We would like to try to build new service based project and we would like to follow primarily design thinking practices. Just try such a small experiment. That's why I chose this book.
THE DOUBLE DIAMOND
Discover -> Define -> Develop -> Deliver
Discover - Gaining a clear understanding of the situation from the perspective of current and potential customers of a certain service is crucial for successful service design.
Define - One of the main features of service design thinking is that this approach is not about avoiding mistakes, but rather to explore as many possible mistakes.
Develop - It is important to prototype service concepts in reality or circumstances close to reality. Service design thinking uses different staging and roleplay approaches.
Customer participation is necessary
Services are not tangible or standardised goods that can be stored away in an inventory. Instead, services are created through interaction between us (service providers) and a customer. We (as a service providers in our project) have to meet the customers needs and as a result be used frequently and recommended heartily.
Creating value propositions with users
Product or service design has moved away from experiential design such as just observing people using the service or product, into more generative approaches to product development where enquiries are conducted by design researchers to generate ideas or to uncover new product or service development opportunities at the starting phase of the design process.
The design process begins with understanding the product's context of use, and observation of users' experiences by moving into the field to observe users and how they interact with the products or services. The development case needs up to six or seven iterations and mock-ups as part of the iterative product development process. We must engage with the hearts and minds of people if we want to design successful and popular services.
Graphical element of any kind never stand alone
The complete visual appearance consists of far more factors than just the logo. The use of colours, text photographs, the chosen medium, the type of production - there are countless ways to keep an image consistent and also countless ways to dilute it. As many parameters decide what is told by whom, as how it is told. Designers needs to understand the world of their target audience.
Key role in service design
Service design is a very wide field that includes many disciplines, not only the various expertises of design, but also other disciplines such as strategy and technology. The teamwork between these disciplines needs a shared focus and language.
Most professionals that we cooperate with in Tiimiakatemia Prague have both a deep expertise in a given field and a broad understanding of other fields they come across in their work. In strategic and innovative projects there should be various of these professionals with different backgrounds. Without the deep expertise of various specialists, the knowledge and skills in the service design is very shallow. Generalists cannot make a real difference in service innovation.
Usability of the services - Keep it simple, stupid (KISS)
While utility is about what, usability is about how. Usability is all about how easy it is to get to the offering (utility value) when using the service. It is all about ease of use, which often relates to how quickly and smoothly a customer can move through the service journey, and the risk they run of misunderstanding something and making errors. Key metrics are time, errors and flow. For example when we are building a website it should be structured according to the customers expectations of structure. Our website should mirror the customer's mental model.
There are three keys to unlock the door to usability:
We like things that make us feel good
We use a lot of time, effort and money on pleasurable things. Pleasurability is about how the whole solution makes our customers feel. The way our service looks, the way things move, the feedback it gives you. It relates to style, but it also relates to much greater things. It relates to our brand and to what people expect from us.
Desirability is made up of three basic elements:
Some interesting tools of service design that we will definitely use in our project:
