November 15, 2019

Service design leaders talk diversity and inclusion at the 2019 Service Design Global Conference

This October, the 12th Service Design Global Conference was held in our thriving, diverse City of Toronto. This conference - the world’s largest and most prestigious gathering of professionals in service-design-related industries - offered attendees a mix of service design topics and tools.

This year’s theme ‘building bridges,’ emphasized the many ways service design connects parties to deliver smarter, happier results for all. As an organization committed to diversity and inclusion, we thought this was a perfect opportunity to canvass speakers for their thoughts on the intersections between their work, their industry, and inclusion.

Over two days, our team recorded heartfelt stories, wise words, and priceless advice from various speakers and attendees. All of the professionals with whom we chatted agreed: It’s incumbent upon established organizations and individuals to increase the pipeline of underrepresented groups in our industry.

From seeking out mentorship, finding crucial support systems, exploring self-knowledge, and maintaining one’s own commitment to inclusion - we compiled the speakers’ highlights into the video below.

Please share this clip with your network, specifically with any young person - or a new-to-the-industry service designer of any age - to remind them that a career in a traditionally cis, white, male industry is not outside their reach.

It’s important to find your peers, but don’t isolate yourself too much. If you want to be an inclusive company, you need to be inclusive yourself...” - Charlyne Lefebvre-Paillé, User Research Lead, IBM Watson Health

Be part of the change

We’d like to thank SDGC for generously sharing their conference space - the scenic Evergreen Brickworks - with our team to film these vignettes. We look forward to sharing more inspiring words from leaders in our industry with underrepresented new professionals in the months ahead.

If you’d like to help us contribute to a more inclusive digital community, get in touch! Email us at together@weare.to or volunteer now.