These are monthly randomly paired conversations, taking place online.
You’ll organise your conversation via a medium of your choice, at a time that suits you and your partner.
There are 150+ people paired up every month for an online chat with a coffee, on topics of user centred design, service design, and related areas. Not everyone is a Designer by profession and participants come from all corners of the world. Some use the monthly chance encounter as a break in their busy working lives, making friends in the community, while others have embarked on collaborative projects from that single conversation.
This project is organised by Barbara, a Service Designer at Opencast Software, in partnership with Opencast. It was formerly known under the name ‘Randomised Coffee Trials’.
Sign up to Virtual Design Coffee
Your data will be held by Barbara for the duration of you taking part in the Virtual Design Coffee. It will only ever be shared with your randomly matched participant for the month, for the purposes of the Virtual Design Coffee only. By submitting the form, you consent to this.
With any questions, please contact me at barbara.mertlova@gmail.com
What participants say
“The rippling effects of these networks and connections are hard to capture but can be far-reaching”
“[Y]ou have a lovely chat and get totally energised about your work and the world in general!”
“It’s been great to understand how other designers work and learn from them”
Learn more
Barbara wrote a blog post which reflects on the first year of the random encounters.
Follow Barbara on Twitter or LinkedIn for regular updates on Virtual Design Coffee. You can also join the Service Design Scotland Slack channel by emailing to barbara.mertlova@gmail.com. Please feel free to also send any of your questions to this email.
If you’ve already signed up and are looking for instructions on how to participate, go to this page.
Have you noticed anything that doesn’t work well?
We are keen to improve this website in any way that makes it easier to use for everyone. Please email your comments to barbara.mertlova@gmail.com
Virtual Design Coffee 