Three years filled with service design
This article was first written and published in Spanish, on January 1st, 2020.
This 2019 we had an incredible year at Service Design México. The project is 3 years old, and we celebrated it by concluding a marathon of events, like the closure of the 6th Generation of the Immersion Program, traveling to the SDGC19, a couple of workshops, community nights, and an end of the year’s party with the community of ex-students, teachers and partners.
Throughout our history we have helped more than 600 professionals strengthen their knowledge of service design through courses such as the Immersion Program and the Fundamentals Bootcamp, private trainings, and events such as Community Nights, Service Jams, and Frontstage Conference. Many things have happened since we started, and I take this opportunity to do a little retrospective on this adventure that we have lived.
The Journey
In 2016 I started working as a service designer at BBVA, and in 2017 the Service Design team went from being 2 people (hi Clau 👋) to 6. This was a turning point in the company: we went from being 20 to 60 designers from various disciplines (if you have followed their evolution, they are now almost 200 designers, being the largest design team in a Mexican company).
Claudia and I had been talking to the Madrid team about going to the Service Design Global Conference 2017, and when the team grew we concluded that we all had to go to the conference (a decision that for the bank was difficult, how do you justify a whole team going on a trip at the same time?). They authorized the trip, but not the budget for everyone, and after weeks of talking about it, the solution was right in front of us: why don’t we launch a service design course?
With that idea in mind I set out to design the identity of SDMX, the website, the social media, we announced the tickets and voila, our project was born. We taught the first generation of the program, and then we all went to Madrid.
Without expecting it, the project was here to stay. The desire to continue sharing knowledge led us to launch the call for a second generation that same year and to our surprise interest remained, despite being something still little heard and practiced in Mexico at that time. With this desire to share, we also organized the first Service Design Drinks in Mexico.
The Backstage
Starting 2018, with the 3rd Generation on the doorstep, Tanya, Nora and I decided to take the necessary step of establishing ourselves as a company. The program began to evolve based on feedback from students, who asked for more content, and we extended the program from 24 to 44 hours. The type of students also changed, from having individual interest, to now having corporate clients interested in training their UX, research, marketing, or operations teams, among others.
That year we taught two more generations and formalized several relevant alliances with partners such as COW, Multiplica and Thrust. It was also an important year for me since I changed jobs to GBM and started the service design team there.
But the most intense year for the project has undoubtedly been 2019. We continued with the rhythm of two generations per year — the 5th and 6th Generation — while we were working full time in management positions in our respective jobs. We held a couple of shorter courses like Bootcamps, Expert Workshops with international designers, some Community Nights, the Global Service Jam, and our largest event to date: Frontstage, the first service design conference in Mexico.
Entrepreneurship in Mexico is hard, most projects die in the first years. The formalization phase from project to company brings its difficulties, and wanting to do everything (a full time job, the company, a conference, etc.) costed me a lot.
In October after doing a personal futures exercise I felt crushed by the realization that trying to do it all was unsustainable. We were doing a lot, but not everything we knew it could be. And so I took the big step of leaving my job to dedicate myself full time to SDMX.
The Frontstage
In the blueprint –the main tool of service design– the front stage is where the service becomes visible. When conceptualizing the branding for the conference, I took this term as the name, as a metaphor for the event’s intention: to be able to give attendees visibility of what is happening in the life of a service design professional. To make visible the effort, the processes, the results of the projects, and the challenges that the practice lives in our country and internationally.
I want to take use this metaphor to also make visible some achievements of our project:
💜 Throughout these 3 years we have supported more than 600 professionals in strengthening their knowledge of service design through our various courses.
🚀 We have had students from companies such as Sala Uno, Paypal, Google, BBVA, Multiplica, PuntoLab, Truper, Telefónica, Santander, GBM, Cívica Digital, CitiBanamex, Scotiabank, Totalplay, Pemex, Credijusto, Deloitte, among others.
🎓 We recently graduated the students of the 6th Generation of the Service Design Immersion Program, our most extensive program with teachers such as Claudia Sosa, Jonathan Rodas, Maria Lechuga, Ana Cristina Otero, Lucy Cruz, Natali Jaramillo, Ana Moreno and Benjamín Real.
📍 We participated in the Global Service Jam 19, where we had 70 attendees and more than 10 alumni participated as facilitators. We also had the participation of expert mentors such as Lulo, CEO of 23, Miguel Esparza of ANTS, Angel Otero of Ozmo, Cristina Otero of GBM, Jonathan Rodas of BBVA, Miguel Melgarejo and Aldo Álvarez.
🎤 We organized Frontstage 19, the first service design conference in Mexico, together with Tec de Monterrey university. Where we had 200+ conference attendees and 50+ workshop attendees, and we had the presence of recognized international speakers such as Lara Penin , Majid Iqbal, Richard Ekelman and Alejandro Masferrer, as well as local talent such as Roberto Holguín and José Flores de Insitum, Angie Ursic from Yema, and workshops with Aldo Álvarez and Claudia Sosa.
🔥 We had several Bootcamps and this year 2 Expert Workshops with the international experts Alejandro Masferrer from Triggers, and Grace Turtle, Experimental Futures Lead at Deloitte Sydney.
🧰 We organized several Community Nights, this year with international experts Grace Turtle, and with Nicola Vittori, Service Design Lead at BBVA Madrid.
🌎 We launched the Slack of the Comunidad Internacional de Diseño de Servicios (a spanish-speaking service design community) with partners such as BA Service Jams, Service Design Lima, Service Design Drinks Madrid, and members from countries such as Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, among others.
📚 We launched the State of Service Design in Mexico report 2019 and 2018, with insights about the industry in demographics, salaries and skills.
💬 And we participated in more than 10 talks and conferences as guest speakers.
None of this would be possible without the support of the community, the students, the teachers, and the partners who have believed in the project and in the design of services as an engine of change within companies in our country. With all of you we are enormously grateful.
The Future-State Service Blueprint
Just as I was saying in the State of Service Design in Mexico 2019, the practice of service design in Mexico is in a formalization phase, and there are still many efforts to be made to keep it growing and becoming relevant. Our mission is to continue promoting the practice and we look out for 2020 to continue offering unique learning opportunities in our country.
To continue supporting students in their growth, we designed a 2020 calendar full of new learning opportunities, including the launch of the Career Path, a modular program, with Advanced Modules that can be taken by all those who have completed the Immersion Program.
Some upcoming courses and events:
- January, 18th: Service Design Fundamentals Bootcamp
Introductory course lasting 8 hours, focused on the basic theory of service design, the fundamentals and principles and a quick review of the methodology and some of the most representative tools such as the service blueprint. Ideal for people who are approaching service design for the first time. No prior knowledge is required. - January 31st to February 2nd: Gender JAM
We are organizing a new JAM hand in hand with +MujeresUX, stay tuned to our social networks, registrations will soon open to participate. - February to March: 7th Generation of the Immersion Program
It is a fundamental and practical course lasting 44 hours, with the most characteristic tools of service design such as Stakeholder Maps, User Personas, Journeys, and Service Blueprints. You will develop a real project and end with a presentation and feedback session with stakeholders and service design professionals. Ideal for those who want to immerse themselves in the methodology and start putting the tools into practice. - May 15th: Frontstage Conference
We want to hear new voices and success stories of service design applied in our country and worldwide.
Follow our networks to stay up to date with news and events: instagram, twitter, linkedin, facebook.
I wish you all a 2020 full of service design ✨
This article was first written and published in Spanish, on January 1st, 2020.
