Filed under: Red Jotter Work | Tags: career, experiencec, graduating, graduation, mypolice, service design

I am focusing on the journey, not the destination. What I want and need is found not in finishing an activity but in the participation. Wish me luck in finding new shoes to continue on the next phase of my journey…
Filed under: Red Jotter Work | Tags: future gov, london, mindapples, mypolice, redjotter, the bigger picture
As promised I would like to introduce you all to MyPolice. The video below tells the story of the web-based service that fosters constructive, collaborative communication between communities and the police forces which serve them.
You can follow MyPolice ventures on our blog. Sarah and I are traveling to Coventry to present at The Policing 2.o Conference:
“The NPIA Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme is organising the first national conference for the police service in England and Wales looking at the impact of social media.
‘Policing 2.0 – the Citizen and Social Media’ will include presentations from forces who have been early adopters in using social media and speakers from outside the world of policing who will discuss the wider impact.
The emergence of cheap and accessible information technology and the increasing importance of the Citizen Focus approach means that police forces are beginning to use social media sites such as facebook and twitter as part of their communications and engagement strategies. At the same time citizens are looking to social media as a platform to comment on, or engage with policing.”
I also have the Festival of Interdependence, Service Design Drinks, Future Gov and Mindapples to look forward to…and of course spending time with my most lovely London friends…you know who you are :)
I have been overwhelmed by the recent support I have received online and offline – huge big thank you to everyone for your advice, comments and RT’s :)
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, design thinking, made me think, people I like, service design | Tags: design thinking, Karelia, president obama, service design, theory143, USA


I would like to introduce Karelia:
“I’ve had a pretty clear idea of “it” ie. my big picture for a few years now. I knew that I simply wanted to help people via design. I just didn’t a) think an actual position/title of “it” existed, or b) knew exactly what “it” would be called, since it’s an amalgamation of so many things. but i’m pretty sure, as of yesterday, that i’ve found “it.”
*cue heavenly chorus*
And “it” is called SERVICE DESIGN.”
She is on a google frenzy, buying post-its and drinking coffee – becoming a service design sponge! With a background in Graphic Design, Karelia has connections with Design Ignites Change and Project M.
Karelia is a prime example of why there is a growing need for Making Service Sense. We had an exciting conversation over the weekend, she said ‘I don’t have a filter’.
Based in Chicago right now, Karelia is happy to move anywhere her service design journey may take her. So who’s doing what in America -
- Continuum
- Peer Insight
- Adaptive Path
- Ideo
- Frontier Service Design
- Pink Service Design
- Idea Couture
- U.S National Design Policy Initiative
And of course, not forgetting the fact President Obama needs service design!!

I would like to ask you all to post any links/ advice/ books/places/ people / opportunities you can think of to share with Karelia.
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, service design | Tags: future, scotland, service design
So, now I have graduated, what are the next steps for Redjotter?

MyPolice
I am pleased to announce I have been appointed the role of Director at MyPolice; a web-based service that fosters constructive, collaborative communication between communities and the police forces which serve them. This role is pending funding at the moment… results should be in at the beginning of October! I am going to be working closely with Sarah Drummond, the founder of MyPolice, to give service design a voice in Scotland.
Conferences / Speaking
Next month, alongside the rest of the MyPolice team I will be presenting the venture at The Citizen and Social Media Conference. In November, we are also presenting it at the mypublicservice conference in London; a national conference about citizen engagement with public services online.
Collaboration
Last week, I met the Director of Scotland’s Future Forum, a non party political organisation owned by the Scottish Parliament’s Corporate Body. Yesterday, I had a very exciting meeting with a lecturer of social work and community education from the University of Dundee to talk about service design and social work coming together to make things happen.
I am very excited.
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, master of design, people I like, service design | Tags: Crossingtheborder, David Hicks, master of design, service design
I would like to introduce Redjotter’s first ever guest blogger: David Hicks founder of Glasgow based consultancy CrossingTheBorder that specialises in developing services, visual communication and customer engagement.David shares his opinion on the T-Labs project I worked on during my MDes program…

Recessions stink, they really do and ours isn’t over yet by a long shot. We may be having a bit of respite at the moment but the experts predict that this initial growth of the UK economy will only be temporary. In all likelihood, there will be a further contraction followed by a further ‘false dawn’ before sustained growth finally kicks in.
This ‘W’-curve recovery pattern means we are in a strange period of economic stagnation. But ‘Never waste a good crisis’ are words being uttered by many in business. An initial opportunity, not least a critical one is that your business audience is in a receptive state, whether they are in the public or private sector, with regard to learning how things can be done differently, at minimal costs of course.
Another mantra we are starting to hear is ‘Do more, with less’. Not ‘Do the same as you were doing, with a bit less’ but do a lot more with a lot less’. This is increasingly true for public sector organisations as the reality of looming budget cuts starts to be realised.
It was with these thoughts rattling about my consulting brain that I visited the Dundee University Masters Degree Show last week. In particular, I was interested in a project, which was a collaborative undertaking between a number of the Mdes (Master of Design) students and with a real client. It was clear on arriving at the show, and glancing at the large format visuals this was no ordinary academic undertaking.
The students, through the ‘design school’ had been commissioned by a well-known global mobile company to look at how their services could be developed for an aging and increasingly elderly population. The client provided a framework, which could generically be described as a design thinking process, however the remaining architecture of the client solution was developed by the students themselves, no mean feat given the client had to buy the structure before any further work could be completed.
The client engagement methodology was titled Rip + Mix by the students, one that alluded to the deconstruct/reconstruct nature of the approach they intended to take through the design process. Within this process, the students developed their own creative tools and workshop formats that would allow them to answer the service design brief both thoroughly and commercially. It was clear from the presentation that they had done this with the highest standards of thinking, creativity and professionalism.
Not least, they had taken the opportunity to first reformulate the clients’ questions, prioritise them and double-check them with the client, (how many agencies, consultants and economic support organisations could do with a refresher in that part of the process alone?) and they also eschewed, I was glad to see the default ‘customer-centred design’ process most designers seem to think is the be all/end all first
Within the project, each student had identified their own strengths and interests and identified where they fitted with each stage whilst contributing in a truly collaborative way – designers egos seemed to be conspicuous by their absence, meaning the client needs were always coming first.
Although I can’t go into the detail of the project for IP protection reasons, the students, or former students as they now are, showed a remarkable capacity to understand the client. By taking sufficient risks in coming up with both innovative yet practical solutions and importantly grasping the opportunity that there was space to both educate and up-skill the client in the process, an additional set of value creating deliverables had been included in the project.
Now, these are the people I want to work with, no matter where we are on the W-curve.
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, master of design, service design | Tags: "Making Service Sense" "Service Design", graduation, Lauren Currie, makingservicesense, redjotter

Last Friday, 11th September I had a remarkable day! Firstly, I discovered I had been awarded a distinction for my MDes degree! …and secondly the exhibition of my work opened at Dundee University.
Making Service Sense is a service I have created hypothetically created during my MDes programme and with these foundations intend to turn into a reality. Making Service Sense offers young graduates a new way of accessing the world of service design, through a variety of methods and mediums.
The five core objectives:
1. To act as a knowledge bank.
2. To offer vibrant and relevant insights into the industry.
3. To provide a comprehensive pathway into service design.
4. To build connections between practitioners and graduates.
5. To grow and develop in a co-design manner – with the help of its users.
For the week of the Master of Design show Making Service Sense was articulated through a brand (logo design by Chris Clarke), a pack of 40 case study postcards, business cards, a process map, a 200 page design synthesis (all designed by Kate Andrews) and an interactive exhibition space!

The exhibition space had four elements:
1. Take a seat
2. Join the conversation
3. Ask the industry
4. Read about the service
The space was conceptually designed to mimic what happens in this web space, in that my catalysts fuel further questions. On Friday evening, I harvested questions in real time – I put a question out to the service design community via twitter, but no one at the exhibition needed to touch a computer. I acted as a filter between the complexity of questioning about service design vs. industry experience vs. internet information. This is more than being a moderator it is about being a facilitator. I am the service design filter. I am Making Service Sense.

So what is next?
I have learnt a lot over the past 12 months and hope to visit universities to talk about Redjotter and the journey I have been on during my MDes. I have also been invited by Tamsin at Engine to share Making Service Sense with the team in London next month!
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, service design | Tags: experience design, finland, kuopio, service design, workshop
I want to share my workshop experience with you. A little snapshot…
more about “Twitter / @Redjotter“, posted with vodpod

Ten points if you can guess who my twitter friends are :)

Much more news from Finland coming soon….
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, service design | Tags: Lauren Currie, making service sense, master of design, redjotter, service design
For the past twelve months I have been studying a Masters of Design; an experimental space which as allowed me to explore and direct my future position as a practicing service designer.
I would like to introduce you all to Making Service Sense:
What’s this about?
Making Service Sense attempts to communicate to students what people sometimes think and talk about when it come to Service Design.
“Service Design” – what is it?
Well a service is an intangible product we experience over time in different ways. Service Design is designing and arranging the interaction between service provider and the end user. Make Sense? Didn’t think so…
What’s up with the title?
The title is about making sense of complicated stuff – that simple feeling of suddenly understanding. Right now, between blogs, websites and networks the time students can devote to navigating their way around the hectic Service Design landscape has dwindled.
But what’s the idea ?
A service made up of people, conversations, a website and the book ‘Making Service Sense’. It feels a little like climbing Everest in stilettos: at times exciting, sometimes laborious, always tough —and in the process, you might ruin a good pair of shoes.
What’s the website for?
The website is a way to continue things I started and couldn’t finish, as well as a platform to engage in new questions. It’s also a place to start new Service Design explorations and conversations amongst students and designers.
I would like to invite you all to be part of my exhibition evening through twitter – using the hash tag #makingservicesense.

I am looking forward to seeing Sarah, Dawnne, David, Richie and Kate at the show…@tessybritton @cassierobinson @dominiccampbell @designthinkers @iterations @fergusbisset are joining in via twitter.
When visitors to my show ask me questions about service design and the industry – I am going to ask those who know best! and then physically re-create the answers in my space.

Tweet me if you would like to be part of #makingservicesense this Friday!
much more to follow…. :)
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, people I like, service design | Tags: experience design, finland, service design
My Finland adventure begins today! The Kuopio Academy of Design at the Savonia University of Applied Sciences is hosting a service design conference on Monday till Wednesday this week.


The conference will be structured around keynote presentations on the 7th of September and will continue with three practical service design workshops facilitated by myself, Arne and Stefan . Keynotes will be delivered by service design professionals, including Professor Birgit Mager from KISD and Associate Professor Nicola Morelli from Aalbog University.
I can’t wait! Going to see many friendly faces and hopefully meet some new ones :) I will be tweeting about my trip and the event!
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, service design | Tags: design week, education, employment, service design
Design Week suggests Young people need more information about creative industries.
The comments are the most relevant and important part – including those by Sarah and Jonathan.
I have a question to ask those of you who are students | undergrads | postgrads | graduates | interns | ex-students..
Where do you go to find out how to get in and get on in the world of Service Design?
p.s if the answer if negative – ‘I wish i knew’ or there is ‘ no where to go’ that is ok too!
*The ‘unpaid internship’ issue mentioned in the article deserves a post of it’s very own – coming soon!
Redjotter is one today.

This is the first post that explains how this all began! Today is an excuse for me to say thank you for all your support and inspiration. Fingers crossed the year ahead is full of surprises and adventures…
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, service design | Tags: prototyping, service blueprinting
A machine I designed to show the workings of the final system I am working on.
Turning this:

Into this:

















