#68 - Service design ninja in gov: Clementina Gentile
In this episode, we sit down with Clementina Gentile: service designer at Digitaal Vlaanderen and coordinator of Sandbox Vlaanderen. Together, we explore what it really takes to bring citizen-centered design into public services and how to build a movement to sustain it.
Clementina didn't wait for the perfect design role to appear; like a ninja, she sneakily slipped her service design superpowers into a traditional government job opening.
We dive into how public services are moving toward a proactive future built on 'life events'. Why should citizens have to search for bureaucratic jargon they don't understand, when the government can detect life changes and automatically deliver the benefits people are entitled to? But as services become automated and invisible, Clementina argues that our lens must shift: we are no longer just designing interfaces, we are building an architecture of trust.
To make this vision a reality, Clementina is rallying a league of internal changemakers. We look behind the scenes of her work building a thriving community of practice across the Flemish public services: bringing together designers, breaking down institutional silos, and creating a unified methodology so that public services can learn from each other and put the citizen at the center.
Work in government and want to connect with like-minded designers?
Clementina is reading:
Bad services, Lou Downe
Atlas of AI, Kate Crawford
Hyperpolitics, Anton Jäger
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