Topic outline

  • General

    Want to advance change in a topic or organisation you care about? In this interdisciplinary course, participants will work to analyze and redesign chosen experiences using service design tools. The bachelor-level course is open to all Aalto students and the open university, where the diverse perspectives are utilized in class. The majority of the course workload comes from applying the introduced tools between workshops.

    After the course, students will be

    • familiar with the service design process and selected key tools
    • able to deconstruct experiences and analyze related stakeholder data
    • able to apply selected tools to design experiences based on identified needs
    • design small scale experiments to test generated concepts
    • able to take an active role in developing the communities they are involved in

    Questions? Don't hesitate to contact MSc Antti Surma-aho. Looking forward to seeing you in January!

    steps along the design process

    This course consists of lectures, small teamwork exercises, case-based teamwork, and reflective discussions on Monday afternoons, as well as pre-readings, case research, and reflective essay writing outside contact sessions. Hands-on case work will focus on service design tools, with various aspects of changemaking covered primarily through lectures and readings. There will be no final exam or project, and thus grading will be based on attendance, homework, and work done during contact sessions. The course structure includes an introductory lecture, four modules á two weeks each, and a final recapping lecture:

    • Introduction to service design processes and changemaking
    • Module 1: Understanding
    • Module 2: Reframing
    • Module 3: Ideating
    • Module 4: Prototyping and testing
    • Course recap


    This course will be taught fully online.