More empathy and action — the next wave of service design
Key takeaways from the Service Design Network Finland’s National Conference by Wilma Halén and Viivi Lehtonen from Kuudes.
“It is not the tram that makes transportation a successful experience. It is the schedule.” (Lucius Burckhardt, Design is Invisible)
This quote was used by Birgit Mager during the opening speech at Service Design Network’s (SDN) national conference in Helsinki. Kuudes took part as one of the main sponsors of the event, delighting the guests with Italian artisan ice cream by Jädelino. The day provided a lot of insights and inspiration so we’d like to share some of our key takeaways.
It seems like service design, the rather new kid on the design industry block, is a hot topic at the moment not only in the agencies and consultancies. More and more companies and individuals are joining the SDN and many also participated in the conference.
Service design and human centricity are evolving.
They’re not only needed in developing new service and product concepts but also in managing complex processes and cultural transformations. For this reason, in-house service design teams are on the rise: they’re founded in Finnish companies, OP and KONE being two of the forerunners. We’ve seen this shift also at Kuudes: the demand for building client’s competences for internal service design processes, tools and best practices, has certainly grown.
KONE’s team has existed already for five years, giving them valuable knowledge of the dos and don’ts of setting up an in-house resource. According to them, increasing the understanding of design thinking within the company was a real challenge. A breakthrough was accomplished with the help of a physical design lab, a sort of a war room for service design. The space gave KONE employees the chance to come and explore the methods and outcomes of service design projects.
“Children are born to be service designers — they are curious and creative.” Birgit Mager (SDN, Cologne School of Design)
To be able to design services and reach great customer experiences, designers need to be empathetic.
This is a topic that reoccurs constantly in service design blogs and discussions — and for a good reason. It is impossible to design viable concepts without understanding the other side: what values are directing the emotional drivers of your target groups? Katri Saarikivi, a cognitive neuroscientist from the University of Helsinki, brought up this issue in her keynote speech. She argued that we shouldn’t expect our customer to make logical decisions, since “you can’t put your emotions off, they are a part of all decision-making”. Coming to a decision is a sophisticated process consisting of both emotional and rational aspects.
At Kuudes, our tool for discovering latent needs and motives behind purchasing patterns is the Informed Consumer, a study consisting of quantitative, qualitative and ethnographic research. It helps us understand why we say one thing, and behave in another manner when we hit the supermarket aisles.
Another viewpoint on empathy is how to connect it with technology. AI may be smarter and faster than the human brain, but it will not overtake the human as long it does not involve empathetic skills. “Machines are already more intelligent than us but our superpower is empathy”, stated Saarikivi.
Service design is about doing, seeing and testing, and not anymore so much about the methods used, highlighted Birgit Mager.
She was also hoping for more education globally in the field of service design, as well as transparency on the education programmes to ensure the high quality of future designers. We warmly welcome this ideology and transformation from theory into concrete actions and doing! You can read more of our thoughts about service design doing here.
The Service Design Network in Finland is one of the most active SDN chapters worldwide. This year’s conference brought together the broad Finnish and international service design scene, gathering around 300 professionals for discussion, workshops and networking. Here you can read more about the conference and its organiser, as well as see all the conference presentations online.
