Service Design Show

My Biggest Lessons from 250 Episodes / Marc Fonteijn / Ep. #250

11 snips
Mar 26, 2026
A decade-long reflection on switching from engineering to design and leaving an agency to follow a creative pull. He talks about structuring multidisciplinary teams and why community matters more than audience. You’ll hear about friction as a tool, walking as a clarity practice, and the quiet power of consistent, unglamorous work.
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
INSIGHT

Engineering Skills Map To Service Design

  • Marc found his software engineering background translated into systemic problem solving, visualization, and decomposition useful in service design.
  • He stopped treating coding as the only design material and embraced people, culture, and processes as richer materials.
ADVICE

Prioritise Conversation Over Production

  • Do focus on conversation quality over production polish when starting a podcast; listeners care about content and clear audio more than perfect lighting.
  • Marc regrets over-indexing on gear and suggests prioritising guest selection and meaningful dialogue instead.
ADVICE

Invest In Your Voice Early

  • Do invest in your voice early; Marc hired a voice coach and found vocal technique more impactful than video lighting.
  • He recommends treating voice as a tool for clearer communication even outside podcasting.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app