'Twas the Service Design Night Before Christmas...
My somewhat recent and delightfully opinionated friend Matt Marsh has done a bit of this and that. He directed stuff with IDEO, was in the room at the Design Council when they invented the (much misunderstood if you ask me, but then again so few people do ask me…) double diamond, and has shared his experiences professing and lecturing at Cambridge, RCA & Ravensbourne.
As a finale to our eclectic journey, which Jason and I hope you have enjoyed as much as we have (or as the old comedian would have it “if you’ve enjoyed this half as much as I have, then I’ve have had twice as much fun as you…”), we leave you with Matt’s Christmas carol. a pondering poem on the state of design, and the three wise designers bringing inspiration and hope.
A Designers Christmas Carol.
T’was Christmas.
The elderly designer, alone.
Like everyone else.
Working from home.
— -
Seniority and circumstance, had changed their role.
Forced to embrace the insipid ‘managing up’ protocol.
Red, amber, green — spreadsheets of doom.
This version of creativity simply reinforced their gloom.
—
All they ever wanted was to make the world right.
Honestly. Truthfully. Using their insight.
Depressingly, it seems, now that’s an irrelevant fight.
Heck, now. Intuition. That’s simply not a corporate alright.
— —
But now, out of the mist. An epiphany.
The ghost of Christmas future, reveals itself fully.
Design Redemption.
Could it really be?
— -
Upfront. Lauren, that brilliant OBE.
Doing stuff that changes things, so positively.
For all of those once excluded by oppressive masculinity.
Paving the way for proper equality.
— -
A survivor’s tale. George Aye.
Told us about a design agency, disgracefully fly.
Called it out and exposed organisational hypocrisy.
Didn’t hold back, exposed the truth, did it very courageously.
— -
And Virgil too. Lost to us this year.
He led the way. And showed no fear.
Dealt with contradiction and complexity. Seemingly effortlessly.
Clearly, this was someone unrestricted by boundary.
— -
Now Christmas is here.
These people have redeemed this designer’s jaded soul.
Yes, three designers.
Who are truly inspirational.
— —
Renewed by their fearlessness
We’ve genuinely gained.
Now, here’s the tough question.
How might we all change?
—
Happy Christmas.
Matt Marsh
…and and as a bonus here is a link to Matt’s Christmas Playlist on Spotify.
Lauren Currie is the founder of UPFRONT; an organisation dedicated to changing confidence, visibility, and power for women and marginalised people. She is also a Trustee at the Design Council. She is often referred to as Redjotter, the name of her blog and co-founded Snook, one of the UK’s leading service design agencies.
George Aye is co-founder of Greater Good Studio to use design to heal, to be just, to be restorative, Previously, he spent seven years at the global innovation firm IDEO before being hired as the first human-centered designer at the Chicago Transit Authority. George holds the position of Full Professor (Adj) at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and visiting lecturer at Northwestern University.
Virgil Abloh, 1980 to 2021, was an American artist, architect, fashion designer, entrepreneur and musician. He founded the Off-White fashion labels, was the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection beginning in 2018, and was given increased creative responsibilities across the LVMH brand in early 2021.
