Service design tools & resources

Free service design tools

These tried and tested tools will help you run workshops and activities to build understanding of service design within your organisation.

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FREE RESOURCE PACK

Mini design cycle challenge

Worksheets & facilitator notes to help you deliver a practical workshop where participants learn about user-centred design through a fast-paced mini design cycle.

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FREE RESOURCE PACK

Learning experience design canvas

A service design worksheet pack to help you design learning that is more relevant, relational and reflective, so your workshops and training are more likely to stick.

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FREE WORKSHEET

Explore the challenge worksheet

A tool to help you surface risky assumptions early, strengthen planning and identify what you need to learn before moving ahead.

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FREE WORKSHEET

Frame the challenge

Build a shared understanding of the challenge, align around purpose, and define what good looks like before moving into delivery.

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FREE WORKSHEET

Stakeholder mapping worksheet

Map service users, frontline staff and other connected groups so you can prioritise who to involve in user research and early engagement.

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What is service design?

Curious about what service design is and how it can transform your work? We’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.

Read the guide
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Exploring service design careers

Have you been thinking about a career in service design but you’re not sure where to start? Here are some useful resources that might help.

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Who takes part in service design training?
Who takes part in service design training?

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.

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How to become an SDN-accredited service design practitioner
How to become an SDN-accredited service design practitioner

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.

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Sadaf’s squiggly journey to a career in service design
Sadaf’s squiggly journey to a career in service design

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.

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Why we’re offering a bursary for Service Design in Practice
Why we’re offering a bursary for Service Design in Practice

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.

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Charmaine’s squiggly journey to a career in service design
Charmaine’s squiggly journey to a career in service design

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.

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Will's squiggly journey to a career in service design
Will's squiggly journey to a career in service design

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.

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Sarah's squiggly journey to a career in service design
Sarah's squiggly journey to a career in service design

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.

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How to become an accredited service designer
How to become an accredited service designer

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.

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Beccy’s squiggly service design career journey
Beccy’s squiggly service design career journey

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.

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More careers content
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Inspiring service design case studies

Discover how other organisations are using service design approaches to transform how people experience their services? We’ve collated key resources from our blog.

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Accredited service design training: six years of lessons
Accredited service design training: six years of lessons

Most service design training leaves people inspired and then stuck. They go back to work, face the same pressures, and the learning fades. I built Service Design in Practice specifically to solve that problem. This is what six years of iteration looks like.

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The public sector digital transformation trap
The public sector digital transformation trap

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.

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From novice to practitioner: my first service design project
From novice to practitioner: my first service design project

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…

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Read more case studies
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Explore other service design learning

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5 lessons for impactful service design training success
5 lessons for impactful service design training success

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.

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Neurodivergent-affirming services and co-production
Neurodivergent-affirming services and co-production

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

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Essential service design secrets – 10 lessons learned
Essential service design secrets – 10 lessons learned

After 10 years working in service design with government and non profits, I’m now sharing my top ten nuggets of wisdom with you. The kind I wish someone had whispered in my ear as I set off on day one!

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Service design is a team sport, not an individual pursuit
Service design is a team sport, not an individual pursuit

Learn the crucial elements for building a successful service design team and achieving results. Explore the importance of involving the right people early, having clarity on objectives, and creating a psychologically safe environment for learning and experimentation.

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Six ways to design learning that sticks for the long term
Six ways to design learning that sticks for the long term

How do we design training that results in real growth and development? We share our top six tips for designing learning that sticks, makes a difference in the way people work, and results in service design practitioner accreditation.

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Psychological safety: what's it got to do with service design?
Psychological safety: what's it got to do with service design?

Is psychological safety a game-changer that can transform your team, organisation and life or is it just another buzzword? And what on earth has it got to do with service design? Here’s why I believe psychological safety is one of the most powerful collaboration tools you can employ.

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