Meet the Service Design Studio Team
About the Studio
The Service Design Studio (SDS) is an internal resource available to New York City government agencies. Our Studio is helmed by designers with backgrounds in policy, planning, user experience, and technology. Learn more on our Studio page.
Last updated: August 30, 2023
Lyndsey Richardson (she/they) | Acting Design Director
Lyndsey Richardson (she/they) joined the Service Design Studio as the Deputy Design Director in January 2022. She is committed to participatory design as a decolonizing and healing practice to move towards a network of services that respond to the realities, strengths, and desires that communities define themselves. Her academic background is in Anthropology and she holds a MPH in Community Health Sciences. Prior to this position, Lyndsey served as the Deputy Director of Special Services within the Family Independence Administration (FIA) at the Human Resources Administration(HRA)/Dept. of Social Services (DSS). In this role, she managed the NYC Opportunity funded Work Progress Program (WPP) and Restaurant Revitalization Program (RRP). She also co-developed the Youth Services division of HRA, facilitated Technical Assistance offerings to practitioners, and led the ‘Youth be Head’ Youth Leadership Council. Outside of work, she co-runs a volunteer study circle on a variety of seminal topics and diverse authors. Outside of work, she’s bellering out a song, dancing, smothering any cat in a nearby radius with love, and hanging with a goofy array of humans.
Demi Lashawn Keilu (he/him) | Design Lead
Demi (or Dem) started with the design studio in early 2023 as a Design Lead. He has a background in architecture, social design, and film. Demi is interested in using his creative skills, in particular his design tools, to provide support and create opportunities for communities to have a say in how their neighborhoods and cities are run. He has a strong belief that in this role we are truly public servants working to provide support to residents and ensure that they have a seat at the table. His interests are mostly around art and creativity and he spends his free time writing scripts, making films, watching films, designing logos and posters, writing stuff, reading stuff, painting doodling, scribbling, and everything in between. He is a thesis advisor and professor at the School of Visual Arts and you can see his artwork at BogBaby.com, film work at PetElephants.com, and design work at themellab.com.
Deana K. Yu (she/her) | Design Lead
Deana (she/her) started with the Studio in June 2022 as a Communications Designer and, shortly after, was promoted to Design Lead. She is a native New Yorker and a proud CUNY alum (Baruch College, Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs ‘21). She has a multidisciplinary background in policy analysis, graphic design, and service design — all of which she uses to advocate for social change and accessibility within bureaucracy. Since graduating, she has worked at a total of 3 NYC agencies. She has served as a lead Graphic Designer for the NYC Civic Engagement Commission on projects like the People’s Festival and the Ice Cream Truck of Rights. She was also a part of the prestigious NYC Urban Fellow program in 2021 where she was placed at the Department of Transportation. At DOT, Deana offered graphic design services for the agency, prototyped a street design app, and spearheaded the launch of the Greener Roadways Training, a workforce development program. Deana meditates, bakes, and does lots of crafting. She believes that design is a catalyst for communication, education, and social change. For more… deanakyu.com!
This post is part of Civic Service Design Tools + Tactics, a resource for introducing public servants to service design, published by the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity Service Design Studio.
We thank our Founding Partner Citi Community Development for generous support. We are grateful for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City’s partnership.
