Service design thinking for social good

Fanke Peng, Leanne Chow and Nhat Tran

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Abstract

The role of designers is evolving in our ever-changing society. Today, social good is concerned with encouraging people to engage proactively, to the benefit of society. Such activity involves engagement, interaction and bringing people together, in an effort to change the world for the better. Service design thinking equips our designers to encourage engagement, community building and discourse, both online and offline. This article will reflect on two design research projects for a Service Design unit at the postgraduate level, with the Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra (UC). The Service Design unit is one of the core units of the Master of Design Strategies course. The service design thinking, combined with project-based learning (PBL), was adapted and illustrated how-to demonstrate good service design practice for social good. This study was focused on how we can collaborate on a variety of interdisciplinary projects, to contribute to the realisation of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, from a design perspective.

Keywords

Service Design Thinking; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); Social Impact; Project-Based Learning (PBL); Circular Economy; Self-Directed Learning (SDL)

To cite this article

Peng, Fanke, et al. “Service Design Thinking for Social Good.” Fusion Journal, no. 18, 2020, pp. 71-82. https://fusion-journal.com/service-design-thinking-for-social-good/

First published online: July 2020