Josina Vink is a designer and researcher based out of Oslo. They're often working in the spaces of health and care, and focusing on shaping social structures. We talk about systemic service design, design labs in healthcare, and the potential of critical approaches to design practice.

Listen to learn about:

>> Service design in the health and care industries>> Changing the focus of service design>> The ideas of coexistence and plurality in design>> The state of design labs in the healthcare industry

Our Guest

Josina Vink is a designer, researcher and facilitator based out of Oslo, Norway. They are an Associate Professor in Service Design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. They teach and research critical, systemic approaches to service design, with a particular focus on shaping the social structures of health and care. Josina has over 10 years of experience working as a service and systems designer in healthcare internationally, including in Canada, the United States and Sweden.

Show Highlights

[02:00] How the movie Patch Adams and wanting to become a doctor led Josina into design.[03:28] Practicing design at the Mayo clinic in Minnesota and later in Toronto.[04:01] Josina talks about their frustrations while working on healthcare systems change.[04:40] Getting their PhD in Sweden and working with Experio Lab.[04:57] Moving on to teach service design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.[05:05] Josina's current healthcare work in Norway.[05:47] The state of service design, and the movement towards a more systemic approach and practice.[06:32] Giga mapping / mega mapping big systems.[06:56] There needs to be a fundamental rethinking of how service design works.[08:44] Josina talks about their work in Norway to decentralize and digitize health care to increase accessibility.[11:17] Looking at the possible negative implications of this work.[12:58] Repositioning service design away from its focus on new innovation.[14:06] Advice for service designers who want to bring a wider view to their own work.[14:19] The challenges of ontological occupation.[14:39] The potential pitfalls when we create grand system maps.[16:57] Compossibility and plurality in service design.[18:43] Josina offers some tips for mapping and understanding systems.]20:12] How approaching design from a coexistence standpoint could transform the design industry.[24:53] Josina talks about some great work happening in Toronto in the health and care fields.[29:15] The state of design labs in the healthcare industry.[29:43] Josina gives an example of one design lab in Sweden that is having great success.[35:26] Designers whose work inspires Josina and who are at the forefront of transforming service design.[37:27] Books Josina recommends.[38:36] Where to learn more about Josina and their work.

Links

Josina on Twitter Josina on LinkedIn Josina on ResearchGate Josina on Centre for Design Research Josina's articles available on Google Scholar SDGC 19: In/Visible - Shaping Hidden Social Structures Through Service Design Service Design Show: Designing with the invisible glue that holds us together Experio Lab Kelly Ann McKercher Ahmed Ansari Yoko Akama Design Justice Network

Book Recommendation:

A World of Many Worlds, edited by Marisol de la Cadena and Mario Blaser Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need, by Sasha Costanza-Chock

Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like

Learning Service Design + Leading Service Transformation with Clive Grinyer — DT101 E66 A Designer's Journey into Designing for Health and Healthcare with Lorna Ross — DT101 E45 Design Thinking + Learning Science with Adam Royalty — DT101 E18

Best of the Program | Guest: Andrew Klavan | 10/31/25

The Glenn Beck Program

Internal Conservative Disputes and Public Fallout

The AI-powered Podcast Player