Discovering Service Design
How My Career Path Prepared Me for the Work I Love
I didn’t set out to become a service designer. In fact, like many who find their way to this field, I spent years doing the work before I even knew it had a name. What I did know was that I was naturally drawn to systemic thinking, people-first solutions, and holistic approaches to problem-solving. These instincts shaped my early career, even as my titles didn’t yet reflect what I was truly doing.
As I’ve mentored others, I’ve noticed a similar pattern: Many people come to service design because it aligns with how they naturally think and work. For me, the journey from theater to service design was anything but linear. It included pivotal moments that revealed what I was capable of and laid the foundation for the work I do today—work I’m deeply passionate about. Let me take you back to where it all began.
Early Stories: Service Design in Disguise
Digital Asset Management (DAM): Streamlining Creative Workflows
My first role outside the theater world was at an advertising agency in New York City. It was here that I took on my first digital transformation project: implementing a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system to organize an overwhelming library of creative assets. While my role was junior, the challenge required a systemic approach and cross-functional collaboration to succeed.
Journey Management: I mapped out how designers interacted with creative assets, identifying inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement. I worked with art directors to co-create use cases and tested low-fidelity workflows to ensure the DAM system would meet their needs.
Stakeholder Alignment: This project meant bridging the needs of the creative team, contractors hired to tag and input assets, and the system vendor. I managed these relationships to ensure the system delivered as promised.
Change Management: Transitioning to a new system wasn’t easy. To ease the shift, I created detailed process manuals and facilitated team training sessions. Adoption was high, and the designers—freed from the burden of searching through endless files—had more space for creativity and innovation.
This experience taught me a lesson that has stayed with me throughout my career: Efficiency isn’t just about saving time; it’s about creating the conditions for people to do their best work.
Building a Talent Pipeline: Designing an Internship Program
My second role, as an HR Coordinator at a Wall Street hedge fund, presented a different kind of challenge: designing and launching the firm’s first internship program. This was my first taste of designing end-to-end experiences, and it set the stage for my future in service design.
Journey Management: I created a seamless experience for interns, from acquisition and onboarding to offboarding and beyond. Every touchpoint was designed with the interns’ perspective in mind, ensuring the program was competitive with those at other top firms.
Stakeholder Alignment: Working across four funds with executive and senior leadership, I ensured the program met the needs of all business units while remaining cohesive.
Change Management: As a first-of-its-kind initiative, the program required careful facilitation to navigate compliance requirements (especially for underage interns) and ensure smooth operations. I created onboarding catalogs for both interns and hiring managers to simplify the process.
The program was a success, with feedback loops revealing high satisfaction among both interns and managers. The experience reinforced my belief in the power of thoughtful, people-first design to create meaningful and lasting impact.
From Interior Design to Service Design
After these experiences, I pursued a degree in interior design and architecture. This chapter of my journey helped me refine skills that would become essential in service design: thinking spatially, holistically, and with empathy for how people move through and interact with spaces. Designing physical environments taught me to consider every detail of an experience, a perspective I would later apply to services.
Transitioning from architecture to service design felt natural. Both fields require systemic thinking, stakeholder alignment, and a deep understanding of the user’s journey. While I didn’t yet have the title, I had the mindset, and that was enough to keep pushing forward.
Skills That Endure
Looking back, it’s clear that the skills I honed in these early roles were foundational to my career:
Journey Management: Whether mapping out creative workflows, designing an internship program, or reimagining customer journeys, understanding the big picture and its touchpoints has been central to my success.
Stakeholder Alignment: Bringing together diverse perspectives to create shared goals is a skill I’ve applied time and again, from my early projects to global initiatives at Farfetch.
Change Management: Guiding people through transitions—with empathy and structure—has been a throughline in my work.
These skills weren’t just learned; they were reinforced by every challenge and every person I’ve had the privilege of working with.
Finding Service Design: A Natural Fit
When I finally discovered service design as a field, it was like everything clicked. It wasn’t just a framework; it was the name for the work I’d been doing all along. Embracing service design gave me the structure and tools to take on larger, more complex challenges while staying true to my people-first, holistic approach.
Today, I get to do the work I love with the benefit of years of experience, learnings from exceptional business and CX leaders, and the insights of my reports who have challenged and inspired me.
Seeing the Service Design in Your Work
To my mentees, readers, and anyone curious about service design: You may already be doing this work without realizing it. Service design is about mindset as much as it is about methodology. If you’re drawn to thinking systemically, prioritizing people, and connecting the dots between details and the big picture, you’re on your way.
My career path was far from linear, but every step contributed to the work I do today. Your journey—however squiggly it may seem—has likely prepared you in ways you’ve yet to recognize. Embrace it.
Conclusion
Looking back, I see the thread of service design running through every role I’ve held. It was always there, waiting to be named. Today, I’m grateful for the journey that brought me here and for the opportunity to share what I’ve learned with others. Because when you love what you do, you want others to love it too.
AI Transparency Statement: I use GenAI (ChatGPT & Grammerly) for insights and initial drafts, which I fully rewrite and refine. The tool helps with grammar and structure, but all content is carefully crafted and finalized by me to reflect my voice and vision.
