Service Innovation & Design

  • Design thinking – an influential combination of tools, methods and a mindset

    Design thinking – an influential combination of tools, methods and a mindset

    by Jenni Leppänen Design thinking has gained worldwide hype over the past decade. Its tools and methods are being discussed and implemented also in many fields not traditionally seen as designing fields, e.g. services. Design thinking is defined as a “process of continuously redesigning a business using insight derived from customer intimacy” (Jeanne Liedtka 2014).…

  • Innovating and Designing New Organizations

    Innovating and Designing New Organizations

    By Salla Kuuluvainen I participated in the Social Tools Conference organized by Pixelache Helsinki, an artist collective. I have been taking part in Pixelache events for a quite a while since I feel that they are a great source for finding out about ”weak signals” conserning the future and trends. Decentralization as Trend This time…

  • (Lights, camera,) ACTION!

      On a rainy Tuesday I attended School of Startup hosted by The Shortcut. This weeks theme was Design and there was a lot of workhops related. Idea of the track is to wake up design mind and skills through design methods. There will be other post(s) coming about the design week. This workshops topic…

  • What about brick and mortar?

    We are living in a world where change is present, and it is forcing many industries to redefine or reshape themselves in the near future. Of all industries retailing as we know it today is for sure facing one of the biggest challenges through its existence. People´s buying behaviour and preferences are rapidly changing and,…

  • Design Process Three Ways

    Design Process Three Ways

    By Salla Kuuluvainen I participated in Dash Design – an event that was preparation for Europe’s largest hackathon DASH. In Dash Design we heard from three companies and their take on design process: Smartly.io, Pentagon Design and Iittala. What became quite clear at the event was that the design process can look very different and…

  • Turning Thoughts into IDEAS: Learning to innovate

    The learning journey started at Laurea with course facilitator and lecturer Katja Tschimmel by deep diving in to the course “Design thinking”. This course is one of the foundation stones for the Master Degree Program in Service Innovation and Design. This blog gives insights about the learning experience that encountered during this course and also…

  • Designing together

    Everyone can – and does – design . — Nigel Cross Design thinking is a key part of what makes us human. This is how Nigel Cross described human ability and tendency for design back in 2011. The bold statement above is best explained by a few simple examples; design appears in everyday-like situations, by people…

  • Where is the Groan Zone in Design Thinking?

    Where is the Groan Zone in Design Thinking?

    By Salla Kuuluvainen Abductive thinking is a skill crucial for Design thinkers. It refers to being able to stay analytical and emphatic, rational and emotional, methodical and intuitive, oriented by plans and constraints, but spontaneous at the same time (Tschimmel 2012,3). We practiced our best capability in abductive thinking in a two-day workshop with Katja…

  • (Service) Designers, what for?

    by Kaisa Hölttä On the very first day of the Design Thinking course by Professor Katja Tschimmel, two existential questions rose in my mind: What is the role of a (service) designer in the innovation process? In the world where customers´role is more and more emphasizes, can customers even take a full responsibility of design…

  • Practical Design Thinking – Power of Fast Prototyping

    Practical Design Thinking – Power of Fast Prototyping

    The Course in Practical Design Thinking at Laurea was definitely a wow-moment. After two days of practicing design thinking we left inspired and empowered to take a new look of our life and work challenges. It f I would to choose the most powerful powerful tool I learned during this course it would be rapid prototyping. What Fast Prototyping…