Silke Bochat
She/her
Chair of Service Design
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Silke Bochat is Chair of Service Design at Savannah College of Art and Design (USA), where she’s exploring new ways to evolve design education, pioneering Service Design 2.0 and shaping the next generation of design talent. She is a design trailblazer and visionary thought leader with a remarkable 20-year career, leading in-house design teams in transformational roles at top-tier organizations including PepsiCo, Colgate, Mars, and Beiersdorf.
Alongside her corporate impact in Design Strategy, DesignOps, Enterprise Design, Experience & Brand Design, Silke is at the frontier of innovation in HR through Design - rethinking design recruitment & careers, hiring & employee experience, reskilling, vendor & talent management, HR 5.0 transformation and digital org interconnectivity.
Her achievements have earned her numerous prestigious Awards, including Brand Strategist of the Year 2024 and Top 30 Female Design Leader 2023, recognizing both her iconic design work and her leadership in scaling, integrating, and transforming design within complex and ambiguous organizations.
Talk
Service Design 2.0: Redefining Design Education for a World in Transition
How is SCAD, one of the world’s leading design universities, innovating not only what we teach, Service Design, but also how we teach it? This talk delves into the dual transformation of the discipline and its education, preparing designers for complex, interconnected futures.
Student
Pallavi Borkar
M.A. Service Design Candidate
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Pallavi Borkar is a Service Designer and UX strategist who helps complex, regulated systems, especially in health and finance, feel simple and human. She believes good services are like salt: essential yet invisible. She holds a Bachelor’s in Architecture and 5+ years of professional experience in UX design, which she now brings into service design. She designs for humanity, not just touchpoints, to reduce friction and align decisions. Her approach combines evidence-based research, engaging storytelling, and innovative use of AI. Earlier, she contributed to national digital infrastructure in India used by millions, moving financial and health journeys toward seamless, paperless experiences. Born in Pune, India, to an energetic kindergarten teacher and a meticulous visual designer, she brings warmth, clarity, and craft to every project.
She/her
Student
Hardik Kumawat
M.F.A. Service Design Candidate
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Hardik is a budding service designer with a dedication to improve complex systems and workflows. With an academic journey that spans from geological sciences to service design, and creative problem-solving, Hardik brings a multidisciplinary perspective to the intersection of science, technology, and design.
He is currently pursuing his Master of Fine Arts in Service Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design, researching complex healthcare systems to optimize nurse operations in emergency departments to bridge the gap between strategy and frontline realities.