Midterm Reflection
Introduction
I was surprised by how much I’ve learned at this point in the semester. Service design is essentially a continuous cycle of discovering, defining, developing, and delivering. It involves enhancing the users’ experience (or feeling) of accomplishing a specific task. Unlike UI/UX or product design, service design does not necessarily have to focus on a physical product or a digital app. It could be as simple as a two-way interaction between the customer and the service provider. The tasks could range from taking the NYC subway to watching a football match at a stadium.
Empathy is the Key
As service designers, it’s essential to think from the users’ perspective by placing ourselves in their shoes. Just as how Engine makes use of the “path to participation” diagram in the paper “Designing Services for Engine,” getting a key understanding of various touch points within an existing service is undoubtedly crucial for the success of a team later on.
Depending on who we are designing for, the users can either be the service provider or the customer. This could be done by physically immersing ourselves in each step a person goes through while accomplishing the task.
In a service, various stakeholders are interconnected with each other, and this is where system thinking comes into place. Mayo Nissen has emphasized the importance of being able to zoom in and out of the system as necessary in the Design Thinking Roundtable podcast.
By switching between holistic and focused views (Divergent and Convergent thinking) continuously using a Double Diamond framework (more detail later in the reflection), a team can identify the root cause behind the problem while discovering a lot more insights & opportunities as they explore the problem space from multiple perspectives.
Tip of an Iceberg
Thinking about services as a whole has reminded me of the iceberg metaphor we discussed in class. There’s always a visible and invisible part of the service.
The part we see is only the “tip of an iceberg above the sea level.” Using the experience of grocery shopping as an example, the visible part of the service would involve front-stage stakeholders that directly interact with customers at the supermarket, which includes the cashier, bagger, and meat cutters, just to name a few. In contrast, the invisible part of the service would involve stakeholders who work backstage. Although the backstage staff might not directly interact with customers, they also play a crucial role in supporting the overall operation of the supermarket. The IT staff (web designers and developers) that build the digital platform for customers and cashiers are great examples of stakeholders that work backstage.
Sometimes, backstage staff can extend beyond the supermarket. For instance, policymakers who work for the local and federal governments are crucial to customer safety. They set standards (or protocols) for things like food preparation, storage facilities, and refrigerated units. Some additional invisible stakeholders include suppliers, energy companies, and unions, etc.
Another way of visualizing a service design blueprint is to think of the popular Broadway shows in New York City. Those working backstage are constantly supporting the various aspects (such as stage lighting, sound design, and other special effects, etc.) of the performance being delivered to the audience.
Double Diamond Model
When it comes to the service design process, perhaps one of the most important things I’ve learned since the beginning of this semester is the double diamond model.
The model is an approach for tackling design challenges and developing innovative solutions. The method consists of a problem space and a solution space. We can understand service design as a continuous cycle of discovering, defining, developing, and delivering.
Problem Space: Design the Right Thing
To design the right thing, service designers would start with discovering and defining. While discovering, it’s essential a team think broadly about the problem and consider the whole picture by exploring the problem space. This is a chance for service designers to build empathy with their customers. Since each person can provide a unique perspective, creating a diverse team environment (by having individuals from various backgrounds and disciplines) with inclusiveness is crucial for creativity and unbiased problem-solving to take place.
The second diamond involves defining the problem space. During this phase, the service design team would narrow down the problem space identified using convergent thinking. The goal here is to determine the direction for the solution through the following approach:
- Data Analysis: Collate and synthesize the information gathered during the discovery phase to draw insights.
- Identifying Opportunities: Brainstorm and identify potential opportunities for solving the problem. This might involve ideation sessions and workshops to generate innovative ideas.
- Prioritization: Narrow down the opportunities and select the most promising ones to focus on.
Solution Space: Design the Thing Right
The development phase is when a team comes together to brainstorm ideas and create prototypes. Once a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) has been build, a team can validate their assumption by conducting usability tests.
As part of the delivering phase, service designers will modify their prototype (if necessary) based on the feedback received and create a plan for implementing their solution.
Future
I plan to apply the double-diamond to my own learning by applying these skills to my educational goals and self-improvement objectives moving forward.
In fact, the double-diamond model can apply well beyond the field of design. In real-life, we should start the discovery phase by defining our goal and articulating what we want to achieve. This could be done through exploring various resources (such as books, journals, video, etc) to learn about the world around us. We would then narrow down our goal as part of the define phase.
For instance, being able to adapt my approach accordingly based on the current technologies.
The introduction of AI has undoubtedly brought revolutionary changes to our society. AI technologies influence the ways people collect and process data and transform business operations across different industries. When it comes to design and innovation, artificial intelligence not only profoundly impacted our lives but also fundamentally altered how we solve problems.
Using the introduction of AI as an example, we should really view AI as a stakeholder rather than a threat. Since humans and AI are both stakeholders at the core of the ecosystem map, it’s essential that we take into account the experience of both parties when designing a service. Depending on the specific role and tasks an AI model performs, AI could either be a stakeholder in the front-stage, backstage, or both.
We can incorporate “AI” as a new stakeholder in the design process by thinking from the perspective of machines while discovering additional stakeholders (such as users and human workers) that are directly and indirectly influencing the way AI models process information. Our goal here is to ensure the interactions between machines and humans are desirable. This would mean thinking about ways to accurately translate complex human languages & emotions (users’ inputs) to computer languages that machines (or AI models) can understand.
To encourage the collaboration between human and AI, it’s essential that we build a bridge that connects human and machine language together by applying our own thinking model to the algorithm behind AI.
