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Design as connector: Moving beyond Journeys

As design increasingly intersects with strategy, systems, technology, and organisational change, practitioners are being asked to navigate growing complexity. Drawing on her experience designing for large service organisations, Manjari Sahu explores how designers can create meaningful impact, bridge perspectives, and adapt to shifting expectations in an evolving profession.

Field

Format

Talk

Day

Thursday, Oct 15

Room

Aula M

Time

12:00 PM

The future of design is not about defending one discipline

It is about learning how to connect disciplines. Rather than fitting neatly into a single practice, designers must learn to connect people, systems, strategy, and experiences. This conversation explores how to build a meaningful career when the discipline itself is constantly changing.

Why is this conversation important now?

Many practitioners are working in environments where job titles, methods and organisational expectations are changing faster than the discipline can define itself.

Who is this session for?

Service designers, UX and experience designers, design strategists, researchers, design leaders and practitioners working in complex organisations where customer experience, internal processes, governance and business strategy need to come together.

Key takeaways

  • A grounded example of how design can move from journey mapping into organisational alignment and systems thinking.
  • A way to explain design’s role as translation between front-stage experience and back-stage execution.
  • An understanding that scalable design impact often comes from creating shared ways of working, such as playbooks, pilots and governance models, not only visual artefacts.

Manjari Sahu is an Indian-born Dutch Designer, currently serving as Design Lead at Rabobank, with over 12 years of experience working across India, the USA, and Europe. Her work spans the intersection of design, technology, and business. She holds a master’s degree in Design for Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University, with a minor in Business Studies.

Starting her career in industrial and retail design in India, Manjari expanded into user experience and service design, working with organizations including VanBerlo, Accenture, and Philips to deliver award-winning global projects. At Rabobank, she brings customer-centricity to life across journeys, teams, and organizational structures.

Manjari is driven by the belief that design can shape more meaningful and resilient futures. By bridging strategy and execution – and connecting people, systems, and services – she helps organizations turn complexity into clarity, and vision into impactful change.

Her projects have won several design awards over the years, including Core 77, Red Dot, IF Awards & Adobe Design Achievement Awards.

Service Design Disrupted 26

 

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