DIA Define Design: Service Design & Strategic Design

  • DIA Define Design: Service Design & Strategic Design

  • The Design Institute of Australia (DIA) is leading a national advocacy initiative to inform a significant government consultation that will influence how design professions are formally recognised and valued in Australia.

    The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is reviewing how design occupations are defined within the Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA), the nation's official occupational framework. The outcome will shape how designers are recognised, measured and valued for years to come.

    Following extensive consultation with design professionals, the DIA has drafted role descriptions and task lists for Service Design and Strategic Design for consideration of the ABS and proposed inclusion in the OSCA framework. This survey presents the proposed draft profession descriptions and task lists for public consultation.

    Please review the descriptions and task lists included in this survey and let us know whether they adequately reflect your professional practice in Service or Strategic Design.

    SURVEY TIME: Approximately 5 minutes | DEADLINE: 7 April 2026

  • About You

  • Service Design Description

  • Proposed OSCA Description

    Service Designer: Researches, plans, designs and improves services across organisations and sectors, collaborating with stakeholders and service users to develop end-to-end service solutions that are responsive to complex delivery systems.

  • Service Design Task List

  • Proposed OSCA Task List for Service Design:

    • Conducting design research across social and organisational settings using qualitative, quantitative and evaluative methods to inform service improvements
    • Facilitating multi-stakeholder co-creation activities to surface complexity, build shared understanding and frame project objectives
    • Mapping service journeys, experiences and blueprints from all stakeholder viewpoints to clarify roles, processes, dependencies and handovers
    • Synthesising stakeholder perspectives and evidence to identify requirements, pain points, opportunities and improvement priorities
    • Prototyping and testing service changes to policies, processes and touchpoints with stakeholders and technical teams to reduce implementation risk
    • Translating design research into implementation standards, guidelines, procedures, briefs and service documentation
    • Analysing service performance and feedback to support ongoing evaluation, learning and iteration
    • Facilitating cross-functional collaboration and aligning governance, capability and resources across delivery teams and organisations
    • Embedding ethical, responsible, sustainable and inclusive design practices across service design activities
    • Developing training and enablement materials to build internal service design capability

  • Strategic Design Description

  • Proposed OSCA Description

    Strategic Designer: Develops and implements design-informed strategies that align organisational direction with stakeholder and user needs applying design research, systems thinking and experimentation to frame challenges, explore solutions, and create actionable plans for institutional change.

  • Strategic Design Task List

  • Proposed OSCA Task List for Strategic Design:

    • Developing design-informed strategies aligned to institutional objectives, balancing desirability, feasibility and viability
    • Conducting strategic user and stakeholder research to diagnose root causes of challenges and guide product, service and policy directions
    • Facilitating design-led workshops to frame and reframe challenges and translate insights into actionable strategic recommendations and roadmaps
    • Designing and testing value propositions, operational models and enterprise initiatives through prototyping and controlled experimentation
    • Applying foresight, futures thinking and systems analysis to explore strategic options across multiple planning horizons
    • Creating material artefacts that capture requirements, systems and opportunity spaces for shared understanding and decision-making
    • Leading cross-functional collaboration across and within institutions, liaising with leadership, delivery teams and external stakeholders
    • Building, mentoring and establishing design capabilities and governance frameworks that enable iterative institutional change
    • Managing delivery portfolios and strategic initiatives while navigating ambiguity, emerging risk and diverse stakeholder perspectives
    • Engaging governance groups and working with system and policy levers to identify and mitigate risk
  • Should be Empty: