Systemic & futures-oriented service design: emerging design patterns for complex and uncertain transformations

In the contemporary landscape, designers are increasingly dealing with intricate global challenges of varying complexity, engaging directly with the tangible facets of an uncertain and fragile world. This orientation towards complexity and uncertainty regarding the broader repercussions of the design output pushed practitioners to widen the scope of their design activity both temporally and spatially, necessitating the delivery of more effective, equitable, and sustainable solutions. Within this landscape, also Service Design (SD) confronts escalating complexities alongside significant challenges stemming from dynamic shifts within and beyond service systems. In response to these challenges, western service design practitioners are adopting novel frameworks and methodologies aimed at going beyond short-term thinking and linear cause-and-effect paradigms. These practices signal an expansion of Service Design towards systemic and futures-oriented perspectives, drawing from the disciplines of Systemic Design and Design Futures. This research delves into this evolutionary trajectory from a phenomenological standpoint, presenting preliminary findings of an inquiry into how service design practices are evolving (or might evolve). It explores the underlying rationale driving practitioners' needs to embrace diverse design strategies while investigating their practical manifestations in terms of tools and frameworks. Nine interviews were conducted with expert Service Design practitioners from design studios, consulting agencies, or academia. The outcome of this preliminary research is the identification of three emerging transformative patterns. The themes that emerged dealt with the evolution of processes (from standardised processes to adaptable paths, towards holistic strategies), design solutions delivered to clients (from single solutions to multi-level solutions, towards platforms) and focus for their results (from outcome to impacts, towards multifaceted effects). These patterns encompass both short-term adjustments currently underway and long-term pathways that are reorienting future aspirations within clients' work. By delineating the contours of this ongoing transformation, this study lays the groundwork for future discourse within the (Service) Design community regarding the risks, opportunities, and constraints confronting design practitioners amidst uncertainty.