DE7041 - Service Design

You will engage in experiential learning through studio-based activities, which simulate real-world design studios. The team project brief will introduce you to the context of health and care services and product services and may run as a live-project collaboration with an external partner.



The studio provides a lively, creative and collaborative environment with the opportunity to gauge your own progress, learn from each-others’ strengths and even build friendship groups. Tutors will encourage you to interact with your peers in sessions – sometimes to work in a co-design team, sometimes to facilitate the co-design process, and always to support each other through positive feedback.



Timetabled studio sessions will usually include short opening lectures or seminars, to introduce new methods, as well as providing time to get feedback on your developing service design proposals through 1-to-1 discussion. This regular guidance will help you reflect-on your own design process as you work to clarify and focus your ideas, conceptualise new opportunities, deliver prototypes or finalise your other project deliverables.





You will be encouraged to think critically and experiment with new ideas throughout the module. You will be expected to reflect on and document your own learning process as the project unfolds.

Your module tutors will provide specialist project support through the timetabled sessions. Tutors are aligned to teach modules which relate closely to their own expertise and experience – whether that is gained through prior professional experience, through ongoing industry collaborations or through current research work they undertake within the University.



Each module begins with a comprehensive briefing that outlines the expected learning outcomes, module requirements, and a detailed schedule.



Where a collaborative live-project brief is being set, experts from the external partner will work with your module tutors to agree a suitable project and any additional support they can offer, which may include any of the following: in-person briefings; feedback and guidance on your developing proposals; site-visits; access to proprietary research, potential end-customers or equipment.



You will also have regular weekly sessions in a studio setting to structure your learning experience. In these sessions, you’ll participate in group discussions to receive feedback from your peers and tutors. Furthermore, you’ll receive tailored feedback during tutorials before you submit your work, helping you polish and enhance your project work for successful module completion.



During core working hours for the Design School but outside your timetabled sessions, you will have access to a wide range of technician-supported workshop environments. These will support all your making requirements including: specialist model-making materials, laser-cutting, 3D-printing, creating sewn soft-products, sensors and electronics, photography and videography.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding (K&U):

Critically appraise person-centred service design approaches for complex settings such as in public health and care services.

Evaluate the design role as facilitator of collaborative and co-design processes.



Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities (IPSA):

Develop strategic systems-thinking to realise valuable links and partnerships, with shared goals around your core project.

Manage your individual and teamwork responsibilities effectively.



Personal Values Attributes (PVA) (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity):

Reflect on your ethical responsibilities with respect to socially inclusive contexts.

This is a Pass/Fail module.



You will benefit from verbal formative feedback during weekly timetabled sessions and at key stages of the design development process.



Summative assessment will take place at the end of the set project through:

A team presentation of portfolio-ready presentation boards based on the live industrial project. (40% weighted).

An individual viva based on the student's project of block 3 to demonstrate the interpretation of service design development process evidencing the student’s reflections and project outputs. It will also include the individual choice and justification of the proposed study for the Major Project / Thesis in block 4. (60% weighted).



The module will be marked as Pass/Fail based on your overall result of the assessments.



At this summative stage you will receive initial feedback during a verbal team presentation of your work, with additional written feedback on your reflective process viva to follow.


This module is exempt from the Anonymous Marking Policy. The nature of working closely and directly with the students in teams makes anonymity unfeasible.

DE7037, DE7038, DE7039, DE7040

DE7042

Better services and experiences are key to a better future!



Once focused principally on product development, our industrial design processes and design thinking skills are now just as sought-after in reshaping services and experiences. In this module you will address these more complex challenges, applying design thinking principles such as empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing. Examples and project briefs focusing on the health and care sector will help you apply your design thinking skills to shape positive meaningful change.



Studio-based learning will provide a lively, creative and collaborative environment and the project brief may run as a live-project collaboration with an external partner.



As well as developing your core design process skills, key areas of study include visual mapping tools, analysing stakeholders, business-models, systems-thinking and effectively communicating user-experiences. The service design and co-design approaches are transferrable to numerous other contexts including UX and commercial service innovation, as well as other pressing global challenges such as shaping more sustainable, circular economies or fairer societies.