Service Design for Multicultural Adaptation in UK Financial Services
This project explores how Service Design can help UK financial institutions better serve people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Many foreign customers face obstacles when using financial services, such as language barriers, unfamiliar systems, or services that don’t meet their needs. At the same time, banks often find it hard to adapt due to rigid internal structures and a lack of streamlined processes for inclusive design.
The main design outcome is a practical toolkit for designers in large financial organisations. It guides teams on how to gather the right information to build a strong business case for adapting services to better meet the needs of foreign customers. The toolkit also includes methods that support collaboration across departments and help teams align around the importance of designing for cultural differences.
True financial inclusion goes beyond simply meeting regulations—it requires thoughtful, human-centred design and strong collaboration. This toolkit aims to support that by giving designers a clear starting point for making services more inclusive, fair, and accessible for people of all cultural backgrounds.
©Oona O’Brien
Service Design for Multicultural Adaptation in UK Financial Services
This video demonstrates how this toolkit is being used within an organization. Using a nine-stage process, these tools support individuals designing for inclusivity in initiating an internal culture shift within the company, and ultimately convincing executives to adapt parts of a service offering for a multicultural audience. These tools, adapted from existing Service Design methods, were specifically designed to help designers gather relevant insights into the experiences of foreign customers. Their value, however, goes beyond simply collecting the right data to build a strong business case. They also serve as a way to engage key stakeholders—through workshops or focus groups—who can help drive change for foreign customers by contributing to the evidence needed for the business case.