The first Service Design Thinks event in Amsterdam on 18 February was a great succes. The beautiful room, generously offered to us by the Waag Society, was packed with people from various backgrounds (agencies, clients, academia).
We started the session with brief presentations by Arne van Oosterom (DesignThinkers), Joost Holthuis (EdenSpiekermann), Marcel Zwiers (31Volts), Bas Raijmakers (STBY) and Dick van Dijk (Waag Society). They talked about issues they encounter in their current practice as a service designer. Some of these issues touched on methodology, others on client relationships or the evolution of the role of a service designer in subsequent stages of service design projects. The discussions after each presentation and at the end of the session were very lively.
It is clear that these kind of sessions are very welcome. We discussed the option that more people in the network can take the initiative to organise Service Design Thinks sessions. It would be great to have one every two months. The location can vary according to who is organising it. It does not have to be in Amsterdam. Rotterdam and Amersfoort were mentioned as well. Great!