When I first got wind of Global Service Jam back in January, I got really excited that a service design unconference was coming to town. I was desperate to get on board so I tuned into GSJ via twitter and kept a watchful eye on organisers, news, and making sure I got a ticket when the time came.
And now the weekend’s over and I’m not quite sure how to put it – Global Service Jam has certainly been a very memorable design jam event for me, but I think I’m left with more questions than I had before about service design and I’m now really wondering if it isn’t really all that different from UX.
Firstly, I have to be honest that my team wasn’t made up of service designers. It would’ve been interesting to gain some insight into how a service designer would’ve approached the problem. In fact, it would’ve been helpful to be given some tips on how to approach service design if you were, say, from an information architecture background or even an interior design background (as one of our team members did).
So over the weekend, “service design” felt to us like it was UX except with a larger scope… it felt like many groups went down the route of not being able to scope an idea, and it felt like we could’ve spent more time focusing on the design process than trying to brainstorm ideas.
I certainly cannot fault the organizers, sponsors, and mentors for being such an amazing, energized, and cooperative team. Two mentors that stood out for me were Belina Raffy, through her energetic improv activities, and Robin Pharoah, who really helped us get to grips with our service idea of helping teens speak out to the wider community.
It has certainly been one of the most energized design events I have ever been to. Design Jam 1 was pretty energetic and UXCampLondon was as well – but it the combination of the 2-hour review sessions, the full weekend span, the frenzied “times up” bell, improv ice breakers, Shoreditch + Brick Lane, the uber-ambiguous “superhero” theme, and the personalies combined that truly set itself up as the craziest design jam in the world (so far).
So, if I’m right, I’ve successfully the 1st design jam ever organized and now, the craziest design jam ever organized.
In the end – I took a way the fact that designing for services takes up way more effort than designing for an app or a website, and it forces you to really dig deep, go far out, and really engage with people (or find good research that has). All the teams who put up commendable effort did all this and it was encouraging and inspiring to see their work, even if the service outcomes weren’t as comprehensive or pragmatic.
OK so in the end I guess we did end up with a service after all.