What actually is service design?

Note: We have used commission links in this article and marked them with “*”. If an order is placed via these links, t3n.de receives a commission.

One reads the term service design again and again, especially with regard to the user experience. But what exactly does it mean?

Ordered dinner quickly from Lieferando, ordered another book from Amazon, and reserved the car for the next day using the car sharing app – good and intuitive digital services now naturally accompany us in our everyday lives and do a lot of things for us. In order for us to feel that way, we need a good service design.

Nowadays we have a free choice in almost all areas. If we are looking for a product or service, it quickly becomes apparent that there are an incredible number of similar offers. Nowadays, customers are less and less likely to have an emotional, long-term bond with a brand. The oversupply of goods has saturated the market and the change of service providers is uncomplicated and is now more based on rational criteria. In order to stand out from this oversupply, providers are increasingly relying on services or entire service ecosystems that offer users a holistic experience.

But what are services actually? Services are holistic systems in which several processes take place in parallel: On the one hand, a service consists of the service offer, i.e. the added value that people expect from their use. In the context of mobility that would be: bringing passengers from A to B. People perceive a service by interacting with providers. These points of interaction, i.e. with whom or what the user can interact with within the service, are called touchpoints. These include, for example, passenger apps, the ticket machine or the subway. You also need a service landscape, infrastructure or environment in which the service is used, such as the subway station.

Also interesting: Modern web design: 15 services for modern character illustrations

Service design is the process of creating such a holistic service. The focus is on the person, i.e. the user. Processes and procedures are created around his interactions and needs, which have to be as smooth and consistent as possible. Nevertheless, it is not a pure service optimization strategy. Rather, it is about creating a user experience. The development takes place according to the needs of the users or other parties involved in the service – the stakeholders. In the end, a service is created that is relevant and attractive for the user and at the same time will be competitive.

In the classic product development process, the conception of technical requirements, for example new technologies and functional descriptions, begins. The classic process is reversed in service design. It is not the technical functions, as before, but the user requirements and the social context that are placed at the beginning.

The basis for the development is the understanding of the users: inside, their partially hidden needs, their behavior, values ​​and motivations. This happens taking into account the zeitgeist, the megatrends and the changes in society. From these insights, solutions for so-called pain points of the users are developed, which are then usually implemented with the help of new technologies.

In this highly dynamic, interactive and very complex process, people, technologies, products and the corresponding marketing must be coordinated with one another. This is exactly where an: e Service Designer: in comes into play.

In order to be able to incorporate all of the factors already mentioned, the development process goes through several phases. The first step is extensive research in order to understand the market context or social phenomena, for example.

In the next step, the users and other stakeholders are researched. Service designers use qualitative and quantitative methods for this purpose. Quantitative research methods focus on clear numbers and facts and thus ensure that the topic is narrowed down and the potential is checked. Qualitative methods such as user and expert interviews, diary studies and observations make use of empathy above all. They are used for inspiration and the understanding of the why.

It is also important to understand what role all stakeholders play, who may later be part of the service implementation – employees: inside the company, external service staff or, for example, in the mobility context, the urban planners: inside the district office. This is followed by the analysis, the so-called synthesis, of the collected data. Using various methods, such as the development of opportunity area maps, user typologies such as personas or mindsets and customer journeys, user requirement catalogs are created.

The next step is to design and develop solutions. The solutions are then tested with real users as quickly as possible and subjected to various tests. The service is implemented as a prototype for these tests in order to make it as tangible as possible. These development phases are structured iteratively. This means that the solutions can be continuously developed.

The overall concept is presented in a service blueprint in which all processes and information are recorded that will take place in the foreground and background. It acts like a to-do list for everyone involved. The role of the service designer here is, on the one hand, to ensure that the service is consistently thought out down to the smallest detail and designed as attractively as possible. On the other hand, it must be checked whether the offer can be implemented in the set time frame, whether it can be monetized and whether it fits the company’s strategy. Service designers work closely with an interdisciplinary team that has all the necessary skills on board.

Even after the service has been successfully published, the continuous feedback process continues. The constant feedback from users, the collection of data on usage and the consistent checking of the individual aspects ensure that a service can adapt to the changed realities of its users, so to speak “grows”.

Innovation drives growth. And service design will be the decisive determinant in terms of future viability. As described at the beginning, the digital offer is now huge. Building a highly attractive experience for customers or users – making everyday life easier or creating enthusiasm – will make all the difference in the future. In order to be attractive to customers and thus also fit for the future, companies will have to rely more and more on services.

Digital services open up new intangible business models and can be scaled extremely well compared to purely physical products. For this reason, methods from business model innovation are used in the development of services.

Service design can also be a decisive factor in terms of sustainability. The absolute focus on: the users: especially in the consumer goods sector, an ever more precise answer to the question “Which offers and which assortments do we really need?” Superfluous ideas that are bypassed for users as well as the unnecessary consumption of resources can be avoided.

You might be interested in that too