Contributor: James Morelli
Earlier this month, the 2024 Service Design Network Global Conference (SDGC) in Helsinki brought together service design professionals from around the world to explore the role of service design in making an impact. The event highlighted some key trends shaping the future of service design—particularly the increasing role of AI, the intricacies of journey management, and the importance of maintaining human-centered approaches in an increasingly automated world. As Harmonic Design continues to innovate in this space, these conversations align well with our work in creating sustainable, inclusive, and human-centered services.
With its renowned Finnish design ethos, Helsinki was the ideal setting for this year’s conference on ‘Design for Impact.’ Finnish design’s emphasis on simplicity, sustainability, and user-centeredness reflects many core principles driving service design forward. The Finnish approach is characterized by its ‘less is more’ philosophy, focusing on simplicity, sustainability, and user-centered solutions—all principles that align seamlessly with service design.
At the SDGC 2024 conference, several discussions touched on how these Finnish values resonate with the need for human-centered, inclusive, and environmentally conscious services. This Scandinavian design ethos, emphasizing creating services that enhance the user experience while minimizing environmental impact, mirrors Harmonic’s dedication to sustainable and human-centered service design.
AI and Service Design: Where to Draw the Line
A recurring theme throughout the conference was the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) in service design. Several speakers explored AI’s current applications in automating routine tasks and growing capabilities in more complex work. However, they emphasized a crucial caveat: designers must carefully consider which aspects of their work—strategic or tactical—should be automated and which should remain human-driven. We make these decisions at the risk of potentially alienating ourselves from the aspects motivating us to show up as designers daily.
Pablo Fernandez Vallejo cautioned in his talk, “We should not design out the meaningful parts of people’s work.” AI is most valuable when it automates repetitive, data-heavy tasks, freeing designers’ time to focus on high-value challenges requiring creativity, empathy, and human insight. Currently, AI is most effectively leveraged when it supports, rather than replaces, human creativity and value creation. As AI evolves, it will be crucial to define its boundaries clearly and remain intentional about how, when, and where it’s applied in our work.
At Harmonic, we focus on designing multi-actor systems and have been actively exploring how to integrate AI to enhance the human-centered design process without overshadowing the human touch. We’ve been experimenting with AI-powered tools that help us analyze and synthesize large datasets. However, the ultimate storytelling and insight development remains in the hands of our designers, preserving the creative and empathetic elements of our work. This balance allows us to maintain the integrity of our service offerings while leveraging AI to enhance efficiency where it matters the most. We’ve also been mindful about not over-relying on AI, understanding that while it can handle tasks like data analysis and synthesis, the meaningful human-to-human interactions and insights must stay at the core of our design approach.
Journey Management: From Mapping to Managing
The conference also marked a shift in thinking about journey management. Talks highlighted the move from traditional journey mapping to a more active, real-time management approach, where journeys are not just visualized but continuously optimized through feedback loops and data. One particularly insightful talk from a lead designer at Deloitte Digital, Niels Corsten, broke down their approach to journey management using seven core building blocks. Though broadly applicable, these principles need to be tailored to fit the specific organizational context. It’s clear that journey management is not a one-size-fits-all process, and the challenge lies in understanding each client’s unique needs while maintaining a high-level, strategic approach
The focus on data was quite evident as Nathalie Salas spoke about the importance of building a more robust business vocabulary. This is needed for service designers so they can understand and cater to stakeholder’s needs and priorities while keeping the customer’s experience at the forefront. To strike this balance right, data should be accessible to everyone.
Harmonic’s work in journey management has been at the forefront of this trend, even before specific tools became widely available to us. From the beginning, we’ve relied on hands-on methods to map and manage customer journeys at small and large scales. Our approach to service blueprinting and moment mapping enables us to not only design these journeys but also manage and refine them through continuous real-time adjustments using data and close collaboration with key stakeholders. This was a key focus of our recent event, Product Meets Journey: A Service Design Roundtable, which we recently hosted at our studio during Practice Week 2024. The event explored the parallels and differences between product management and journey management, highlighting how both approaches can complement each other and service design to create a greater impact.
Watch the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-ihJT3DCCs&t=17s
Looking Forward: Creating Sustainable and Inclusive Service Systems
Sustainability was another key theme at the conference this year. The shift from sustainability as a “nice-to-have” to a core driving concept was evident, with many speakers advocating for environmentally conscious design as a non-negotiable.
In her talk on the circular economy, Gaelle Le Gelard emphasized the need for businesses to recognize that sustainability goes far beyond just carbon reduction. While CO2 often takes center stage, the real challenge lies in shifting away from the linear systems that dominate most industries. Scaling a circular economy—where resources are reused, regenerated, and kept in continuous cycles—is far more complex. This approach requires businesses to rethink their models, yet many struggle with the convenience and familiarity of linearity. However, as Gaelle pointed out, the benefits of embracing circularity, though more challenging to achieve, are essential for a sustainable future.
At Harmonic, sustainability is woven into the fabric of our approach, whether in our project methodologies, the outcomes we design for clients, or within our daily working practices. To demonstrate this, we had the opportunity to conduct a workshop, “Designing for Sustainability: Reimagining Service Experiences using Service Origami,” at the conference this year, where we taught participants to unpack service experience using the service origami tool and apply the three lenses of sustainability to find opportunities for service optimization. We shared a sustainability readiness model to help evaluate the maturity of different organizations and shared different techniques based on where an organization is on that spectrum.
The conference also touched on inclusivity, specifically the need to design with diverse actors in mind. This included considerations of both language barriers and accessibility, ensuring that services are functional but also inclusive and equitable for everyone
At Harmonic, our commitment to inclusive design is at the heart of everything we do. We create solutions that cater to all users, regardless of their background or abilities, ensuring that inclusivity is not just an afterthought but a fundamental principle. Collaboration, co-creation, and a human-centered approach are woven into our process, allowing us to engage with diverse perspectives actively. Through this, we craft meaningful solutions that promote a more human, equitable, and inclusive service environment.
Continuing the Conversation
The conference was a powerful reminder of the rapid changes reshaping the service design industry. AI, journey management, and sustainable design are not just trends—they fundamentally alter how we think about and deliver services. These innovations push us to balance automation with a human touch, continuously adapt journeys in real-time, and rethink our approach to sustainability and inclusivity in every project we undertake.
At Harmonic, we’re eager to explore these opportunities and committed to leading the charge. As we integrate these insights into our ongoing work, we remain focused on our core mission: creating human-centered, inclusive, and sustainable solutions. By staying ahead of these shifts and pushing the boundaries of what service design can achieve, we believe we can shape a future where services meet user needs and drive meaningful, lasting impact for businesses and society.