Workshop | Design Diplomacy This workshop examines the role of the service designer as a facilitator of large-scale change and the messy and often political realities that emerge from this work. Through hands on activities and case studies, we will explore how service design methods, such as co-design and prototyping, are being used at scale to transform organizations and to reimagine service systems that are only possible when designers attend to relationships and conflicts. When designing at scale, the designer is called upon to broker relationships between actors with competing agendas, priorities, and values. In order to scale our impact in turbulent times, we question: What does it mean to be a diplomat when designing at scale? How must Service Design tools be re-worked to account for the messy political realities? What are the qualities of the diplomat-designer?

1. Design Diplomacy: Scaling
impact in turbulent times
Service design methods, such as co-design and
prototyping, are being used at scale to transform
organizations and to reimagine service systems
that are only possible when designers attend to
relationships and conflicts.
When designing at scale, the designer is called
upon to broker relationships between actors
with competing agendas, priorities, and values.
In order to scale our impact in turbulent times,
we question: What does it mean to be a diplomat
when designing at scale? How must Service
Design tools be re-worked to account for the
messy political realities? What are the qualities of
the diplomat-designer?
Applying service design tools to a complex
challenge can assist in the clarification
and resolve of conflict between divergent
stakeholders. By reconsidering service design
tools for more relational, political, and messy
contexts we gain a new appreciation for the skills
required to navigate divergent stakeholders
through complex service-system change.
Reimagining service systems
and examining the role of
the service designer as a
facilitator of large-scale
change.
Recent years have been unsettling
for many, whether it’s due to political
polarization, systemic challenges, or
declining trust in public institutions.
With that comes a return to diplomatic
finesse, the ability to apply flexibility
and creativity to complex challenges
with multiple stakeholders.

2. As a designer it’s easy to get carried away focusing on a single touchpoint while we should be stepping back
to collect a holistic perspective of the experience. Design in the public sector is often influenced by a variety
of stakeholders, both internal and external, as well as the public environment and current events (think
consumer behaviour and regulatory change), leading to more services that break down traditional roles and
knowns about how a service will come to market and be delivered.
Touchpoint Service System
Complexity
Diplomacy scaled by design
Diplomacy
This is Sophia, she lives in the suburbs and needs to get to downtown from home. There are 3
transit systems she can use to get there: Private-sector ride share, city transit, suburban transit.
Stage 1: Getting from home to the train station
Without a bus option in her neighbourhood, Sophia drives to the Train Station
every morning to commute downtown but constantly finds herself fighting for a
parking spot. There are traffic jams surrounding the station and the parking lot
is chaos!
Stage 2: Managing trip interruptions
Sophia is onboard and on her way to an important meeting when her train is
suddenly delayed. She has a regularly scheduled bus that she normally trans-
fers onto once in the city that she will now miss. Sophia is unsure of the best
alternative to get her there and doesn’t know if she will be there on time.
Stage 3: Integrated planning and pricing
Sophia arrives at the station and sees that she has missed her bus. She decides
to hail an Uber thinking it is the fastest option. Sophia is upset and frustrated
by the time she gets to her meeting as she is 20 mins late and has spent an extra
$30 due to surge pricing.

3. Think like a designer
Think like a diplomat
Think like a
designer-diplomat
Pull back from design for a
second to think about what the
stakeholders are dealing with.
What power structures? What
change are they open to?
Think about the pain points in
Sophia’s current commute, and
reimagine an ideal commuter
transit experience.
Rethink the initial concept
with design diplomacy.
Consider other stakeholders’
paint points. Remember,
diplomacy is the fine art of
knowing when to exert power
and when to bend or appease.
An exercise in designing with diplomacy

4. 3 Key lessons of
Design Diplomacy
1.
2.
3.
Prepare for conflict
Understand power structures
Change is constant
but non-linear
“The political analyst must understand the
nature of conflict in a given society, how that
society views conflict, and what its mechanisms
are for managing it.” - Raymond F. Smith
As design-diplomats our aim isn’t to eliminate
conflict, but to understand it, channeling it into
creative and productive action. Conflict is a
necessary precursor of change.
“A rigid power structure appears strong but is
actually fragile. It emphasizes stability and the
rightness of its institutions, resists change, and
denies the legitimacy of conflict… The more
authoritarian a society, the more it is ripe for
sudden, radical change.” - Raymond F. Smith
As design-diplomats it is important to understand
how power works within organizations and how
rigid or open organizations are. Where is there
unity within the organization? Where is there
discord?
“When the inconceivable becomes the possible…
There is no inevitability to what happens after
that moment, but there is also no way of looking
once again at the future as one did before.”
- Raymond F. Smith
As design-diplomats we must be attuned to the
dynamics of change and recognize that we cannot
stabilize these factors. We must be ready for both
incremental quantitative changes, and massive
qualitative changes.
As service designers, we must
consciously resource our
processes and tools (such
as prototyping) to drive
stakeholder alignment on
problem framing, create a
shared vision of the future, and
productively channel conflict
between stakeholders.
We have an opportunity to drive
transformative change by deeply
understanding needs because
our methods allow for “trading
zones” and we can generate
“boundary objects” that better
align stakeholders.
As service design matures,
the spaces in which service
designers play may continue to
increase in scale and complexity.
Service designers need to be
open and ready to take on design
challenges at a broader scale
with increased stakeholder
complexity.

5. Bridgeable is an award-winning, independent
human-centered design consultancy located in
Toronto, Ontario. We work with individuals and
organizations to create a more human world,
one experience at a time. By putting people
first, we build better experiences from the
ground up. Together with our clients, we awaken
insight, create meaningful strategies, and forge
tangible tools that lead to enduring growth for
organizations and people.
Chris Ferguson
Founder
chris.ferguson@bridgeable.com
+1 416.704.1235
www.bridgeable.com
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