Will I become a Service Designer if I take this training?

Service Designer is not a limited profession, so it is up to each individual to decide when they feel they have enough experience to call themselves a Service Designer. Since we have several higher education programs in Finland currently that lead to a Service Design degree, a short course may not give you quite enough experience to call yourself a Service Designer. But it also depends on your previous studies and work experience.

How can I use Service Design skills? 

Even if you aren’t working as a Service Designer, you can still use Service Design skills in various professions. In any job that requires you to develop services, products, or strategies, you can benefit from a Service Design mindset, processes, and methods. During the DiversCity course, you will experience a Design Thinking process that gives you a solid framework for developing new concepts in various fields.  

Service Design skills will provide you with an understanding of how to engage users or customers to understand their real underlying needs. Tools for a deep customer or user understanding can be helpful in many different fields, from participation in developing public services to strategic organizational development or service and product development in companies.

Will I be employed by the partner organizations or companies during or after the training?

You will work on a service design project commissioned by a company or organization as a DiversCity student. However, our program does not entail organizing direct employment or internship opportunities for the students.

Do I need a have specific skills or background to attend?

No, as long as you have some higher education studies or other equivalent studies. No design skills are needed, we will start from the beginning. We will learn to use digital tools for design, but coding skills are not needed or taught at the course.

How is the teaching and learning organized?

During the course, you will experience a Service Design process, methods and tools firsthand by working on a service design project commissioned by a company/organization. You will work on the project with other students in the course as a 3-5 person team. During the training days, we will teach you the Service Design through different pedagogical methods: lectures, interactive discussions, and workshops. We aim to create an engaging and inspirational learning environment by offering plenty of opportunities for you to put your new knowledge and skills to action. The training is a fairly intensive experience, and you need to be prepared to work together with your project team also outside of training days.

During the course, you will also have the chance to think about your personal and professional life goals by participating in individual mentoring. We also offer possibilities to work on essential career documents like a service design portfolio and cv.

What kind of projects have the previous participants worked with?

The previous students have, for example, developed the onboarding of a franchising restaurant company, created user insights regarding digital public services for people relocating to Finland, developed further a digital information portal aimed at immigrants concerning their worker’s rights and developed a community kitchen concept for a library. Check our social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) to see examples of the student projects!