I as the Digital Officer (Service Design), part of the OD, Change and Digital Team identified the
need for a service design toolkit. This was to provide employees with a series of tools including
templates, tutorial videos and useful resources to assist with applying a service design approach
in their roles.
need for a service design toolkit. This was to provide employees with a series of tools including
templates, tutorial videos and useful resources to assist with applying a service design approach
in their roles.
Service design aims to improve services for users by considering their needs and experiences.
At the time, service design was still relatively new to the council and it was identified that there
was no centralised support hub for the service design community to access.
A customised toolkit for WDC could be used to not only introduce and encourage more
employees to use a service design approach but streamline the use of service design tools,
provide structure to service design learning, have refresher service design videos readily
available and useful resources for creating user-centered services all in one place.
At the time, service design was still relatively new to the council and it was identified that there
was no centralised support hub for the service design community to access.
A customised toolkit for WDC could be used to not only introduce and encourage more
employees to use a service design approach but streamline the use of service design tools,
provide structure to service design learning, have refresher service design videos readily
available and useful resources for creating user-centered services all in one place.
The service design toolkit (which was developed in Trello) is organised into columns including
Service Design Resources, Short Recap and Service design tool Tutorial videos. All the tools are
ordered under each of the four phases of the Double Diamond.
Each Trello card once opened has the design technique, instructions on how to use it, the WDC
branded template in various file formats and labels showing what it can be useful for (e.g. A
reflection tool, an icebreaker activity, a future thinking exercise and/or an activity suitable for
designing with kids)
Service Design Resources, Short Recap and Service design tool Tutorial videos. All the tools are
ordered under each of the four phases of the Double Diamond.
Each Trello card once opened has the design technique, instructions on how to use it, the WDC
branded template in various file formats and labels showing what it can be useful for (e.g. A
reflection tool, an icebreaker activity, a future thinking exercise and/or an activity suitable for
designing with kids)
The Service design toolkit also includes:
- Project planning tools
- User research methodologies
- Co-design workshop activities
- Project planning tools
- User research methodologies
- Co-design workshop activities
- Recap videos on service design training
- Links to useful service design resources
- Icebreaker exercise
- Links to useful service design resources
- Icebreaker exercise
The OD, Change and Digital Team offer all WDC employees the opportunity to attend free in-
person Service Design training. The course covers the service design approach, the principles and how to use some of the more common tools such as Journey Mapping and Service Blueprints. An additional asset to the training is the service design toolkit, we are careful to only give those who attended training access to the toolkit so it is being used correctly.
person Service Design training. The course covers the service design approach, the principles and how to use some of the more common tools such as Journey Mapping and Service Blueprints. An additional asset to the training is the service design toolkit, we are careful to only give those who attended training access to the toolkit so it is being used correctly.
Potential Benefits to using the toolkit include:
- having the tools to co-design efficient services with the people who need to use them
- having innovative strategies for strong user engagement
- having stronger visual communication when storytelling.
- having innovative strategies for strong user engagement
- having stronger visual communication when storytelling.
We have also tried and tested a lot of the tools from the toolkit when conducting our own User
Research Projects and facilitating co-design workshops in the OD,Change and Digital team. The
toolkit undergoes regular reviews, and feedback is collected from the WDC Service Design
Community to drive ongoing development of the toolkit.
Research Projects and facilitating co-design workshops in the OD,Change and Digital team. The
toolkit undergoes regular reviews, and feedback is collected from the WDC Service Design
Community to drive ongoing development of the toolkit.
Some of the templates require a creative mindset, which could pose a challenge for some and
may deter them from using certain tools outside of their comfort zone. With service design
training, co-design workshops and user engagement we aim to encourage WDC employees to
adopt a more creative mindset to prepare them for more innovative approaches to problem
solving.
may deter them from using certain tools outside of their comfort zone. With service design
training, co-design workshops and user engagement we aim to encourage WDC employees to
adopt a more creative mindset to prepare them for more innovative approaches to problem
solving.
