Repairing Service Design for the Age of AI / Ron Bronson / Ep. #236

Service Design Show

I'm sure you've seen the news...

At the outset, the recent announcement of the "America by Design" initiative and the new "National Design Studio" is quite exciting. It’s a huge spotlight on our field.

But it also feels a bit strange, doesn't it?

Because it wasn’t so long ago that the US government had 18F, an entire organization dedicated to improving the user experience of its services. And then, in early 2025, it was deemed "non-essential" and unceremoniously "deleted".

One of the people right in the middle of it all was our guest, Ron Bronson. As the Head of Design at 18F, he was at the forefront of applying service design within the complexities of government.

So, you can imagine that when Ron sat down with me for the conversation, it wasn’t just a walk in the park.

We dove into some juicy questions that challenge the very core of our practice.

1. Is service design too opaque and stuck in its own craft?
2. What if we reframed our work as a form of “design as repair”?
3. Why might AI actually be the biggest blessing for service design yet?

I can assure you, this is a conversation that will get you out of your comfort zone in the best way possible.

So, if you’re ready to be challenged with some fresh perspectives, make sure you tune in to this one.

Even though we tackle some pretty huge topics in the episode, Ron brings it all back to a simple, powerful idea right at the end of the conversation. Can you take a guess? (Hint: it’s about zooming in, not out ).

Enjoy the episode and keep making a positive impact!

Be well,

~ Marc

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to Episode 236

04:00 Who is Ron

05:30 Service design is too opaque

07:45 Importing service design to the US

09:30 Conversations designers should be having

10:00 The "best service experience" during a crisis

12:50 The Trojan Horse strategy for designers

14:30 Creating a "pull" for service design from within

17:30 The power of doing "uninvited" work

23:00 Examples of a golden nugget

26:00 Trust as a core deliverable

27:00 What students get wrong about design

29:45 The gap between conferences and reality

32:00 Idea of consequence design

34:30 Design as repair: A new mindset

37:30 The "forward deployed" designer.

39:30 What would change if we adopt this mindset

45:00 Making service design ubiquitous

46:30 Right way to frame a problem

48:30 Are organizations in the service business?

51:30 The blessing & curse of "doing the work"

54:15 How he hopes service design would look in 3-5 years

57:00 AI: A blank space for service designers

59:15 Questions to ask about AI

1:01:14 Malicious path vs. ideal path

1:02:45 A question to ponder

1:04:30 What can you fix

1:07:15 Get in touch

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronbronson/
• BlueSky - https://bsky.app/profile/ronbronson.com
• Website - https://www.ronbronson.design/
• https://consequencedesign.org/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

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--- [ 4. FIND THE SHOW ON ] ---

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