Service Design by C. Rowland

Service design Claire Rowland EuroIA 22nd September 2007 © seren partners limited

What’s this about? © seren partners limited

Products vs. services Product Service Image of library • Tangible goods • Intangible interaction • Purchase of physical • Multiple touchpoints asset or information to • May get use of physical own assets, but not to own • No ongoing interaction • Ongoing interaction over time with service provider © seren partners limited

Why design services? The perception users have of an organisation is determined by their experiences across multiple touchpoints © seren partners limited

Increase competitive edge • Improve customer experience • Increase sales or retention • Engage customers in an ongoing relationship • Create value and identity from an intangible experience • E.g. iPod and iTunes © seren partners limited

Improve public services • Co-ordinate thinking and delivery in healthcare, transport, education, local government… • E.g. Cabwise © seren partners limited

Reduce environmental impact • Reduce consumption by recasting products as services • Make it easy or attractive for people to behave in environmentally responsible or healthy ways • E.g. Vélib © seren partners limited

This isn’t new Architecture Urban planning • The idea that designers could be involved in crafting all aspects of a system isn’t new • Human-centred thinking from Brand experience Product design different design disciplines existed already • E-commerce focused attention on experience design beyond the ‘walled garden’ • E.g. Amazon realised that fulfilment was a key aspect of the experience E-commerce Service design © seren partners limited

It’s just experience design Information design Graphic design Design research Project management Usability Ergonomics Information architecture Change management Business consultancy Market research Interaction design Advertising Branding Product design …but know your limitations © seren partners limited

A service design process © seren partners limited

A service design process • Some service designers claim to have proprietary Discover techniques and processes • In fact there’s a lot of similarity between the techniques that have evolved Synthesise Design Specify Here are some examples… © seren partners limited

Discover • Who are the people involved? Discover • What are they trying to achieve? • How, and where? Synthesise • What’s the context of use: cultural, social, physical? • What is their relationship with the organisation? • Through which channels will the service be delivered? Design • Through which touchpoints will the user interact with the service? Specify • If existing/competing services already exist, how well do they work? What can you learn from them? © seren partners limited

Discover: Design research • Study the environment • Capture real user behaviour, e.g.: – Contextual interviews – Ethnographic research – Diary studies – Directed storytelling – Co-design • Don’t forget to interview business and other stakeholders • Check out the competition: what can you learn from them? © seren partners limited

Synthesise Discover • Analyse the information you’ve captured • Extract key insights, opportunities and requirements Synthesise • Turn it into tools you can use the set the direction for your design Design Specify © seren partners limited

Synthesise: Environment • What © seren partners limited

Synthesise: Service ecology • Defines the scope of the service • Shows stakeholders involved in service delivery, how they relate to each other, touchpoints where users interact with the service © seren partners limited

Synthesise: User models • Key user/ customer groups • Based on differences in need: not necessarily demographics! © seren partners limited

Synthesise: User lifecycle How might users’ relationships with the service, and the service provider, develop over time? © seren partners limited

Synthesise: Moments of truth Tom’s football practice has Every time a telco I have a perfectly good been cancelled, and he needs engineer comes to install router already. Why to call home for a lift… but something for me, they should I have to throw it he’s used up all his phone make a right mess. away? credit. • What are the ‘moments of truth’ that will define the user experience? • Which will have the most impact? Which are the most cost effective? • Helps you prioritise design effort where it will have the greatest impact and be cost effective © seren partners limited

Design Discover Synthesise • Prototype Design • Evaluate • Refine Specify © seren partners limited

Design: Personas • Specific user archetypes who represent key design challenges • Edge cases: not necessarily typical users • Give them names and faces to inspire design stories © seren partners limited

Design: Scenarios • What are the key tasks users want to achieve? • How might they go about them? • Keep them high-level: think about the story, not how things work © seren partners limited

Design: Moment concepts Salim is at his friend Guy’s house and needs to make an Salim leaves the house whilst international phone call. Guy presses the button on his hub to talking on the phone. An audio allow Salim’s phone to connect to his wifi network and make calls. ‘swoosh’ lets him know when Salim’s phone beeps to confirm it’s connected. he’s out of wifi coverage (and hence paying a higher rate). Key ideas for how to deliver a great experience at the ‘moments of truth’ © seren partners limited

Design: Prototyping Physical prototypes of artefacts Mocked up advertising Tools to involve users in design © seren partners limited

Design: Enactment • Acting out use of the service • As a method for designers, can be used to think through design challenges • As a user research technique, can help evaluate service concepts and involve users in generating new design ideas © seren partners limited

Specify: Service map Overview of key interactions for each channel, at each point in the lifecycle © seren partners limited

Selling service design can be difficult • Organisations are often siloed, with conflicts of responsibility • May need to sell to very senior people • Service designers may need to be pragmatic and tackle individual parts of a service • Ensuring your design works in the context of the wider service helps promote a more consistent experience © seren partners limited

Can experiences be overdesigned? • It’s tempting to want tight control over every aspect of an experience • But this imposes a lot of constraints on users: equipment, compatibility, flexibility, heavily branded experiences • It’s also difficult to maintain a consistent experience: e.g. human customer service, ongoing support over time • Not least, users aren’t all the same, and their needs may change over time © seren partners limited

Design the framework, not the experience Devices can be upgraded gradually to • Allow people to take the be compatible with the homezone components of the service they rather than having to be replaced in one want expensive moment • Make your components work gracefully alongside other products and services • Focus your efforts on the aspects of the experience where you can add the most value To paraphrase Adam Greenfield1: Instead of designing for seamlessness… design beautiful seams 1http://speedbird.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/on-the-ground-running-lessons-from-experience-design/ © seren partners limited

Service Design by C. Rowland

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