About Us

A better world, through better services.

Context Studio was founded in Dublin in 2018 to improve the services that people in Ireland experience every day. We do this using a people-centred service design approach, grounded in human insight and the power of prototyping.

We work in an open and transparent way with client teams to help them continue designing and redesigning services in perpetuity, because services should never stop evolving.

Context Studio is connected to a global and local talent pool and can rapidly stand up a team to execute world class design research, service design, experience prototyping, coaching or mentoring.

John Lynch

Founder & Design Director

John brings experience from Denmark, the U.K., and has worked with clients from around the world. He’s a long-time advocate for interaction design and service design, a committed coach and a dedicated teacher of design skills.

John started out his career as a software developer, and applies a strong understanding of technology and engineering alongside the people-centred design processes of service and interaction design.

John is a board director at Institute of Designers in Ireland, co-chair of Service Design Ireland, and a member of the Service Design in Government working group at Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery & Reform.

Hannah Rooney

Service Design Lead

Hannah is a socially engaged Design Researcher and Service Designer. With over ten years of experience in the tech industry working with top companies like Intercom, Hubspot, and LinkedIn, her expertise lies in customer engagement, facilitation, and user research.

She graduated from NCAD with a Master’s degree in Interaction Design and a thesis focused on citizen engagement, igniting her enthusiasm for civic design and systems thinking.

Deirdre (Dee) Power

Service Design Lead

Dee is a User Experience and Service Designer with a deep passion for enhancing public services. With a background in architecture, she is driven to create systems that positively impact society and improve how people interact with essential services.

Transitioning from architecture to digital design, Dee spent over three years at IBM, contributing to the IBM Cloud and IBM Automation teams. During her tenure, she specialised in UX, design thinking, and facilitation, while also coaching teams to develop their design thinking skills. Dee is particularly passionate about challenges within the housing sector.

Dee holds a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the Cork Centre for Architectural Education (UCC/MTU), as well as a Higher Certificate in User Experience (Level 8) from Dublin City University (DCU), where she graduated at the top of her class.

Tim Dalton

Senior Service Designer

Tim worked as the sole graphic designer for over 110 members of the Dáil and Seanad before returning to education. Tim graduated from MA in Service Design at NCAD with first class honours.

Since joining Context Studio full time in 2024 Tim has been leading efforts on projects with Dublin City Council and the Health Service Executive.

Rebecca Fagan

Senior Service Designer

Rebecca is a human-centred designer with an interest in creating meaningful change through social impact and service design. Her practice has mainly focused on community building and she is drawn to reimagining systems to better serve people, animals and environments.

Rebecca holds an MSc in Design Innovation from Maynooth University, and joins us following 4.5 years working with Dell Technologies as a User Experience designer on their Product Design team.

Sean Casey

Senior Service Designer

Sean is a human-centred Service Designer and researcher. Sean joined Context Studio having completed his MSc in Design Innovation at Maynooth University, where he also earned his BSc in Product Design (Marketing & Innovation).

He brings particular experience in ethnographic design research & service design.

Since joining the team, Sean has been involved in many projects with clients including Dublin City Council, the Irish Heart Foundation, and National Museum of Ireland.

Áine Power

Senior Service Designer

Áine has a multi-disciplinary design background, and brings experience in editorial design, advertising, branding and ethnographic research.

Áine holds a bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication, a first-class honours Master’s degree from the Interdisciplinary Creative Arts programme at Technological University Dublin, and a certificate in Design for Sustainability and Circular Economies from the Technological University of Shannon.

Harry Cloney

Service Designer

Harry is a multi-disciplinary designer, with expertise in interaction design and service design. Prior to his joining the team, Harry worked for a number of years as a UX Researcher in the public health sector.

Harry holds a BA in Fine Art: Media from NCAD, and an MA in Interaction Design also from NCAD.

Helle Rohde Andersen

Design Research & Service Design Specialist

Helle is a User Researcher, Service Designer and System Innovation expert. Helle brings more than 12 years of experience in driving innovation across the public sector and global enterprises.

She is driven by understanding deep user needs as well as the logics and barriers underpinning our systems. Helle is an alum of the Interaction Design Programme at CIID and has a MA in Information Studies from Aarhus University.

As a Design Research & Service Design specialist, Helle works independently from her Denmark office but collaborates with Context Studio, greatly enhancing our approach with her skill and experience.

Robert Harte

UX & Service Designer

Robert is an experienced designer who approaches problems from both a user and system perspective, looking at all touch points along the user journey.

He has a MSc in Interactive Digital Media from Trinity College Dublin and has worked on enterprise-level projects with both government and corporate clients. Robert is particularly interested in tackling challenges in healthcare through product and service innovation.

Robert is our “go to” for all things UX – our digital expert. He splits his time between Dublin and Buenos Aires, helping out at Context Studio as required.

Join Us!

We’re on the lookout for freelance Service Designers and Interaction Designers to join our team. Drop us a note via our contact page and we’ll respond to request a CV and short portfolio.

Get in touch