Service Futures Lab

Co-Founder and Co-Lead of Service Futures Lab at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London

We address societal challenges through design-led approaches, which critically deliberate alternatives, prototype solutions and possible futures, through engaging diverse stakeholders. Challenges include those of wellbeing and public health, climate justice and ecological issues, civic and community cohesion. Our design-led approaches include service design, action research and participatory design methods. Knowledge and solutions produced address societal challenges but also contribute to design, specifically through advancement of collaborative and material practices that are reflexive and responsible.  

We work with organisations facilitating mindset change towards more collaborative and inclusive ways of working using iterative processes to deliver people-centred policy design.

The Team

Our approach is practice-based applied design research for impact. We have world leading expertise in service design with focus on futures-oriented ethical practices, and collaborative creative methods for transformation.

We build capacity for explorative work by embedding some of our projects into the curriculum of the UAL:LCC MA Service Design, developing knowledge that impacts both design practice and services.

This program was developed and delivered by 4 academics and 5 MA students as service designers. We consider participants as part of the team and the content of this report is co-created by the participants.

How we work

It’s not about the tools, we focus on the mindsets and deliver context specific transformations; beyond the service design tools we reflect on how and why we use them.

Practice-based through creative participatory methods, we don’t deliver a lecture, we facilitate participants-led service design projects.

User-centred to collective, we disrupt user centred-design towards collectively distributed design, considering the environment and more-than-human relations.

Value-centred, anticipatory responsible innovation is at the core of the way we develop our programs. We take a justice approach to recentring voices that have traditionally been marginalised.

SFLab has been running since 2019 to consolidate and give an identity to the research and knowledge exchange activities that intersect with service design, including funded research projects, consultancy and knowledge exchange. The core team has expertise in framing and delivering projects within teams, across teams, and with and within communities. These activities impact on shaping the field of design on an international and national level, shaping policy and service delivery at EU, UK and local level, as well as impacting the research environment at UAL and LCC, and impacting staff and students at the university. 

Sample projects: Camden Families, Service Design Training

Core members: 

Prof Alison Prendiville 

Dr Silvia Grimaldi 

Dr Lara Salinas 

Extended team: 

Members 

Prof Ramia Mazé 

Dr Malé Luján Escalante 

Dr Hena Ali 

Marion Lagedamont (Lecturer) 

Associates: 

Dr Rosie Hornbuckle (Researcher) 

Delina Evans (Research Assistant and PhD Student) 

Cordula Friedlander (Associate Lecturer) 

Veron Lai (Associate Lecturer) 

Phillippa Rose (Associate Lecturer) 

PhD Students: 

Alvaro Bravo Cole (LCC, PT) 

Delina Evans (LCC, PT) 

Julia Colleen Johnson (LCC, PT, LDoc) 

Julia Schaeper (LCC, PT) 

Jia Ying Chew (LCC, FT) 

Silvia Pau (LCC, FT) 

Clara Llamas (LCC, PT) 

Dahye Kim (LCC, FT) 

Ziwei Lin (LCC, FT)

Valeska Mangel (CSM, FT)