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Reflections on service design in the public sector – A guest lecture

As part of Lagom’s leg up offering, we often share knowledge and experiences with others who are thinking about careers in digital or user research. Recently, I had the privilege of delivering a service design lecture to a group of MA Design Management students at Birmingham City University. 

The lecture was aimed at helping students understand the fundamentals of service design and how it can be used to create meaningful experiences for users of public services.

The lecture started with an introduction to service design across the public sector and how we think of the discipline internally at Lagom. This was supplemented with an explanation of typical activities used in the role (such as concept prototyping, and developing service blueprints) and examples of these activities being implemented. 

I also highlighted some reflections and learnings from working on Discovery projects over the past year and a half, including practical examples of my own successes and failures, and learnings from our work. 

Overall, the lecture was really rewarding to deliver, and the students were able to gain a better understanding of service design and its importance in creating meaningful experiences for users of public sector services. 

As a professional in the digital industry, it was rewarding to share my knowledge and experiences with the next generation of designers. I am grateful for the opportunity to have delivered this lecture at Birmingham City University, and I look forward to future opportunities to share my knowledge and experiences with others.


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