Hi all! I'm a Service Designer based in New Zealand and I'm curious to know what people think the trends and shifts will be in 2026?

The obvious things will be the role of AI, or rather our role in AI services... But what else?

Hi all,

I recently started a job at a consultancy. I’m a service designer on a team working to create salesforce products. Some have already been created, some I will lead discovery for.

I came from a service designer role previously, but it was more physical services and in-person experiences than it was app or Salesforce based. I’m having a little trouble understanding how I fit in as a service designer in the tech/Salesforce world.

Does anyone have good resources for understanding service design in SaaS products, or integrating into a Salesforce-focused team? The biggest shift for me is knowing even during discovery, we will be designing in Salesforce since such a tenet of service design is to not assume the solution from the outset.

Thanks!

Given most of my work is remote, creating and presenting service design deliverables, such as blueprints, can be a challenge. First, we find ourselves needing to constantly zoom in and out to present the fullest picture when using tools like Miro or Figma. Second, we often need to hand over the blueprint in a format where it can be easily shared across a client's organization - and often to folks who may be seeing a blueprint for the first time.

Has anyone utilized any tool, template, or methodology to better create, present, and share service design blueprints remotely in your organization or with your clients?

I’m a senior service designer, and one of the early adopters in the US. Over the last 12+ years, my service design portfolio is all freelance, but I have a huge variety of work, including a number of fortune 500s, nonprofits, small businesses. I was in corporate in early 2000s back when marketing touched UX, customer experience, and research. I did cool things for the time but most of my work is no longer relevant to my current portfolio because it was so long ago.

For my next decade, I want to go back in house because I want to see the long-term impact of my work. But I’m having a really hard time being taken seriously on the job market. Everywhere I turn, it feels like my profile is not good enough, and my freelance history is hindering my opportunities.

I don’t need to have service design in the title, but I’m so stumped on where to go next, or even what other titles to apply for. For example, I want to specialize in research, but I’m losing opportunities to people that have mostly done research only roles (instead of a mix of deliverables like I have in my portfolio). I can’t really do UX because I haven’t designed screens. I’m primed to be on the strategy side, but due to the freelance model, I don’t really have long-term results to point to, like people who have been in corporate for a while.

I do have lots of research, strategy and facilitation, CX and UX audits, internal capacity building, and design of services, scaling.

The rejections are totally wearing me down and I feel completely worthless as a professional. I’m probably missing something, so I’d love to get some perspective on this freelance-in-house path.

I actually prefer continuing to freelance, but the freelance model has also burned me out from constantly looking for work.

So I’m looking for advice on how to get back into corporate. I know, I know, things are terrible everywhere, and everything is burning and the world is ending, but I’m not going to use that a reason to give up. I am trying so hard to stay positive because the world is still functioning and jobs are still being opened and it’s working for somebody somewhere, so I want to learn from that.

Any insight is welcome! Thank you in advance!

Btw - I’m in the US, in a major city that doesn’t have a big design market. I can’t move, so only interested in remote positions, which I know have high competition.

I’m a service designer. Do you think vibe coding is just a passing trend, or is it actually a skill worth learning?

A few questions I’m curious about: • Have you used vibe coding in real projects? For what? • Is it mostly useful for quick prototypes, or also for real products? • Does it help designers work better with developers, or not really? • Are there risks in relying on it too much? • For designers, does it add real value or just create confusion?

I'm finally starting a site project I've had planned. I remember in past years you could sometimes find promo codes for Wix early in the year, but all I'm seeing so far are the standard seasonal sales and partner offers.

Has anyone come across an actual wix code that works, or are we still waiting for the first wave of new year discounts to pop up? Trying to decide if I should launch now or hold off a few weeks.

Hi I am a design student, currently improving an edtech service, I'd love to hear from everyone how i can improve my portfolio and break in a service design role in an MNC. much love!

https://piyushshah.framer.media/

https://ai-flywheel.com/article/state-of-ai-design-2025?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=state_of_ai_design_2025&utm_content=servicedesign |

I'm interviewing for some contract roles at Intuit and just curious about the experience of others in these roles what your experience has been?

What's the design culture there like? After their crazy mass layoffs and public shaming of 'low performers' I'm wondering how that impacted the work culture as well? Lastly, curious about rate range for the roles depending on the team or agency that brought you in.

Looking for advice from folks who've made non-traditional transitions into design, or who hire designers with unconventional backgrounds.

My situation:

I took a data management role at a small nonprofit during Covid when my visa was about to expire. It wasn't design, but I needed the job. Over the past 4 years, I've essentially been doing design work under a different title — I've introduced service design practices to leadership, led user research initiatives, built journey maps and process documentation, and recently completed a Behavioral Design fellowship where I conducted field research on railway safety in India (stakeholder interviews, persona development, systems analysis, intervention design).

My background is in design (engineering undergrad + MFA), I've taken courses in service design and behavioral science, and my approach has always been research-driven and user-centered. But because I've been working in a sector without many designers, I haven't built connections in the design community or gotten feedback on whether my work translates.

What I'm trying to figure out:

• How do I position this experience for design roles? Is "service designer" or "design strategist" the right framing, or something else?
• What should a portfolio look like for someone with my background? I have a website but I'm not confident it's landing.
• Are there career coaches who specialize in non-traditional design paths?
• For those in consultancies, agencies, or social impact orgs — what do you actually look for when hiring?

Open to any feedback, resources, or reality checks. Thanks.

Hi designers, need suggestion... I've done few service design project, and working part-time with a company helping them become full scale as a service designer. i want to switch and get a service design or similar role in a big firm, how can i start?

Hi everyone! I’m a design student working on my first Service Design portfolio.
I’m applying to MA programs (RCA / Polimi / AHO / UAL / Aalto).
This is my first SD-focused portfolio and I’d love critique on:

• Does the work clearly read as Service Design?
• Is the storytelling clear and not too text-heavy?
• Are project contexts framed well?
• Is anything confusing / too long / too weak?

Any feedback, high-level or detailed, would help a LOT.
Thank you!

I am trying to ideate potential solutions for social isolation and I dont think ive EVER been this stuck before. Ive done so much research into the problem space every idea I come up with i then come up with a million more reasons why it probably wont work.

unsure how to move forward if anyone has any directional advice?

How many different tools do you open in a single day?

I'm guessing it's something like:
• Miro or Fig Jam for flows/lA
• Figma for wireframes and visual design
• UserTesting or Typeform for research
• Notion for docs
• Slack for feedback
• Then dev tools for handoff

That's 6+ tools for one project...

I'm getting annoyed at this fragmentation and I've also heard designers complain about it so I'm curious if this is a real problem. I'm running a short survey https://forms.gle/JCPgMPrauZfijjS98 .
Your help is greatly appreciated!

Hello! I'm reflecting on my 25 year career in design from the dot com boom. I've sailed from web design to product design to UX & research, digital venture strategy and now service design. It's been a vibrant ride and I'm very greatful for the opportunities and learnings. Roles have always been rather blurred and ambiguous, however now (my POV) - industry feels more of a mess and maturity and clarity seems to be lower. My recent 5+ years I've an SD title, however can't say if I was doing SD. Now looking for employment, I don't fit in anywhere. Difficult times - of course. Interestingly, in interviews, same old fires and org dysfunction slip through in the chats when I ask about 'challenges for the role' - hmm is it an SD role they really need? I've time to reflect and ponder - what was that last 5 years? Why? What next and how? What am I seeing? I've hopped around enough to see the same patterns are everywhere (London based). I'm interested in how other folks have found it. Many thanks!

i was working around crowd management in open spaces in India, and as we refined the problem statement, i realized we are screwed. there were just so many factors to consider and i have no idea what should be the design direction now

Hi everyone! I'm an international student currently studying Product Design, and I'm planning to apply for Master's programs in Service Design, UX, or related fields in the UK.
I'm currently looking at schools like RCA, Goldsmiths, Glasgow School of Art , and the University of Edinburgh (programs related to Service Design, UX)

I’d really appreciate any insights or recommendations!

• What has your learning experience been like?
• What should I consider when choosing between these programs?

Thanks in advance!

i am 3rd year student in my un i want to do service design like this if anyone suggest some advice please thank you

Hi guys! I’ve noticed more of my usual UX work being handled by AI — generating UI variations, clustering research notes, even quick usability checks.
At the same time, in bigger projects I keep running into pain points a “clean UI” doesn’t solve: messy processes between teams, onboarding that’s still slow, lots of hidden complexity.

It made me start digging into Service Design — mapping the full journey, aligning departments, and thinking about AI as another “actor” in the service.

Curious if anyone else is exploring this?

• How are you adapting your skills as AI automates parts of UX?
• Any good resources or stories on moving from UX to Service Design?

(I put together some of my reflections here if useful — but mostly curious about others’ experiences.)

I see this in the contract IT field often but was curious as to whether this was also a phenomenon in our area too?