#31 The Service Design TV Show Host
Of course there is a Service Design TV Show! and I'm pleased to introduce you to the man behind it Mr Marc Fonteijn. I first met Marc and Marcel in Utrecht in 2008. I visited their 31volts studio and we've been cheerleaders for each other and the service design community ever since. When Marc asked me to feature in his new show of course I said yes...
Here's what Marc has to say ...
What is the service design TV show?
The Service Design Show (not TV, at least not yet) is show that runs on YouTube featuring light hearted interviews with the people the are shaping the service design field like Marc Stickdorn & Arne van Oosterom. The goal of the show is to inspire and connect the global Service Design community by providing material for a richer and deeper discussion. I started the show because I myself am curious to learn what these people are thinking about. What are the struggles they are having? What challenges are they trying to solve? By understanding this you can get a sense of where the field is heading in the next 3 to 5 years. I'd say the show contains great material for people that want to get a more holistic perspective on how service design is evolving.
What's the biggest lesson you've learned over the last year?
Know when to be patient and collaborate and know when to trust your gut feeling and move forward. In design we want to do things in co-creation. But we've all been in a situation in which it can be tough to get support for co-creation upfront. At this point you have a choice. Do you continue to build support for co-creation? Or do you trust your own gut feeling and take the next step? Through the last approach you can come up with results that get people on board. I've learned that you sometimes need to raise more risk and create that breakthrough that otherwise would not be possible.
What's your burning question of the moment?
So many...hard to choose. I guess the most important one is how we can fix education? A lot of the problems we see in the world today can be linked to how our educational system works. There are a lot of exciting developments in this field and I have good hope for the future. But it can't go fast enough!
What's the most inspiring thing you've seen / heard / read in the last year?
I'm in involved in a project where biologists and designers work on real-world projects to come up with solutions that are inspired by nature. It's amazing to see how much we can learn from nature (and shocking how little we currently use its knowledge). Also, for me it's another example of the power of design. Design provides a clear process, tools and mindset that helps us to come up with solutions that make sense from an end-user perspective. I think we need to find create more of these cross-disciplinary collaborations within design.
What would be your one piece of advice to students out there?
Get out of the office. Be out there. Be amongst people that you are designing for. Get out of your comfortable seat. Stop staring at that macbook and open your eyes to the world behind it.
You can read the rest of this interview series here:
#28 The Human Interaction Designer
#26 The Design Writer and Doer
#23 The Behavioural Researcher
#21 The Local Government Designer