Is this a product or a Service?
Is this a product or a Service?
Service Design Questions and Answers
Basics of Service Design
Basics of Service Design
Examples of good Service Design
Examples of good Service Design
Learning Service Design
Learning Service Design
Service Design and others fields
Service Design and others fields
Service Design tools, apps and methods
Service Design tools, apps and methods
Service Blueprints and Journey Maps
Service Blueprints and Journey Maps
Service Design as a career
Service Design as a career
Hiring service designers
Hiring service designers
Coaching and Service Design
Coaching and Service Design
Service Design portfolio
Service Design portfolio
Service Design workshops and facilitation
Service Design workshops and facilitation
Service Design and Ideation
Service Design and Ideation
Service Design and research
Service Design and research
Service Design and Presentations
Service Design and Presentations
Service Design Principles
Service Design Principles
Service Design projects
Service Design projects
Service Design Books
Service Design Books
Accessibility and Service Design
Accessibility and Service Design
Sustainability and Service Design
Sustainability and Service Design
Service Design in government
Service Design in government
Service Design Philosophy and Mindset
Service Design Philosophy and Mindset
Service Design in Switzerland
Service Design in Switzerland
The full question
Noelle M. asks:
So i have a question - might be a convoluted one. So I am designing a website for a bank (which allows me to take a loan). The interaction with the bank through the website is a service provided by the bank and the website itself is a product. Am I right? or have I mixed that up?
My two cents
Indeed that's a way to see it ;) The website is a tangible element (so we can consider it as a product) but the overall interaction which might take you through a website, a phone call, a live meeting, and so on, is what we can call a service.
In the "academic" language of Service Design, we say that a website is a "touchpoint", but in UX design this website might be called a "product".
The way every discipline uses words is a funny thing. But I think you got the big ideas perfectly right:
A service is made of different elements
A service is often felt as "intangible" but some parts of it are definitely tangible
Thinking about those systems can feel pretty overwhelming sometimes, so the need for simplification is really there :P
Go further
You can find more definitions about what is a Service and what is Service Design in my free course about the basics of service design.
More Service Design questions and answers like this one
Check out all the questions about the basics of Service Design.