The pen is a mighty service design tool

Writing has received limited attention in service design research, practice and education. Meanwhile, writing is intertwined in everything we do. This study advocates for a greater focus on writing, arguing that this will strengthen the field of service design. Also, text is identified as service design material. Creative writing is pinpointed as an area from which service design can learn. The overall study draws on learnings from exploring 40 creative writing methods in 22 sessions with service design students and practitioners. This paper zooms in on four sessions, and explorations of the methods Automatic writing and Shitty first drafts. The sessions indicate how creative writing methods can change people’s perceptions of writing, making them more comfortable with writing. This, I argue is a prerequisite for developing stronger writing skills.