Do you remember Stars in their Eyes – the TV programme where you step towards the curtains as Darren, a plumber from Aberdare, and emerge the other side as Elvis?
by Emma Northcote
I was Darren. Walking towards the tinsel archway, a member of police staff - 22 years served with two thirds of that time spent in corporate communications roles - and out the other side, steps a design research lead in the private sector. Okay so it wasn’t as instant as that, or as simple, it was actually based on the core skills I had developed through many years of experience.
As anyone working within the public sector knows, if you have a ‘good idea’ it often becomes yours to own and deliver - and I’ve been lucky enough to take advantage of that. I developed skills that went beyond what others perceived to be my comms role.
While I sat in the communications team, I also led user-centred activity that identified reasons behind under-reporting; informed decision making for neighbourhood policing deployment models; and enabled the third sector to access funding in support of community activities to improve engagement.
Did I know that the skills I was developing, the experiences I was gaining, coupled with my core communication skills would open the next door? Maybe.
And had I thought that that role might be in service design? No!
But luckily for me, through the vast network that exists across the comms community, someone I knew had already spotted the similarities in the skill-set of public sector comms pros and those needed for effective service design - and now here I am, on what was an unfamiliar stage, in an outfit that didn’t quite fit, but ready to belt out a song that I’ve had on repeat for most of my working life.
I’m now almost two years into this role, with a good number of projects under my belt, and a case study demonstrating the impact of design research and service design within a large local authority, and so I thought I’d share my top 10 transferrable skills with you.
1. Clear purpose: a focus on understanding and improving human experiences, solving problems, and delivering value – If you stand firm on comms not being ‘just the mail man’, but a strategic function that can deliver change, then you’re on your way.
2. User-centred thinking: both fields require a deep understanding of the needs, desires, and behaviours of the people we’re designing for. In comms, this could mean understanding our audience to tailor messaging, while in service design, it's about understanding the user journey and identifying pain points.
3. Storytelling: in communications, storytelling is essential for crafting compelling narratives, whether for marketing, internal communications, or media relations. In service design, storytelling is used to communicate insights about users’ experiences and to visualise the service journey, making it easier for stakeholders to understand complex information.
4. Empathy: in communications, understanding the perspectives and concerns of our audiences helps us shape messages that resonate. In service design, empathy allows designers to uncover user needs through rich conversation, which then drives the creation of services that improve the user experience.
5. Stakeholder management, collaboration and co-design: both disciplines often involve working with cross-functional teams and managing relationships with different stakeholders. In communications, you might be working with internal teams, leadership, or external partners. In service design, you collaborate with developers, designers, and other stakeholders to create and improve services.
6. Research and data analysis: effective communication requires research to understand audience needs, preferences, information consumption habits. In evaluating our work, we refer back to our strategy and objectives, ensuring we’re on track. Similarly, service designers conduct user research, analyse data, and test prototypes to ensure the service meets users' needs and aligns with business goals.
7. Problem-solving and innovation: in comms, you often have to think on your feet, solve challenges related to audience engagement, message clarity, and media strategy. In service design, problem-solving is central to understanding service inefficiencies and creating innovative solutions that improve the overall experience.
8. Visual communication and prototyping: while communications often involves creating visually engaging content to explain complex information, service designers often use visual tools like journey maps, personas, and service blueprints to help tell the story of the many moving parts. Both fields rely on clear visual communication to convey ideas and insights.
9. Strategic thinking: both disciplines require a strategic mindset. In communications, it's about aligning messages with organisational goals and ensuring they reach the target audience effectively. In service design, strategy is about aligning service design solutions with business goals and ensuring the service is scalable and sustainable. Both require a good nose for risk.
10. Clear and concise communication: both fields require the ability to convey complex ideas clearly and concisely. Whether you're presenting a communications strategy or describing the user journey in service design, clarity is key to ensuring that stakeholders understand the process, the value of the outputs, and the desired outcomes. The ‘why?’.
As you can see in the case study, good service design and effective communications can make all the difference within organisations; and at street level, where we come into close contact with those who rely on public services and have expectations of what the service or experience should be, that impact can be life changing.
Emma Northcote is engagement lead and service designer at Perago
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