Service design identifies what processes, people, and tools are needed to reach the desired state of customer experience. Rooted in a deep understanding of the user, service design practices take a holistic approach by understanding and synchronizing the employee experience and the customer experience. Service design is a growing skill set within government shaping the way people interact with the government and bolstering all aspects needed to support those experiences.
We create safe and experimental spaces for service designers to learn, network, and evolve. This is a free community open to any public sector service designers that are curious and want to grow. In addition to supporting government service designers, we present and share many different methodologies, including Liberating Structures, Game Storming, Participatory Design, Behavioral Design, Equity-centered Design, Design Futures, Inclusive Design, Systemic Design, and much more.
The Service Design in Government group brings together practitioners to learn and share as a community of practice. This group will bring together all levels of service design talent from federal, state, county, and municipal governments.
To facilitate the implementation, adoption, and integration of services or policies as bottom-up processes, the public’s active participation is one of the key factors that needs to be designed. This is designed to enable transformative dynamics that lead to the achievement of targeted objectives. Focusing on designing the steps necessary for a service or policy to be adopted limits design actions on how to initiate them; however, desired impacts take shape when service and policy guidelines are maintained throughout time.
In this presentation, I discuss how to design the “exit of a project” – i.e., when a project comes to a conclusion – through an interactive analysis of service design projects whose goal is designing legacy and impact. I will present how the exit is the real start of a service or policy design project when new behaviours, habits, and attitudes are maintained. Designing the exit is presented in relation to the engagement design method, i.e., a design practice whose goal is creating the conditions for communities to design their means for achieving their needs.
This discussion draws insights from the book “Engaging Design. Tools for design practices urging new forms of citizenships” (EPFL Press, 2025), which is a manual for designing action that is collective and sustainable, i.e., that leverages citizens’ empowerment as a driver for positive impact on society and the environment.
Link to download the book: https://www.epflpress.org/produit/1606/9782889156801/engaging-design
BIO:
Dr. Laura Ferrarello is an EPFL design researcher and LIGHT Laboratory Participatory Design Lead . Trained as an architect and working professionally as a design academic, Laura’s research explores how design – as a product and strategy – is a means to create bridges between technology, society, and the environment, leading to ethical innovation.
In Laura’s practice, design is a tool for systemic change, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration. Laura is the course leader of the EPFL doctoral course “The Practice of Ethics in Engineering Research” and of the online course “Ethical Practices to Guide Creativity and Innovation”. Through her research and practice, Laura collaborated with organisations including the ICRC, BBC, British Airways, NASA, RNLI, ARUP, WHO, Fujitsu, Huawei, Royal Society, Digital Catapult. Laura’s work has been presented in organisations and institutions, including Harvard GSD, Design Council, COP26, ETHZ, and USC. She published her first book, “Engaging Design. Tools for design practices urging new forms of citizenships" with the EPFL Press (2025).
Short Description
To reimagine public services as accessible, equitable, and effective systems, design must be understood not only as a technical tool but as a civic practice rooted in the lived experiences of citizens. While local governments traditionally rely on bureaucratic structures and top-down policies, service design introduces methods that bring people into the process—transforming civic challenges into opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
In this presentation, I will discuss my experience as a Design Strategist in the City of Mobile Mayor’s Office, where I worked on projects such as the redesign of 311 services, the City Start Financial Empowerment initiative, and the Mayor’s Vision Track. These projects revealed how service design methods—journey mapping, stakeholder workshops, and co-creation with residents—can address systemic barriers while building trust between citizens and institutions. I will highlight the tensions of introducing design into a political environment shaped by legacy processes, limited resources, and diverse community needs.
My talk frames local government as both a site of constraint and possibility. Service design, when applied in this context, becomes more than a way to improve service delivery; it becomes a strategic approach for civic innovation and long-term impact. Drawing from real cases in Mobile, I will try to show how designing with—not just for— communities can reshape how policies are implemented, how resources are distributed, and how cities can respond to uncertainty. Ultimately, this session positions service design as a means of rethinking civic engagement: not as an accessory to policy, but as a condition for creating sustainable public good.
Bio
Onur Kocan, Design Strategist at Studio Karun, Community Engagement at Service Design Network
Onur Kocan is a researcher, design strategist, and award-winning service designer who applies an interdisciplinary approach to some of today’s most complex challenges. He uses design as a transformative tool to shape the way people think, live, and engage with the world. His expertise spans industrial design, design strategy, service design, social innovation, and organizational leadership. Grounded in human-centered design principles, empathy, creative confidence, and embracing ambiguity. Onur has built a distinguished career advancing innovation in the public and social sectors.
His work is closely tied to nonprofits and public institutions. At the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Initiatives in the City of Mobile, Alabama, he worked on key projects including the redesign of 311 services, the City Start Financial Empowerment initiative, and the Mayor’s Vision Track. Today, his work lies at the intersection of research, service design, and public policy, where he applies human-centered design to reimagine civic engagement, bringing diverse stakeholders together to solve systemic problems and co-create actionable solutions.
Onur is also the founder of ENTA – Industrial Designers Association of Turkiye, a dynamic, accessible, and industry-focused design community. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Kadir Has University, and in 2011, completed the Design Research Certificate in Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability at the University of the Arts London. Most recently, he earned a Master’s degree with Departmental Honors in Strategic Design and Management from Parsons School of Design, where his capstone project explored design awareness in local government.
Currently, Onur leads Studio Karun, an iF Design Award-winning design studio that partners with NGOs, startups, foundations, and both local and national governments. Through Studio Karun, he continues to bridge research, strategy, and design, delivering projects that create meaningful social impact and sustainable innovation across sectors.
We meet twice a month--one time for a speaker/training and one small group discussion as part of the Lab Series. Each month The Lab Series provides a space for an inclusive community of service designers to openly ideate, troubleshoot, and experiment with old and new activities and methods. Check out our upcoming meetings below.
January 8 [Lab]: Time for Reflection 2025 with Lexi Schilf, SDG Co-lead
January 29 [LAB]: Singapore gov service design (tentative) with Melissa Chan
March 19 [LAB]: Collective Decision-making with Isabella Bruno
April 9 [SPEAKER]: Integrating Community Insights to Design Responsive Primary Health Care Services & Systems in sub-Saharan Africa with Naserian Saruni and Oliver Muchiri
May 21 [WORKSHOP]: Naming the Rupture: Grief, Groundlessness, and the Unspoken Realities of Public Service with Amy J Wilson
May 28 [WORKSHOP]: Making Meaning in Motion: Practicing Presence and Possibility After the Fall with Amy J Wilson
June 11 [DISCUSSION] How service design amplifies the circular economy with Gaëlle Le Gélard
June 25 [WORKSHOP] Civic Service Ecosystem Ecology with Abigail Fisher
July 16 [LAB] Casual designer hangout
July 23 [TALK] Ethics and Care in User Research with Vaidehi Supatkar
August 27 [PANEL] Designing Ethical Services
September 10 [WORKSHOP] Hands on Approaches to Frameworks for Innovation and Impact with Divya Harpalani and Ami Shrivastava
October 29 [WORKSHOP] Engaging design with Laura Ferrarello
November 19 [TALK] From the Mayor’s Office to the Community: Applying Service Design in Local Government with Onur Kocan
Check out our speakers page to view a full list of past speakers/facilitators from 2021-2024.