contributor and facilitator of these critical systemic changes.

These developments shed light on the limitations and inadequacies of reductionist approaches to service design that fail to support more structural long-term change and risk perpetuating harmful, unintended consequences. As such, many service designers are integrating learnings from systems thinking to better grapple with the complexity of the challenges they face and aid in realising the transformative potential of the practice. However, these learnings challenge the very core of service design and call for a fundamental rethinking of its philosophies and approaches. The articles in this issue of Touchpoint highlight four critical evolvements connected with the integration of systems thinking: 1. rethinking the principles of the practice 2. integrating knowledge from other domains 3. applying alternative approaches, methods and tools 4. addressing systemic inequities.

Rethinking the principles of the practice The growing appreciation of complexity calls for a new set of principles to guide service design practices. Challenging convenient project externalities, Neeley (page 12) responds by suggesting that service designers must consider everything, take universal responsibility and work within grand priorities. In a similar vein, Gampp (page 52) problematises the humancentred paradigm that has been dominant over the last decade and offers an alternative set of principles to support the continued evolution of worldviews. Furthermore, in an attempt to embrace a systemic view on value in service design, Pelgröm and Roscam Abbing (page 46) extend Tim Brown’s well-known model of “feasibility, desirability and viability” by highlighting the importance of the collective, the triple bottom-line and consortia.

Integrating knowledge from other domains As service design takes on larger, systemic challenges, there is growing recognition of the need to integrate knowledge from other domains. Wildhagen and Strålberg (page 36) offer a hopeful example of building infrastructure to support the integration of service design with systemic design in the context of the Norwegian innovation lab for public sector (StimuLab). In addition, Harviainen, Hämäläinen and Saarinen (page 26) argue that service design combines well with systems intelligence to support wise action in complex systems. Barcham (page 56) further highlights that service design can

benefit from integrating learnings from implementation science and improvement science to create more adaptive and resilient service systems. Drawing from the fields of service marketing and systems engineering, Lee (page 60) brings forward new frameworks to help service designers appreciate multi-level interdependencies and work with worldviews within these systems.

Applying alternative approaches, methods and tools Many contributors to this issue’s theme highlight that embracing systems thinking in service design requires new or adapted approaches, methods and tools. Kumar (page40) warns service designers about the dangers of linear thinking and offers a case example that shows the advantages of non-linear approaches in deepening the understanding of reality. Similarly, Yu (page 64) offers an example of a non-linear approach to re-designing cancer care and demonstrates how appreciating complex interdependencies opens up new areas of intervention. Furthermore, to help guide service designers in their efforts toward taking a more systemic approach, Jones and Van Ael (page 30) outline a seven-step systemic design methodology and introduce the Systemic Design Toolkit that offers a host of canvases for participatory workshops. Steiner (page 22) adds another tool to the toolkit, demonstrating the value of ecosystem mapping for service designers looking to situate their services in broader organisational contexts. While many others in this special issue critique the service blueprint, Lee, Merkle, Zenker and Colella (page 17) work with its potential by deconstructing and reconstructing the blueprint and rethinking the concept of touchpoints in the context of Covid-19.

Addressing systemic inequities This special issue also highlights that taking a systemic approach does not make service design politically neutral or inherently positive. On the contrary, it calls on service designers to face the systemic inequalities and power asymmetries that have been designed into systems head on. Hegazy and Waites (page 70) show a case example of this in their work utilising systemic design approaches to promote the inclusion and safety of transgender, non-binary and twospirit people across service siloes within the Canadian government. In this issue’s Profile, Kuhn (page 74) highlights that we not only need to look at the inequities in the various local systems that we design within, but this also needs to be done within the systems of service design itself, referring to upcoming work to evaluate outcomes related to diversity, equity and inclusion within the SDN and catalysing targeted action to support structural change.

In order for service design to support the necessary transitions in service systems and society, it must first transform itself. The articles in this issue of Touchpoint offer powerful provocations and hopeful, practical examples of the transformation underway.

Josina Vink is a Guest Editor of this issue of Touchpoint, and an Associate Professor of Service Design at Oslo School of Architecture and Design. Building on a decade of industry experience, Josina's research develops systemic approaches to service design in healthcare.