Next course starts 24 April 2025

Fees

Course fee: £1,200

Location

Online
4 sessions over 2 weeks
Week 1: Thursday 24 – Friday 25 April 2025
Week 2: Monday 28 – Tuesday 29 April 2025
9am – 12.30pm BST per session

Service Design at the Royal College of Art

Watch the course overview video

Services represent around 80 per cent of the economy. Service design applies human-centred design principles to make services that are sustainable and desirable for changing consumer needs. It delivers better customer experiences, successful innovation and business value. It can be applied to and transform services in all sectors ranging from retail and banking to transportation, health and education.

The Royal College of Art is a global pioneer in the teaching of MA-level service design and has successfully trained a new generation of practitioners who are delivering transformational ideas across business and government. Graduates have gone on to work for firms that include IDEO, Fjord, Engine, EY-Seren, Public Health England, Government Digital Services, Jaguar Land Rover, McKinsey.

In an age where product-based value is insufficient to satisfy customers, service design is a powerful discipline. This introductory executive masterclass will teach you the theory of service design and how to apply practical tools for effective service design.

The November 2024 iteration of the masterclass included a guest talk from Eva Guerra, Leading Strategic Designer & Service Design Expert.

About the course

Course structure

Module 1: Introduction to Service Design and its impact

Introduction to service design with examples of the impact of innovative services
Overview of service design methodology & approach
Online service design tools - white boards, digital post-its and social media

Module 2: Discovery

Setting a challenge – define a challenge & opportunity to bring service design to life
Who are you designing for? - customers, employees & stakeholders
Gaining user insight – human-centred research methods, service safaris, Jobs To Be Done & other experiential research methods.
Customer journey mapping – understanding end-to-end experiences & the systems that create them, using ‘design thinking’ methodology & the double diamond framework
Analysis of Pain Points - frame the brief

Module 3: Definition and Design

Learn creative design techniques – co-creation, brainstorming and concept creation
Visualising concepts and rapid prototyping – bringing concepts to life, storyboarding, sketching, role play and mock ups to visualise ideas and be ready to test with ourselves and end Users.

Module 4: Concept Delivery and Measuring Success

Service blue-printing & delivering change across your organisation
Experimentation, prototyping & piloting for deployment
System Thinking & cultural change
Presentation of design concepts, delivery plan & metrics for success.

At the heart of the course is the opportunity to apply service design in various contexts. We aim for the learning to directly relate to participants' work, allowing them to bring ideas and practical tools back to their workplace. Each participant is asked to think about an opportunity and a challenge in their organisation that they're open to discussing with others in the course. The course leader creates group challenges based on these shared issues and interests, which the teams can then refine together at the beginning of the course.

Previous challenge briefs have covered sustainability, net zero, travel, the future of work, retail and the high street, transport experience and ageing.

Disclaimer: The information given is accurate at the time of publication, however, the RCA reserves the right to amend the described course as circumstances dictate.

Personal and organisational benefits

The benefits to you and your organisation include:

access to global best practice in service design
apply service design in various contexts
learn empathic understanding of users/customers
return to your organisation with new techniques and strategies to put into practice, from improving service design management to incorporating user journey mapping more effectively
experience critical, creative and insightful thinking
interact and network with peers from different backgrounds and functions
support and guidance during the sessions from top RCA Service Design MA student and recent graduate facilitators
a certificate of online attendance.

What will you learn?

You will learn:

how to apply service design methodology and frameworks to create better customer experiences
real-world applications of service design and how it is transforming organisations
creative design techniques.

How will you learn?

This interactive online course is divided into four sessions taken over a two-week period.

Learning will take place in live sessions of three-and-a-half hours each.

You will learn through live lectures, interactive workshops and homework. Top RCA Service Design MA students and recent graduates facilitate on the course. Previous participants have praised them for their professionalism and supportiveness.

Participants are expected to work in small groups.

Online delivery

The course is organised in synchronous sessions in a live virtual environment that combines various digital platforms and tools.

Zoom
Using the videoconferencing service Zoom, the RCA's esteemed academics and facilitators deliver a mix of:

live lectures
case studies
guided assessments
presentations

Participants interact with the faculty and peers in breakout rooms in real time.

Miro

Participants engage in cross-functional team work with the use of visual collaboration tools.

Through the online whiteboard platform Miro, participants get to:

interact with various formats and templates
plan and brainstorm ideas
create processes and workshop activities in the digital workspace.

Moodle

The College's learning platform Moodle is personalised according to the course's requirements to provide participants with a secure integrated system where they can access the course content.

The hub hosts a range of useful resources to enable the learning experience, including comprehensive timetables, pre-reading materials, course slides, curated videos, tutorials and session recordings.

Slack

Participants stay connected and communicate via the channel-based messaging platform Slack throughout the whole duration of the course.

In this space, the academics, facilitators and delegates get to network, plan the course activities, share documents and files during the live sessions or offline.

Who should attend?

Anyone interested in transforming their organisation through the application of service design, including:

service delivery teams wanting to improve customer experience
private and public sector executives and senior managers wanting to reframe and solve their issues and deliver opportunities
designers want to be more strategic and learn new tools
entrepreneurs who want to deliver their ideas
innovation teams who want to deliver effective innovation
customer experience and service commissioners wanting to deliver better services.

Admission criteria

It would be helpful to:

have a basic understanding of human-centred design principles and design thinking
be comfortable with new digital tools.

“I enrolled in this course to explore whether pursuing a Master’s in Service Design at RCA was the right path for me. It not only confirmed my interest but also deepened my passion for service design. The experience reassured me that this is the field where I can thrive and make an impact.”
Alexandra Bassil, Freelance Product Designer, ALBA (l'Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts) November 2024 participant
“The Service Design Masterclass at the RCA was eye-opening. I gained a deeper understanding of systems thinking and learned practical tools to map and improve service ecosystems. What surprised me most was how quickly complex challenges became manageable with the right frameworks. This experience has fundamentally shifted how I approach design—more collaborative, strategic, and human-centered.”
Ross James, Head of Financial Planning November 2024 participant
“The Service Design Masterclass serves as an excellent refresher for any UX professional looking to broaden their experience design skills and build their knowledge on Service Design skills. With dedicated and attentive facilitators, and expert exercises, the course is structured to effectively translate theory into tangible work.”
Pratik Vyas, Principal Innovation Strategist, The Upside November 2024 participant
“The service design masterclass is a great opportunity to get new insights into how personas, customer journeys and blue printing is giving you the whole picture. It was a lot of fun to work on a group project and I was surprised with the service we came up with. I will implement the working methods into our innovation systems to develop new products.”
Sabrina Ziegler, Project Manager Innovation, Lohmann & Rauscher GmbH February 2024 participant
“An amazing course, structured really well. Ideal for entry level and mid level designers who are looking to gain insight into service design, with practical hands on learning.”
Yunus Motala, Service Designer, DESNZ February 2024 participant
“A great interactive course where you will really get to grips with service design methods and practice. I left feeling inspired and excited to start using service design methods in my design projects.”
Nicola Burnett, Lead UX Designer, Users In Mind Ltd February 2024 participant
“If you are interested in Service Design but don't have much time, this is the perfect packed introductory course to set you on your way”
Reeman Algaseer, Service Design Consultant at Accenture 2023 participant
“A really engaging course that covers a surprising amount of ground. It has had a very immediate impact on the way I am approaching challenges at work, and has motivated me to learn more.”
Laura Sims, Impact lead at St John Ambulance 2023 participant
“This course offered a refreshing and comprehensive perspective on the service ecosystem, equipping me with powerful tools to address real-life challenges collaboratively. Despite being conducted remotely, the lessons were filled with energy and positive vibes. I highly recommend this course to individuals seeking to drive impactful changes in their workplace.”
Jaycee Chiu, Assistant Manager, UX/UI Product Design at FWD Insurance 2023 participant
“It has forever changed how I approach my work, allowing me to create solutions that truly resonate with users. This masterclass is a game-changer for anyone looking to make a significant impact in the field of service design.”
Shraddha Andani, Product Designer at Astrato Analytics 2023 participant
“Best course ever, very engaging, interactive, and chance to collaborate with industry leading SME resolving real world issues using service design. Would highly recommend the course to anyone who wants to gain insight on how to use the principle and tools of service design to rethink, transform or redefine their business or customer experience.”
Christian Francis, Lead Consultant, Business Strategy at AMIDO 2022 participant
“This a a brilliant course, practical, stimulating and remarkable in its breadth of vision combined with forensic work on detailed design using visual tools. Highly recommended for anyone working in the area of transformational change, whether or not they are a service designer.”
Caroline Fryer, Business Design & Change Manager at Norfolk County Council 2022 participant
“This course gave me tools that will help me better organise my ideas and provide sharp solutions always having the user as the most important element.”
Daniela González, Creative Director at garcia+robles 2022 participant
“I enjoyed interacting with a wide variety of people united by a desire to make things better for customers.”
Shelagh Martin, Head of Customer Design at HSBC 2021 participant
“The best training course I have done - it will make a real, practical difference to the way that I work.”
Katy Rutherford, Innovation Unit Manager at Norfolk County Council 2021 participant