The UK’s Leading Community for Advancing Service Design Practice, Standards & Professional Capability

The Service Design Forum, co-founded and led by Jonathan Hunsley of AssistKD, is the UK’s most established professional community dedicated to advancing Service Design practice, leadership, and capability.

It brings together practitioners, leaders, and innovators committed to shaping the future of customer‑centric transformation, service innovation, and end‑to‑end service improvement.

Created by the team behind the A4Q Certified Service Designer qualification, the IRM Service Design Conference Europe, and the UK’s most comprehensive Service Design training portfolio, the Service Design Forum exists to:

  • Strengthen the professional identity of Service Design
  • Build shared standards, language, and practice
  • Connect practitioners across sectors
  • Generate thought leadership that influences organisations and the wider profession

Led by the UK’s Most Respected Service Design Authorities

Dr Debra Paul - Non‑Executive Chair, AssistKD

Dr Debra Paul is one of the world’s most influential voices in Business Analysis, Service Design, and Business Architecture.

She is:

  • Co‑author of the BCS book Service Design: A Practical Guide to Creating Customer‑Centric Services
  • Co‑developer of the A4Q Certified Service Designer qualification
  • Chief architect of the BCS Advanced International Diploma in Business Analysis
  • Creator of the BA Service Framework
  • Visiting Fellow at Henley Business School
  • Co‑founder of the Business Analysis Conference Europe and the BA Manager Forum

Her work has shaped the standards, methods, and capabilities that underpin modern Service Design practice globally. 

Jonathan Hunsley - CEO, AssistKD

Jonathan Hunsley is a leading authority in Service Design, Business Architecture, and customer‑centric transformation.

He is:

  • Co-founder of the Service Design Forum
  • Co‑founder of the IRM Service Design Conference Europe
  • Chief Architect of the A4Q Certified Service Designer qualification
  • Lead Assessor for the BCS Advanced Diploma in Business Analysis
  • Co‑author of the BCS book Service Design: A Practical Guide to Creating Customer‑Centric Services

Jonathan has played a pivotal role in defining the professional standards and qualifications that shape Service Design capability across the UK and internationally.

 

We’d like to thank the following co-founders of the Service Design Forum, without whom this would not have been possible:

  • Jo Frances (Made Tech)
  • Pip Hall (Telent Technology Services Ltd)
  • Colleen Henderson (Visit Scotland)
  • Christine Houghton (HM Revenue & Customs)  
  • Nikita Nagpal (Glue Reply)
  • Bruce Prendergast (HM Revenue & Customs) 

Service Design Forum Events & Thought Leadership

The Forum hosts high‑value events designed to deepen practice, strengthen capability, and build community.

28th November 2024 - in person

Service Design Forum Vision and Values. Providing clarity for Service Design - The Why, What and How. Introduction to the Service Definition Canvas.

4 July 2025 - Webinar

The Forum’s inaugural virtual event, bringing together practitioners across sectors to advance the discipline.

8 December 2025 – in person

Harnessing Service Designer Resilience through Storytelling, Strengths & Strategies  
A practical exploration of resilience as a core Service Design capability, blending narrative techniques, reflective practice, and professional identity building.

22 July 2026 – in person

Leveraging AI to enhance Service Design, and Business Architecture as a Foundation for Service Design.

Who the Forum Is For

The Service Design Forum is ideal for:

  • Service Designers seeking deeper professional development
  • Leaders driving customer‑centric transformation
  • Organisations building Service Design capability
  • Practitioners who want to influence the evolution of the discipline
  • Professionals working across Business Analysis, UX, CX, and Business Architecture

Membership is invitation‑only to ensure a high‑quality, committed community.

To express interest, contact: oliver.lee@assistkd.com

AssistKD: The UK’s Leading Service Design Training Provider

AssistKD is uniquely positioned as the authority in Service Design because:

  • We co‑authored the BCS book Service Design: A Practical Guide to Creating Customer‑Centric Services
  • We developed the A4Q Certified Service Designer qualification
  • We founded the Service Design Forum and the IRM Service Design Conference Europe
  • We shape the professional standards used across the industry
  • We train thousands of practitioners every year
  • We combine Service Design, Business Analysis, and Business Architecture expertise - a rare and powerful combination 

Explore our Service Design courses

These programmes are built on the frameworks, methods, and professional standards authored by Dr Debra Paul and Jonathan Hunsley - giving learners access to the most authoritative, standards‑aligned Service Design training available in the UK.

Workshop - Jonathan Hunsley & Pip Hall

Leveraging AI To Enhance Service Design

Lightning Talk - Kerry Adams

Business Architecture as a Foundation for Service Design

Workshop One - Corrine Thomas & Jo Frances

Harnessing Service Designer Resilience, through Storytelling, Strengths, and Strategies

This workshop centres on the increasing need for resilience in the working life of the service designer. Attendees will reflect on the challenges faced, personal learnings and traits of resilient people. Importantly, discussion will focus on the use of easily accessible approaches and strategies that can be adopted to build an effective resilience toolkit. The workshop offers insights to support personal development and many practical take-aways that may be used both personally and with your SD teams.

Workshop Two - Pip Hall & Stu Mullinger

State of the (Service Design) Nation

In this workshop, attendees will consider the current state of Service Design, applying different lenses to think about where we are, where we want to be, and how we get there. First, we’ll discuss the value propositions offered by Service Design, and the extent to which organisations are engaging with the services we offer. Second, we’ll explore the practical application of Service Design and the tools and techniques we use. Finally, we’ll consider Service Design job roles and our professional community. Key insights will be collated and summarised for all attendees.

Lightning Talk One - Bruce Prendergast

Shu Ha Ri

This lightning talk explores the ‘Shu Ha Ri’ stages of wisdom in relation to Service Design practice.

Lightning Talk Two - Nikita Nagpal

Our Journey Using AI for Analysis & Delivery

This lightning talk explores the Glue Reply journey into the use of AI tools to aid with analysis and discovery.

As the next step in the development of the forum we hosted a webinar on the 4th July 2025. 
The agenda included:  

•    Introduction – overview of the Service Design Forum vision, values and founding members.
•    Maturing your practice – interactive session focussed on maturing your service design practice.
•    New Service Design technique – presentation and discussion of a new service definition focussed technique.  
•    Upcoming events – an update on forthcoming Service Design Forum events.

22 July 2026 (face-to-face) - posted by Oliver LeeOllie's LinkedIn Post

What a fantastic day we've had at the Service Design Forum. A huge thank you to The Oxfordshire Golf, Hotel & Spa for hosting us — the venue created the perfect setting for the day. A big thank you to AssistKD's Mandy Pearce for pulling everything together behind the scenes and organising both events.

We're extremely grateful for our brilliant speakers Bruce Prendergast, Pip Hall, Kerry Adams and Jonathan Hunsley, who delivered thoughtful and engaging sessions that sparked great conversations across the room.

A special congratulations to Jonathan Hunsley and Debra Paul on the launch of their new book about Service Design — a fantastic achievement and an exciting contribution to the field!

Proud of the community we’re continuing to build together.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7486403323647156224

8th December 2025 (face-to-face) - posted by Jonathan HunsleyJonathan's Linkedin Post

The Service Design Forum achieved a significant milestone this week with our first face to face event hosted by Glue Reply.

The launch of the Forum has been made possible as a result of the passion and dedication of the co-founders. A huge thank you to:

🍵 Pip Hall – expert cake cutting, organisation and workshop facilitation. Fellow tea connoisseur.

🎯 Bruce Prendergast – delivery of our first ever lightning talk on ‘Shu Ha Ri’. Keeps us focussed on strategy and thought leadership.

👏 Colleen Henderson - ever reliable to help with all things big and small.  The forum benefits greatly from your passion and expertise.

🧩 Christine Houghton – our chief fixer of any issues and ever present to support the team, keep us grounded, provide insight and make us laugh.

⭐ Nikita Nagpal – Chief venue and event co-ordinator. Multi-tasked effortlessly throughout the day including delivery of a highly thought-provoking AI focussed lightning talk. If you ever need a ‘selfie’ she is the ‘go to’ person.

💡 Jo Frances – Our chief idea architect – always makes us smile - delivered the resilience workshop seamlessly.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7404907394293489665-QdQy?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAenKPwB-hkMUpT2arzCLCy_2yw01o1fsFk