What is Service Design?
The funny thing and perhaps the best thing about service design is that design agencies themselves have different definitions; conclusions they have reached through working on a massive variation of exciting projects which all look to have the same outcome for their clients and their customers.
Service design has been described as the next evolution of design, something that we wholeheartedly believe. We also believe it was the only progression possible and is rooted solidly in common sense and putting the needs of your customer (or really all people) first then designing around this.
Once you know the problems they face, you can understand what they need and how to solve these problems through design.
A service is obviously a number of events & actions that occur over a period of time. It is the service designers job to decide what actions, events and products the customer (user) should come into contact with and when. They need to implement and orchestrate the service user’s experience seamlessly.
The real beauty of service design lies in the mutual benefits it possesses for both client (service provider) and their customers.
The really fun bit about service design is the design process, and how it differs from all other design practices. There is a much deeper understanding needed of people, human nature, psychology, philosophy and in some cases business. Right from the research phase, storytelling and peoples journeys are vital.
And in our opinion anything that puts real human needs at its centre so that companies can offer them truly valuable services that enrich their lives, now that technology & the modern/digital world allows us to do so, can be the only natural progression of the design industry.
Of course the simplest and best way to describe service design is with examples...
A live project we are running in association with Bristol City Council.
The project is being conducted around the services of the St Pauls Learning and Family Centre here in Bristol.
For more information or to get involved please visit the project page at http://www.ourlocallibrary.com
Case Study: Krstl
Krstl involved exploring the contexts of people, their differences, behaviour and journeys through their consumer focused world; the products, services and experiences in it, identifying needs and opportunities and gathering empathy driven insights.
Individuals’ emotional responses were assessed in conjunction with each of their actions and environmental factors in an attempt to influence, encourage and enable new behaviour & experiences (and therefore emotions e.g. remove anxiety & heighten satisfaction) with a desirable new service using a pre-existing mobile technology currently available to all.
Mapped out below is our Service Design approach mapped out in relation to one project.
For more information visit matter 2 media
Process Example: Oxfam
Below is another example of our Service Design methodologies clearly mapped out in this personal project carried out to explore various research methods & best design practices.
