Introduction

Introduction

3. What do Service Designers do?

You have just finished the second chapter and should now know better from where Service Design originated.


What you’ll learn

In this third chapter, we will get very practical. You will learn the different tasks that a service designer has to perform. You’ll see that every service designer performs at least four same tasks:

  1. Research: service designers try to understand what people want or need

  2. Sense-Making: they summarize what they have learned in a research phase and turn these learnings into something actionable

  3. Ideation: they come up with several possible solutions to a given problem or challenge

  4. Prototyping and Testing: they build new solutions and try them out with people who will likely benefit from the service


Before we get into it, I want to share with you a little side note. The four tasks I highlight here are common activities of service designers around the world. But these activities are not the model or process of how service design works. There exists some technical debate, which would need an explanation about the iterative aspect of any design project and other philosophical aspects of design which go beyond what I want to achieve in this course.


What I want to share with you here is not an academic model of how service designers work, but to show you the typical tasks of service designers in their everyday job.

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Introduction

  • 🛑 This is a beta version8
  • What you'll learn in this course
  • Why I created this course17

1. What is Service Design

  • Introduction2
  • 1.1 What is a Service?15
  • 1.2 Why are services important?3
  • 1.4 Recommend tool: Services and value added (% of GDP)8
  • 1.3 What is Design?11
  • 1.4 So, what the fuck is Service Design?15
  • 1.5 Three definitions of Service Design7
  • 1.6 Recommended reading: The online debate about what service design is1
  • Recommended fun moment: What is service design? – Cartoon 8

2. Where does Service Design come from?

  • Introduction2
  • 2.1 The mothers of Service Design6
  • 2.2 Recommended reading: Designing Services That Deliver by Lynn Shostack7
  • 2.3 The Service Design family2
  • 2.4 Design Thinking, the grandpa3
  • 2.5 User Experience Design, the digital brother2
  • 2.6 Experience Design, the Service Design twin4
  • 2.7 Customer Experience, the brother of Service Design2
  • 2.8 Many members, one purpose2
  • 2.9 Five important Service Design dates6
  • 2.10 Recommended Book: A tiny Service Design History4

3. What do Service Designers do?

  • Introduction2
  • 3.1 Research: Understand what people want or need2
  • 3.2 Sense-Making: Summarize what they have learned2
  • 3.3 Ideation: Come up with 100 new fancy solutions
  • 3.4 Prototyping and testing: Build new solutions for testing2
  • 3.5 Recommended course: What is the Service Design Process3

4. The impact of Service Design

  • Introduction5
  • 4.1 Double your sales with Service Design2
  • 4.2 90% shorter processing times1
  • 4.3 30% more young clients3
  • 4.4. Recommended reading: 40+ case studies on the impact of Service Design6
  • 4.5 Case studies from the Service Design Network5

5. The tools and methods of Service Designers

  • Introduction2
  • 📌 5.1 Tools for the research task
  • Interviews2
  • Mystery Shopping1
  • Observation1
  • Shadowing2
  • 📌 5.2 Tools for the sense-making task
  • The five why9
  • Affinity sorting
  • Service Blueprint6
  • 📌 5.3 Tools for the ideation task
  • Crazy 82
  • The Fast Idea Generator2
  • Silent Brainstorming4
  • 📌 5.4 Tools for the prototyping and testing tasks:2
  • Paper prototypes3
  • Wizard of Oz Prototypes5
  • 5.5 Recommended website: Service Design Tools3

6. The terminology that Service Designers use

  • Introduction
  • 6.1 What is a user?2
  • 6.2 What is a stakeholder?2
  • 6.3 What is a Channel?
  • 6.4 What is a Touchpoint?2
  • 6.5 What is an Experience?4
  • 6.6 What is a Customer Journey?10
  • 6.7 What are the front and back ends/stages of a service?4
  • 6.8 What is a Nudge?4
  • 6.9 What is a rational override?4
  • 6.10 Recommended tool: 400+ definitions of Service Design terms11

7. Who does Service Design?

  • Introduction4
  • 7.1 Three smart service designers to know
  • 7.2 Recommended tools: Map of Service Design practitioners2
  • 7.3 Recommended tools: List of the Service Design Network Members2
  • 7.4 Three service design agencies to know6
  • 7.5 Recommended tool: Map of Service Design companies
  • 7.6 Recommended tool: List of the Service Design Network Organizations
  • 7.7 Three service design schools to know about16
  • 7.8 Three Service Design communities to know10
  • 7.9. Recommended website

Going further

  • Bravo!6
  • Service Design Magazine1
  • Service Design Books2
  • Your next online course with a 🎁2
  • A little thank you note38
  • Licence53