How it started / How it’s going

3 min readJun 2, 2021

Practitioner Stories is turning 1 year old and in celebration of this we looked back on how everything had started, where we are now and how we feel about it.

collage with how it started on the left, and the screenshot of the tweet, and on the right, a few illustrations of our achievements with orange sticky notes

A year ago

Practitioner stories started a year ago, with a twitter thread by Kirsty Joan Sinclair to which both Angela and Stéphanie replied:

Shortly after Serena got in touch and joined the team.

Screenshot from slack from Serena: Hello! Was great to see you at the Service Design Scotland Distanced Gathering today! I’ve read your medium post and I would be really interested in getting involved in collecting and analysing the stories. I’m personal really interested in how we can build, support and embrace service design expertise in the public sector. Let me know how I can help! Best wishes, Serena and answer from Stéphanie 1 minute later: Welcome on board Serena, you’re hired! — First message from Serena on 11 June 2020 — Hired on the spot!

…little did we know that we would still be working on the ‘wee interview study’ one year later!

So what’s been going on for a year?

Well, quite a lot has happened!

all the illustrations we have so far grouped on one image — All illustrations by Angela

Our key achievements over the last year:

conducted and transcribed 15 research interviews between June and August 2020
analysed and synthesised hundreds of codes, themes and insights and still going on
facilitated a co-design workshop with the service design community
launched our website in February 2021
delivered two talks about the project at the UX Glasgow meet-up and the Service Design Scotland Distanced Gathering in March 2021
published 4 summaries of insights
a survey with results coming out soon

… and how is everyone feeling a year later?

Angela

“After a year, I’m in awe at our commitment to the project, proud of our work, and grateful for finding such a supportive and skilled team.”
“This project has been a fantastic space for us to experiment with remote methods, learn from other practitioners, and discuss and share the joys and the pains of service design. But most importantly, it has kept me motivated throughout the pandemic.”

Stéphanie

“Still enjoying it! I was not planning on spending so much time on this for so long, but it’s been really rewarding and a great opportunity to meet people, try new things.”
“Both Angela and Serena have pushed me in directions I would have never explored by myself”

Serena

“This project has been such a great opportunity to explore the service design practice in Scotland and to connect with other practitioners! I really enjoyed listening to all the stories and getting inspired, motivated and reflective by them. I‘m very impressed by what we have achieved so far and I‘m looking forward to what comes next!
“Thanks to all the great practitioners out there, who have promoted, contributed and supported this project! And thanks to the team for all the lovely chats, critical discussions and hard work making this a great experience!”

There is still time to take our survey

illustration to show a journey to service design

Are you a user researcher, service, content, or experience designer working in the public or third sectors in Scotland?

We want to hear about your journey into service design approaches whatever your job title. Please, take 5 minutes to answer our survey— Thank you!

Want to learn more about the project and want to get involved?

Visit our website, read our summaries of insights on Medium, follow us on Medium or on Twitter @PractitionerSt1