Service Design towards Transitions: Embracing Paradigm Shifts in Practice

Service design faces increasingly complex challenges, linked to the growing complexity and uncertainty that characterize contemporary socio-technical systems. This article examines how service design practice is adopting systemic and long-term approaches to support complex system-level transformations. It describes the results of the research ‘UnSee – Uncertainty in Services’ conducted from a 24-month period from January 2024 to December 2025. Based on interviews with experts and international case studies, this article proposes four paradigm shifts – beyond linearity, beyond solutionism, beyond reductionism and beyond short-termism – that outline disciplinary development paths to overcome the limits of current dominant service design models. These shifts highlight how designers are restructuring processes, products and design goals, enabling long-term reflexivity and redefining services towards transformative goals. The results are analysed concerning consolidated theories on socio-technical transitions, Service Ecosystem Design and Transition Design, highlighting the growing role of service design as a transformative practice. Finally, the article highlights emerging implications for service design practice. Ultimately reinforcing service design as a socio-technical change agent, capable of co-creating multiple visions of the future and following co-evolutionary processes between actors, systems and projects.