
Why Service Design?
I'm a designer with lots of experience of branding, brand creation, brand management, brand campaigns, brand experience…. but this year I’ve started to rethink my approach. The briefs I receive now are more demanding, consumer needs are more complex and businesses are cautious yet desperate to innovate. So, I’m championing Service Design as a way forward.
Service design is the activity of planning and organising people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality and the interaction between the service provider and its customers.
Just like branding, Service Design puts people at the centre. It connects the purpose of a product or service to both customer and employee experience. It sees every touchpoint as an opportunity, not just digital.
How something is delivered has become the differentiating factor for consumers. Not the promise of a brand or the features of a product but the interconnected experience. Consumers are looking for the right mix of functional, emotional and social benefits, with the reassurance that the right resources, people and culture are in place.
“A service is something that I use but do not own,” explains Mat Hunter, former Chief Design Officer at the Design Council. “Service design is therefore the shaping of service experiences so that they really work for people. Removing the lumps and bumps that make them frustrating, and then adding some magic to make them compelling.”
Service Design was born out of product design with an emphasis on user experience. For me it offers a holistic view whilst keeping a project grounded in the day to day reality. It’s helped me reframe what good design looks like.
The design world generates lots of different trends, new labels and disciplines. I enjoy being in a young industry fired by emerging technology. My peers are constantly looking out for new opportunities and are easily excited by new things.
However, Service Design seems very familiar, it describes what I’ve always tried to achieve. When I look back on past projects that have included wayfinding, environment, employee experience, digital products, campaigns etc. I see the value in joined up thinking, connecting touch points and planning different forms of communication together.
