Lea and Giulia applied for an internship in "Service Design" at why does robin during their communication design studies at HTW Berlin in.Although they were not familiar with this discipline before, they quickly realized that their initial restraint was completely unfounded. In the interview, the two talk about their positive experiences during their internship. We are delighted that we will be able to count them as permanent members of our team from October 2022.
Many people have little idea of what service design is. How did you feel about it?
Lea Scheidt The term itself sounds self-explanatory at first – but what are services? At what point do you "design" them? I only realized this when I was able to work actively in this area.
Giulia Gasser In fact, I hesitated briefly with my application. I was unsure whether I already had enough experience in Service Design.
What skills should you bring to the subject of service design?
GG First and foremost, you should be curious and open to new topics as a designer. Thinking with others, empathizing with others and putting yourself in other people's shoes are skills that are important in day-to-day work. It is also an advantage to have a talent for project management and structured work.
LS I also think that empathy and flexible thinking are particularly important. Service design is user-centered, and perspectives are as diverse as people. You have to be able to get involved with that. The projects also vary greatly. Sometimes creative approaches are needed, sometimes you have to be more analytical.
GG I find this mixture very exciting and challenging. Because we also work in an agency where many transmedia projects are created, it's even more fascinating.
»I also think that empathy and flexible thinking in particular are important. Service design is user-centered and points of view as diverse as people.«
To what extent did your communication design studies prepare you for the real world?
LS service design projects are slowly becoming part of the curriculum – that's new. But even without being able to participate in one, the study gives you something. Teamwork and respect for different approaches are important points, but so is openness to topics that you may not have dealt with before.
GG Good teamwork is very important and indispensable for larger projects. Finding out where my strengths lie and how to realize them in a team was a great learning for me. Studying also allowed me to experiment and took away the shyness to tackle things.
What was your highlight project during the internship?
GG For me, clearly the cooperation with the DBSV (German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired) and the adlerschmidt agency. Unfortunately, inclusion is still far from being a matter of course in design. To sensitize oneself as a designer, to listen carefully and to respond to all needs is so important! Doing user research for an audio branding process for the DBSV was therefore enormously educational and inspiring for me.
LS We were able to examine the Alexa skill of a large German company and revise it for user guidance and accessible language. Voice assistants are a big topic of the future and the insight into UX/UI in the field was extremely exciting for me. How is such a skill built and how natural can and should a voice assistant sound? Do we even want to include irony and humor in such a dialog? These are questions I hadn't thought much about before, and I was very inspired by the project.
»I've always found projects more exciting and profound when they have a strong concept or touching storytelling – be it art, music or even design.«
Would you say you approach projects differently today and if so, how?
GG I scrutinize topics or processes more closely. That is not always an advantage. Sometimes I work too much in my head and go round in circles. But that's just part of it. I've always found projects more exciting and profound when they have a strong concept or touching storytelling - be it art, music or design.
LS My time in service design has shown me that it's perfectly okay to toss your topics and perspectives back and forth ten times. But you also have to draw conclusions and get to the point at some point. A lot of analysis doesn't help anyone just yet.
