Who actually shows up to service design training? The answer paints a clear picture of how public services are evolving.

From policy makers to neighbourhood services, business analysts to UXers, this post breaks down the roles now learning about service design and what that means for organisations trying to work differently.

After completing Service Design in Practice, Sophie Jones went on to become an SDN-Accredited Service Design Practitioner. In this interview, she talks about the process – from preparing her case study to taking the final exam – and shares practical tips for anyone considering accreditation.

In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Sadaf Uddin went from furniture designer to service design consultant for Opencast, a B Corp consultancy.

FREE download: This worksheet helps you design more engaging training sessions, resulting in learning that sticks. It gives you a simple framework for reflecting on how to make learning more relational, relevant, and reflective.

Use my discount code to book your place at this key event for anyone involved in designing and commissioning public services. This year, I’m also running a workshop alongside the brilliant Katie Driver on how to train like a service designer.

Too many people who could bring insight and energy into public service design face barriers to getting started. Whether it’s financial pressure, lack of networks, systemic bias, or simply not being in the right place at the right time – the train often leaves without them.

Tick-box consultation is out.

This blog explores how Welsh housing providers can use service design to meet regulation and legal requirements and improve tenant experience.

We’ve just renewed our SDN Organisational Accreditation through to 2028. What does that mean for our learners - and what did the accreditation panel have to say about our impact on the public sector?

We can’t expect to fill people’s heads with knowledge and expect them to change their practice. We explore five key principles to designing effective learning experiences that really stick.

In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Charmaine Smikle is a Service Designer at Social Care Wales.

Why did a chatbot project fail to deliver for one public sector organisation - and what can we all learn from it? In this candid, anonymous interview, we uncover how a shiny digital tool became a costly distraction from real service transformation.

In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Will Mead is a Service Designer at the Welsh Revenue Authority.

In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Sarah Hill is a Senior Service Designer at Education Scotland.

We examine three possible ways to become an accredited service designer in the UK if you want to work in service design in the public or third sector.

Attending UK GovCamp 2025 felt like a breath of fresh air compared to 2024. Last year, frustration and burnout were front and centre. This time, there was a real sense of hope and thinking about the art of the possible! Here are the standout things from the sessions I joined.

In this series of Q&As, we’re exploring the fascinating journeys that people take into service design, and how a varied career can help make for a better service designer. Beccy Hazell is a Senior Service Designer at the BBC.

Discover how first-time service designer Laura Sims applied her learning to improve youth engagement in St John Ambulance’s Cadet Programme as part of a team on Service Design in Practice.

Read the full story…

Curious about what service design is and how it can transform your work? I’ve put together this introductory guide to service design and how it can help create services people actually need and use, especially in the public and third sectors.

Catherine Leggett from Aûtentic shares expert insights on creating neurodivergent-affirming and accessible services through co-production.

Case study: Audit Wales’ fragmented and outdated systems for internal communications were contributing to siloed ways of working.  A Design+Learn Live programme allowed a team to upskill in service design, while working on the real-life project to redesign and launch a new intranet.