As part of the Service Design course, master’s students tackled a challenge set by Swedbank, focusing on mapping the needs and expectations of young banking customers. The project took place during the autumn semester of 2025 in a project-based learning format, where each team works on a real-life problem presented by a company.
Under the supervision of Senior Lecturer at the Department of Business Administration Jana Kukk, the students conducted a methodologically rigorous and extensive customer study. Commissioning a similar study from a research firm or service design agency would have cost an estimated €25,000–30,000. The research provided Swedbank with valuable additional insights into young customers’ expectations and behaviour patterns, supporting further development decisions.
During the course, five service prototypes were developed and presented to the Swedbank team and members of the Management Board. The team that received the highest score from the jury was invited to present its solution at a Swedbank executive management meeting. The ideas generated through the collaboration will be reviewed within the bank’s internal development processes and, where appropriate, advanced to the pilot project stage.
According to Triin Jalakas, Head of Youth Banking at Swedbank, the collaboration with TalTech’s Service Design course provided valuable input for the bank: “The collaboration enabled us to map the needs of young customers and test new ideas using service design methodologies. The scope and methodological approach of the customer research conducted by the students were comparable to a professional service design project and supported further development decisions. This format of collaboration supports Swedbank’s goal of developing services for young people in a thoughtful way, taking into account the user perspective while keeping business objectives in mind.”
To date, more than 15 large companies have participated in the Service Design programme, several of them more than once.
Through TalTech’s Service Design programme, companies have the opportunity to engage students in solving their business challenges and gain fresh, methodologically grounded, user-centred input. For students, the Service Design microdegree and master’s studies provide an opportunity to combine academic knowledge with practical project experience in collaboration with real organisations.
For more information about collaboration opportunities, visit the Service Design Lab d.Lab website