Service Design Show The Unconventional Design Tools That Move The Needle In-house / Inside Service Design / Ep. #03
Jun 12, 2025
Irina Damascan, a service designer with a focus on accessibility, and Gina Mendolia, an expert in biotech and employee experience, share their unconventional approaches to service design. Gina introduces the concept of 'Setting the Trap' to enhance team engagement, drawing inspiration from therapists and grandmas. Irina presents the 'Organ Donor Chain,' a model for building reciprocal networks through small favors to drive organizational change. Together, they explore how subtle influence and collaboration can lead to effective service design beyond traditional methods.
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Workarounds Empower Teams' Voice
- Irina helped a team see their workarounds as a vocabulary to explain delays and challenges.
- This reframing empowered them to communicate issues clearly to leadership and stakeholders.
Set Traps for Team Engagement
- Create conditions for teams to make their own connections rather than solving everything for them.
- Facilitate engagement by bringing dots closer so teams can connect them independently.
Non-Traditional Role Inspirations
- Roles like therapists, coaches, and grandmas inspire non-traditional service design facilitation.
- These roles focus on creating space, enabling self-reflection, and nurturing connection without doing the work for others.