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Service design

Service design: An introduction to a holistic assessment methodology of library services

LUX, the Library User Experience. Cell division in the field.

“This paper explores service design as a relevant method for service assessment and creation in a library environment. Service design allows for a holistic and systemic look at the various systems that make a library function. This methodology is a co-creative process conducted with library staff and patrons. By working together, librarians and patrons can create more relevant services or refine current services to be more effective and efficient.”

(Joe Marquez and Annie Downey ~ Weave Volume 1 Issue 2)

Omni-colleagues: The new heroes of digital

Omni, inter, multi, trans, or ‘what-have-you’. All better than solo, single, mono or uni.

“The omni-channel approach runs the risk of ditching humans for automated touch points, but for digital to triumph, these services must be re-humanized. Companies need to strategically consider which services are appropriate to manage via machines, and which require human interaction.”

(Mark Curtis a.k.a. @FjordMark ~ Accenture Clicks)

The riddle of service design inertia

Dealing with complexity is the underlying message.

“Service design is just what it sounds like, the design of services. But this is a misnomer. If you look into the focus of modern service design across various industries, including my own, you see that it truly translates into “macro, end to end, surface to core experience design. This means it goes beyond the UX of specific touchpoints, and beyond just focusing on one channel or funnel. It truly stands for the macro view of the customer experience, and should be used strategically to design a more optimized and effective one, daresay delightful. Or, be used tactically to fix experiences that are falling short of their promise.”

(Erik Flowers a.k.a. @Erik_UX ~ HelloErik)

All you need to know about Customer Journey Mapping

Is that all you need to know? How difficult can it be.

“Most organizations are reasonably good at gathering data on their users. But data often fails to communicate the frustrations and experiences of customers. A story can do that, and one of the best storytelling tools in business is the customer journey map.”

(Paul Boag a.k.a. @boagworld ~ Smashing Magazine)

Redefining value, to business and to society

Great to see former Vivid Studios director Nathan evolving along.

“All value only emerges in the context of a relationship and the best value lies beyond the qualitative kinds taught to businesspeople (like price and performance). The opportunity to create the most and best value, over the long term, requires us to understand qualitative issues that drive decisions, meaning, and satisfaction. In this way, service design can strategically drive value in businesses (and even NGOs).”

(Nathan Shedroff a.k.a. @nathanshedroff ~ SDN Global Conference videos)

Beyond the blueprint: Strategic service design deliverables

Deliverables were called Documents a few decades ago.

“Service design, or the design of value exchange between a service provider (company) and a service participant (customer), is an approach with enormous potential; delivering on that potential requires action. Service design is meant to inspire and direct action in the form of implementation. To make deliverables that drive action, I propose three key considerations.”

(Shahrzad Samadzadeh a.k.a. @shahrsays ~ Cooper Journal)

Design thinking: Snake oil of today?

A mindset is just a start, first step. The journey is more important.

“The word that is repeated most often when describing Design Thinking is process. Design Thinking is not a job task you can start in the morning and be done with by lunch-time. Instead, Design Thinking requires much more planning, preparation and normal work than most people that participate in just the workshops realize. But the work that you put into the process will pay itself off in the end.”

(Jukka Kaartinen ~ Service Innovation and Design programme Laurea Finland)

5 ways to enhance the customer journey

Will customer journeys be the trojan horse of design in customer experience and marketing?

“The customer’s journey, from behaviors before they’ve even opted in to your marketing messages, all the way through repeat purchases as a loyal buyer, is critical to not only initial marketing success, but also to generating long-term revenue from repeat customers. Below I highlight five critical stages in the customer journey and how you can leverage digital marketing technology to ensure you’re creating that awesome customer experience. “

(Ellen Valentine a.k.a. @EllenValentine ~ Silverpop)

Redesign democracy: Dare to think big

Great to see Dirk taking on a very wicked problem.

“Why are you in UX? It probably isn’t to get rich. Yes, there is plenty of money in being a UX professional today. If you’re competent, you should be enjoying a very nice lifestyle. But we do this not for money–being on the business side would be far better at achieving that goal. We do it for creative reasons, expressive reasons, quality of life reasons, perhaps even altruistic reasons.”

(Dirk Knemeyer a.k.a. @dknemeyer ~ Boxes and Arrows)

Environmental communications: How understanding experiences in virtual space can influence the design of experiences in physical space

Digital and physical encounters, the ingredients of compelling human experiences.

“UX professionals are accustomed to thinking about how people interact with digital user interfaces. Whether we’re designing a mobile application or a marketing Web site, it’s in our DNA to consider what would be the optimal experience for people. But digital user interfaces are not the only elements of an experience with which people interact. In services, people may also interact with each other, with processes, with communications, and with physical spaces, and it’s the responsibility of the service designer to understand their needs and create an optimal experience that considers all of these diverse elements. Plus, while the goal of a service designer is to think holistically about how these elements work together in a service experience, each element has its own discreet set of design considerations.”

(Laura Keller ~ UXmatters)

The aggregate nature of service design

You can’t design your way out of the bits holistically.

“Service design is singularly centered on the human experience. We call it the end-to-end journey, but the service itself is something that is a collection of all the journeys that can be taken through it. The service that you design on top of is a big picture. Holistic is the word we use, but what does that even mean, and how do you look at something holistically and then approach it holistically?”

(Erik Flowers a.k.a. @Erik_UX ~ Hello Erik)

Service blueprints: Laying the foundation

From journey to blueprint to touchpoint.

“With this post, we examine one of the primary tools of service design: the service blueprint. Today’s products and services are delivered through systems of touchpoints that cross channels and blend both digital and human interactions. The service blueprint is a diagram that allows designers to look beyond the product and pixels to examine the systems that bring a customer’s experience to life.”

(Lauren Chapman Ruiz a.k.a. @lchapmanruiz ~ ACM Interactions)

Designing for services and long-term innovation

Services and design, a happy marriage.

“You may not believe in reincarnation, but Shelley Evenson has had three lives. She’s been an academic, consultant, and an interaction design guru. Prior to joining Fjord, she was a Research Manager in Design and User Experience at Facebook and a Principal User Experience Designer and Manager for Microsoft. She was also an Associate Professor in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. Throughout these lives, she’s had two strong love affairs: one with education and the other with technology.”

(Shelley Evenson ~ Lean UX NYC)

Service Design: Pushing us beyond the familiar

You’ve been living under a rock if you haven’t notice the growth of the service design community. Or you’re not doing anything related to experience design.

“Service design is an extension of digital UX design. Most of today’s user experience work is done on some sort of digital device. It involves an application or web site. Solutions involve moving bits around on a display. (…) As UX professionals, we need the skills and techniques of service design in our toolkit. Acquiring them will push us beyond what’s familiar to us. And that’s a good thing.”

(Jared Spool a.k.a. @jmspool)

Digital government service: The fragmented experience

Government must become the new hunting ground for UX designers, as well as Health and Education. Which is Government in the broadest sense.

“Governments around the world face a set of challenges that are highly complex and interconnected: education, health, social security, and transparency to name a few. Public institutions haven’t changed much in the last couple of centuries. Their architecture, practices, processes, platforms and communication streams have remained pretty much the same. We have 18th century institutions trying to deal with 21st century problems.”

(Livework)

All papers from the Service Design and Innovation Conference 2014

Lots of paper gems from this upcoming design field.

“ServDes.2014 focused on how Service Design is contributing to ‘Service Futures’ and how it is developing as a field of research and practice. The conference considered how the concept and role of services have been developing in the recent decades and questioned how Service Design is evolving following a similar path. Starting from its initial focus on service interactions and experiences, Service Design research and practice have entered more strategic and transformational roles, dealing with issues of organisational change, system design, sustainability and social change, amongst others. The concept and applications of this design field is also expanding and required some collective considerations. The conference attracted 175 participants from 24 nationalities, of which 60 percent were academics and 40 percent were practitioners.”

(Service Design and Innovation Conference)

Enabling a career shift from User Experience to Service Design

People following the evolution of the practice and discipline.

“To shift from doing digital UX design to doing service design, you need to be unremorsefully analytical and inquisitive. Questioning the value and the context of what you’re doing represents a great first step toward broadening the scope of your work.”

(Laura Keller a.k.a. @ServiceDesignLK ~ UX matters)

Service design thinking

Next-up, interaction design thinking, visual design thinking and information design thinking. Design thinking in all of its incarnations.

“In the realm of user experience, disciplines and titles can take on different meanings. Determining buzzword jargon from actual, useful distinctions and processes is sometimes a bit tricky. The term Service Design has been with us for a while now. Some see it as just plain, good UX.”

(Marc Stickdorn a.k.a. @MrStickdorn ~ User Interface Engineering)