4-YEAR UG Professional Program
Business Service and Systems Design
Program Overview - Design with Purpose. Build What the Future Needs.
In recent years, technology has enabled several new kinds of businesses and services. At the turn of the 21st century, there were few touch screens, no cab hailing apps, mobile banking, health screening services, travel and stay services etc. Today the business models and the nature of organisations have changed dramatically. A great idea can be converted into a thriving business using system and service design principles and creative imagination.
The Business Services and System Design (BSSD) connects system design as way of bringing people and resources together to provide much needed services facilitated by emerging technologies while building sustainable business models. It prepares you to design innovative and sustainable businesses, services, and systems that address complex challenges in today’s interconnected and interdependent world.
We use a multi disciplinary approach that includes human centered design, social innovation, and technology, design thinking tools, research methods, tools for visualization and more to develop practitioners who can contribute meaningfully to various sectors including big industry, start-ups, research and development think tanks, not-for profits, social organisations and more.
Vision
Our vision is to empower designers to navigate and shape complex, interconnected systems through a lens that combines service design, systems thinking, entrepreneurship, and policy.
During the 4 years, learners engage with clients, produce solutions and approaches that are grounded in actual contexts. By placing empathy, integrity, and equity at the core of all undertakings, learners produce work that is scalable and realistic for business and livelihoods.
Instead of studying from fixed case studies taught for decades, we study dynamic businesses looking for gaps and opportunities using blue sky thinking. This allows the development of versatility and a problem-solving mentality that make a difference to communities, and not just individual stakeholders. Rather than ideate in a vacuum, we encourage design habits rooted in responsibility, deep research practices, and equity. The yardstick all BSSD learners retain of successful intervention is a quad: People, Planet, Profit, and Purpose.
Frameworks
Service design: A vast field, with outcomes ranging from content streaming on your digital platforms, transport apps, healthcare services, financial services and even government services such as notaries and utilities. These services we use regularly are made possible because of the large eco-system of inter-connected parts. Service design enables efficient planning and organizing of people, infrastructure: both digital and physical, communication and material to improve the quality, interaction and delivery of services between service provider and users or even within the organisation.
Systems Thinking: It is crucial to understand and unpack large and complex systems that have larger implications in our society such as education, healthcare, water security, among many others and question the long-term impact of our choices across socio-economic, cultural, and environmental factors.
Thus, the challenge lies in innovation and problem solving using multi-disciplinary systems thinking and ensuring that we are not creating new problems for tomorrow, or needlessly complicating systems that should be fair and simple. Systems thinking facilitates a designer to consider these macro elements while designing.
Entrepreneurship: We believe businesses can be a vehicle of change. With access to technologies and operational agility and the joint motivations of profit and societal impact, businesses are positioned to drive significant positive developments. Learners are empowered and well-equipped to design innovative and sustainable businesses that address complex challenges.
Design Research: Helps designers understand the needs of their target audience for a given product or service. Various companies now have dedicated positions just for design-led research, in which designers use research tools and methodologies to open new opportunity areas for service and product design.
Product, Service, Systems Thinking: Products no longer exist as individual and stand-alone functional objects but also as ‘platforms’ that are part of a larger network of interconnected services and systems that aim to facilitate it. Product, service, systems thinking enables designers to make holistic and effective models for service delivery.
Governance and Policy: In an interconnected and fast-paced world, effective governance and policymaking are crucial for societal progress and well-being. However, the traditional approach to governance often overlooks the pivotal role that design can play in shaping policies and improving their implementation.
The program applies the lenses of public policy and governance to make interconnections that open unique opportunity areas for design-based solutions that have a transformational impact, foster innovation and inclusivity within local communities.
LEVEL
Undergraduate Degree
AWARD
Bachelor of Design (B.Des)
DURATION
4 Years / Full-time
Last Day to Apply
15 March 2027
Course Structure
The curriculum comprises of different ways of learning as follows:
- Foundation introduces students to basic principles and tools of Art, Design and Technology as methods, tools and processes.
- Disciplinary Studios are learning spaces where students develop core disciplinary capabilities, while navigating a trans-disciplinary environment.
- General Studies is a common and compulsory programme of study that integrates Humanities, Sciences, Maths, business and finance. Development and Policy Studies and also offers Languages (Spanish, French and German)
- Interim is an immersive introduction to practice in new and emerging areas of art and design and environmental exposure.a
- Electives are of three kinds – this program allows students to expand their skills, develop the interests as well as provide opportunities for travel exchange.
- Internship/Apprenticeship is compulsory work experience done over the summer-break between the 6th and 7th semester.
- Project based learning involves the application and synthesis of capabilities acquired. Two projects, pre-thesis and thesis, is culmination of the 4-year undergraduate program, which allows for demonstration of an integration of values, positions, capabilities and practice.
A Unique Program Focus
The B.Des. BSSD program distinguishes itself through its emphasis on systems thinking. You will gain the ability to consider the broader context when designing solutions, ensuring they are:
Sustainable: Minimize environmental impact and promote responsible resource management.
Socially Equitable: Address the needs of diverse communities and stakeholders.
Economically Viable: Create business models that are both profitable and impactful.
Become a Leader in Design
The B.Des. BSSD program goes beyond traditional product design. You will learn to design interconnected “platforms” that provide seamless user experiences and contribute to a more positive future.
Join a Community of Changemakers
At Srishti Manipal, we believe in the power of design to create positive change. The B.Des. BSSD program fosters a collaborative learning environment where you will develop the skills and vision to become a leader in the field of service and systems design.
Capabilities
Upon successful completion of this course graduates will have developed the following capabilities:
Research and analyze:
- To observe without bias, and to simulate scenarios in order to extract information
- To be able to position oneself in diverse contexts in order to draw valuable insights
- To have the ability to position oneself in a larger global context
Synthesize and envision:
- Ability to identify patterns within systems and services both apparent and beyond the obvious
- Capability to make connections between seemingly unconnected components
Evolve and Reflect:
- Have the ability to experiment, make, and be open to critical feedback in order to generate insights and opportunity areas to push boundaries.
- Have the capability to collaborate and also be open to critical feedback from all stakeholders
For More information, please contact Professor Ritu Sonalika at ritu.sonalika@manipal.edu
FAQs
Service design, and therefore this course, focuses on design methods that approach challenges not as problems to be solved, but more as an opportunity to provide service that propels ease of life. User experience is paramount from the start of a business interaction to the end. The user is placed at the centre of it all.
While BBAs and B.Coms focus more on the fiscal side of business, the BSSD program focuses on service design and systems thinking as the first step towards interacting with a business. This looks like developing an understanding that no component of a business functions in a vacuum. We study business problems in larger holistic contexts like community, sociology, and psychology, and then apply that understanding to systems and service design. The BSSD program places a humanist approach as the foundation upon which all business considerations are placed.
If you want to interact with businesses through methods based on rigour and complexity of thought and principle this is the course for you. The BSSD learner understands a business is made up of several socio-economic layers, not just profit and value. The course aims to instill the practice of realistic, grounded perspectives at the heart of building value.
Our alumni of BSSD have found positions as
– Design Researchers
– UI/UX Designers
– UI/UX Researcher
– Business Strategists
– Policy Makers
– Academics
– Business Entrepreneurs
– Product Developers
– User Researchers and Forecasters
– New product / service envisioning
– Envisioning new businesses & services
– Start-ups
– Emerging and Transdisciplinary spaces
– Service Design
– Design Researcher
– Strategic Design
– Organisational design
– Social Innovation