Richard and Anja attend the Service Design Network Conference 2009 in Madeira, Portugal

Richard and Anja returned to London yesterday from the sunny shores of Madeira, where they once again were happy participants in the Service Design Network’s annual conference. Attendee numbers were down from the previous year, but given the not so easy to get to location and the general economic climate, turnout was good. Building upon the themes from last year’s Amsterdam conference, various proposals were put forth to professionalise service design as a practice. In addition to sharing the latest methods, tools and successes, the Network rallied round the idea of developing a code of qualifications and metrics to assess practitioners and bring service design to the level of other professions. A worthwhile initiative that Prospect strongly supports!