Service Design and Design Thinking

Building efficient services with effective methods

Product design has always been a concern of production organizations. However, the services offered by organizations, both for end customers and internal services, were usually developed according to their own methods, often empirical or intuitive, without having a set of rules behind them.

Service Design is a method of rethinking the services offered by organizations, starting from the outside (customer) to the organization and not in the classic way, from the organization to the outside (customer). The ultimate goal is for the customer experience, internal or external, to be the best possible. Implicitly, this also brings internal benefits: a simpler and more efficient organizational structure, by eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy and by reducing costs that do not have a direct impact on the outcome.

Design Thinking is primarily a creative method of solving problems within organizations, but also the main tool used in Service Design to identify the real needs of customers (internal or external), respectively to generate solutions in process redesign.

Design Thinking courses are offered at Design Thinkers Academy Eastern Europe and are certified by Design Thinkers Academy.

Who is it for?

The course is mainly addressed to managers and process design people.

Course objectives

  • Understanding the key concepts of Service Design and Design Thinking – processes, methods and mindset
  • Learning service design methods based on basic principles in the world of designers
  • Experimenting with a process design through an iterative approach

Main topics

  • What is Service Design and how do we design efficient services?
  • Design Thinking as the main tool of Service Design
  • Combining and summarising the information obtained through research. triangulation
  • Ways to use empathy in Design Thinking
  • Mind-mapping; Building Personas; Stakeholder Mapping
  • Customer Journey Mapping
  • Identifying Opportunity Areas & Pain points / Context Map
  • Ideation
  • The double diamond model
  • Priority mapping and business scenario
  • Brain-writing
  • Scenario Service / Prototyping / Iteration
  • Story telling

Adela Cristea

Managing Partner & Founder Ascent Group

Adela Cristea is the managing partner of the Ascent Group and also the founder of the group of companies. Adela's experience has been accumulated over 20+ years, especially in management and human resources, in multinational companies such as Unilever or International Resources, as well as from a consultant position, in Archimedes Consulting Group and Ascent Group, as well as from that of an University Lecturer.

Throughout these years, Adela has been involved in numerous start-up business projects, enterprise restructuring processes, labour conflict mediation and training projects, for multinational corporations and local companies in various fields of activity, both in Romania and abroad. Since 2017 Adela is the co-founder of Design Thinkers Academy Eastern Europe, contributing to the development of the company in more than 20 countries in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Central Asia.

Diana Simion

Senior Trainer

With a background in academic and marketing research, Diana has a Ph.D. in Communication Studies and significant experience as a facilitator in Design Thinking projects, as well as with brand consulting.

Her inter-disciplinary awareness and curiosity to explore and connect people from various areas of activity have made her activity, over the last 15 years, revolve around organisational consulting and diagnose, soft skills and personal development trainings, brand consulting, marketing research, Design Thinking, customer & employee experience, communication and marketing.

Diana is a relentless explorer, who, whether online or in class, building on the relevance and clarity of her content, engages with participants as a highly empathetic and playful trainer, enabling a unique learning experience for them, one in which not only their curiosity will be catered to, but one in which good cheer and smiles are a natural byproduct, too.