SDN professional accreditation

The SDN Academy is an educational initiative introduced by the Service Design Network (SDN) in 2019. Offering a series of education courses for both seasoned practitioners and those new to service design, our Academy is committed to advancing practitioner knowledge by sharing insights on the latest tools, methods and techniques shaping the future of our industry. Since its founding, the SDN Academy has run both public and in-house training for more than 1.100+ students, across more than 24 different course offerings. Course participants come from a range of backgrounds and experience levels.

The SDN is a non-profit organization founded in 2004 and is the only community of its type world-wide. In addition to the SDN Academy, the SDN runs a series of annual Global Conferences, publishes the journal 'Touchpoint', recognizes best-in-class work through its Award program, supports a large network of local Chapters, and supports up-and-coming service designers through its Young Talent Board and associated activities. You can learn more about the SDN at www.service-design-network.org.

The Practitioner Curricilum is created for beginners in service designer with less than 2 years of experience. Participants are expected to have a basic understanding of the service design practice. If you have questions about how appropriate this course may be for you, please reach out to us at academy@service-design-network.org and we would be happy to answer your questions. If you have more than 2 years service design experience, you are welcome to join our Masterclasses Series, which is an online course offered several times per year. You may find more information about it here: SDN Academy courses.

The Practitioner Curriculum course teaches the skills and experiences required for the Practitioner Accrediatation. At the end of the course, registrants are requested to take the practitioner accreditation test and will be awarded the accreditation. The test can be taken several times.

During the class, students will work in groups on a service design challenge, which will be presented in the final module and must be uploaded to the course site to gain certification.

Typically, Practitioner Accreditation costs up to €460, depending on SDN member status and country of residence. That fee is waived for course participants. However, Accreditation is contingent on successful course completion (session attendance, quizzes and assignments) as well as uploading a Self Assessment document, following course completion. Participants who successfully complete the course may opt-out of Accreditation, and will nonetheless receive a course completion certificate. You may learn more about Accreditation here.

Yes, all participants who successfully complete the course (based on lecture attendance, as well as completion of quizzes and module assignments) will receive a course completion certificate. In addition, you will be eligible to secure Practitioner Accreditation following a self assessment procedure at the end of the course, if you wish. You may learn more about SDN Accreditation here.

Yes, we offer time-limited discounts to everyone, and fixed discounts to some people, such as paid SDN members, mailing list subscribers, past SDN Academy course participants, and those who have previously acquired Practitioner Accreditation.

Please note that some discounts are non-transferable and cannot be shared. For example, if you hold Practitioner Accreditation from the SDN and received a personal invitation to take this course, your discount cannot be used by anyone else. In cases where discount codes are not transferable, we will check eligibility post-purchase.

In addition, across all its initiatives, the SDN offers income-based discounts based on the country of the purchaser. This helps support the organization's mission of raising the awareness and application of service design world-wide. A limited number of discounted seats are available per course edition. Refer to the World Bank list for the classification of countries. The eligible discount is as follows:

To enquire if you are eligible for an income-based discount, contact us at academy@service-design-network.org. You will be asked to demonstrate proof of your country of residence.

There is individual and group work throughout the course.

Miro, Zoom, Thinkific, and Slack are just a few of the tools and platforms that are utilised during the course.

We accept the following means of payment: all credit/debit cards, PayPal, SEPA Direct Debit or Invoice.

You may cancel a course up to 30 days prior to, in order to get a full refund. Please visit our Terms and Conditions page to learn more.

You have two months to complete the process after the Practitioners Curriculum Course have been finalised.

The SDN cross-check the provided documentation and make triangulation of your qualification, experience and project work in order to approve or reject your documentation.

In case your documentation does not meet the established criteria, you will receive an email message with feedback about your submission and recommendations.