Global Service Jam to set 48-hour design challenge

The initiative run by German service design consultancy Work Play Experience, sees teams from across the world sign up in advance of the challenge, which allows 48 hours to develop and prototype  a service solution, to a shared a brief.

This idea, which might be a film, images of a mock-up,  a dummy website ‘or anything else which might provide a permanent publishable record’ is then shared and published under Creative Commons Licensing, according to event organisers.

‘We advise that people stay off the verbal channel to have an energetic weekend of doing, getting to grips with service design,’ says co-founder of Global Service Jam, Adam Lawrence. 

Professional designers, student designers non-professionals and enthusiasts are being brought together and will address an inclusive theme ‘which surprises people,’ says Lawrence.

Previous themes have included superheroes, playgrounds and global sustainability, with the emphasis placed on local groups to find service problems and design solutions within each category.

Consortiums of individuals are forming in London and Aberdeen,  and in Glasgow, service design group We are Snook has signed up to host a local event.

At the end of each event ‘it’s really up to the people what happens next’, says Lawrence who adds that skill exchange collaboration an even new companies have formed from the project. 

One designer, Cristiano Siri, who has run Global Service Jam groups from Rome, set up collaborative design group Co-Design Jam, since participating in the events.