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A new chapter begins for Snook.

From today, Snook becomes @necdigitalstudio, a pioneering business area of @lifeatnec which combines our strategic and user centred design skills with NEC’s decades of expertise in delivering innovative technology for housing, health, policing and government.

As a joint team we work with organisations across government, healthcare, the third and private sectors to put life at the centre of services and positively change how people experience the world.

We’re the same team of creative thinkers that you know and trust, but with even more to offer.

Visit the link in our bio and on Stories to find out more about the exciting next stage in our journey

#madeforlife #digitaltransformation #userexperiencedesign

Last week we shared with you some of the things our Service Designers wish they’d known when they started mapping.

This week we are sharing where they see the REAL value of mapping. It’s not just about creating outputs – maps are powerful tools for communication and building relationships. Here’s what they had to say:

📍 “Mapping is a great visual discussion tool to engage with the service.”
📍 “The key thing about mapping is communication, having something to show and discuss.”
📍 “Very useful tool to provoke conversation by showing the ‘wrong’ thing.”
📍 “It’s how you use it, the friends you meet along the way.”

Want to learn how these tools can transform your team and client communication? You still have time to join our training course next week:

User Journey Mapping & Service Blueprinting Essentials
Tuesday 2nd & Wednesday 3rd July
9.30am - 1.00pm BST

🔗 Book your place via the link in our bio.

Mapping is a crucial tool in service design, but we know it can take some time to become confident with it. We asked our team of experts what they wish they had known about blueprinting and journey mapping when they first started as designers. Here are some of their words of wisdom ...

“I wish I had known:

1️⃣ Where the line is between the journey map and the blueprint.

2️⃣ The level of detail to write in each action.

3️⃣ The map doesn’t have to do everything!

4️⃣ How you talk through it is just as important as how it looks.

5️⃣ Things will change - don’t be too precious about the layout.

6️⃣ Like all outputs, the map will live outside your world without you - make it relevant in that case.

7️⃣ Pick a story that you want to tell through the map, rather than reading off data from the map.”


What would you add to the list? 📝


We can help you with all your mapping questions. If you’d like to hear lots of best practice tips and gain a deeper insight into journey mapping and service blueprinting, there is still time to join our course:

User Journey Mapping & Service Blueprinting Essentials
Tuesday 2nd & Wednesday 3rd July
9.30am - 1.00pm BST

🔗 Book your place via the link in our bio.

Our User Journey Mapping & Service Blueprinting Essentials course is back! 🎉

Tuesday 2nd & Wednesday 3rd July
9.30-13.00 BST

We know when many of you think ‘Service Design’ you think ‘mapping’ - but where do you start? How does it work in practice? How do you get over the common hurdles?

If you fancy a deeper dive into how mapping works and some best practice tips, this is the course for you.

Book now via the link in our bio to take advantage of our early bird tickets!

What a response to yesterday’s call for help! 🙌

Thank you to everyone who took the time to get in touch and fill in our survey. Due to an overwhelming response, we have now closed the form. We’ll review the responses over the next few days and will be in touch by the end of the week!

📢 Can you help? 

We’re looking for professionals interested in User Centered Design (UCD) to talk about our training courses in a one-hour relaxed interview conducted on MS Teams. We’d like to hear about how you look for and choose UCD training courses. If you’ve previously attended a Snook training, we’d like to hear your feedback.

Those who take part will receive a £50.00 voucher as a thank you. To take part, head to our bio for the link to our survey.

📢 Can you help? 

We’re looking for professionals interested in User Centered Design (UCD) to talk about our training courses in a one-hour relaxed interview conducted on MS Teams. We’d like to hear about how you look for and choose UCD training courses. If you’ve previously attended a Snook training, we’d like to hear your feedback.

Those who take part will receive a £50.00 voucher as a thank you. To take part, head to our bio for the link to our survey.

This week our content designers reminded us that getting rid of unnecessary capital letters makes content easier to read.

👉 THIS IS REALLY HARD TO READ

👉 This Is A Bit Better But Still Quite Hard To Read

👉 This is much easier to read

Our Practical Introduction to Content Design course is full of tips and tools like this to make your content useful, readable and accessible.

There are just a few more days to book your place via the ‘Learn with Snook’ link in our bio.

Our courses keep coming so you can keep learning💡

Design has the ability to change lives. And at Snook, we believe that isn’t only for designers. In fact, design never works in isolation. Instead, it helps break down silos, creates connections and sparks new ways of working.

Here is a heads up on our upcoming course schedule:

Making Sense of Service Design
Tues 30th April & Wed 1st May, 9.30 -1pm BST

A Practical Introduction to Content Design
Wed 15th May, 9.30 – 1.30pm BST

User Centred Systems Thinking
Tues 21st & Wed 22nd May, 9.30 – 1pm BST

Our Training Team help individuals, teams and organisations to develop the mindsets, methods and tools they need to design sustainable and fair services.

Are you interested in training as an individual or small group?
Find out more about our upcoming courses and book your place via the ‘Learn with Snook’ link in our bio

Are you interested in training your whole team?
We can bring our courses to you –each one is available to run in-house - online or in-person. We work with you to create the ideal course for your teams needs and objectives.

To chat about your ideas and requirements email: training@wearesnook.com

You may have noticed a name change to one of our courses👀

Designing Sustainable Behaviour is now called Designing for Behaviour Change.

We launched this course for the first time last year and following its successful pilot we have been working behind the scenes on updates and tweaks to the content.

In doing so, our Training Team felt this new name reflects the fact that the tools and principles you will learn on the course can be used across an array of behaviour change areas, not only in sustainable design.

Join us on Snook’s practical introduction to designing behaviours.

Tuesday 5th & Wednesday 6th March
9.30am – 1pm GMT

You’ll learn about behavioural design, what it is, how it works and how it can add value for reframing problems, including for the environment and sustainability.

Find out more and book your place via the link in our bio and on Stories

#behaviourchange #behaviourdesign

Are you a Service Owner in the public sector (or were in a previous role)?

We are looking to speak to a number of Service Owners with public sector experience (current or previous) about their experience and reflections of being a service owner in order to help support and develop those who are new to the role.

🗓️The 30 minute sessions will take place remotely w/b 12th February.

Please comment, DM or email: william.newton@wearesnook.com if you are interested in taking part.

#serviceowner

User Research, UX Research, User Experience research… there may be different ways of describing this essential element of the design process but we think Snook User Researcher Gordon Tait perfectly sums up its essence in one sentence:

“I advocate for the individual within a wider process, mechanism, or product; the user is at the centre of my practice, they have an active role in the process and they are integral to it.”

Gordon writes the latest article to land on our blog – ‘A Researcher’s Career Journey: From the Academy to the User’📝

In this insightful read, Gordon reflects on his lifelong passion for research, and shares what he has learned from applying his craft in different contexts across his career.

Follow the link in our bio and on Stories to read the full article

#userresearch #userresearcher #uxresearch #userexperienceresearch

With a new year rolling around it’s the perfect time to learn new skills or brush up on your current ones.

Next up on our course calendar:
Journey Mapping & Service Blueprinting
Tuesday 30th & Wednesday 31st January
9.30am – 1pm GMT

Digital Transformation is evolving the way we work and interact with each other and the services we use. To thrive and succeed, organisations need to align all aspects of their services with this change. One of the most important areas to focus on is your users and understanding them is vital to the overall service experience.

If only there was a way to understand their needs and design services which provide a better experience and improve the impact of your organisation…🤔

Journey Mapping and Service Blueprinting helps you do just that by uncovering how your users interact with your service, what they value and importantly pain points that may mean you lose them along the way.

Working in this way can help mitigate risk, reduce cost and improve efficiency, identifying areas for improvement among many, many other things.

Join us for 2 half days of learning on 30th – 31st January to discover how Journey Mapping and Service Blueprinting could help your organisation.

Follow this link in our bio and on Stories to find out more and book your place

#digitaltransformation #learning #servicedesign