Midterm Reflection
My Understanding of Service Design
Service design is designing for the bigger picture. It identifies each system that consists of the big picture and identifies the touch points to improve it for the users. If I were to describe service design to others, like my friends and family, I would compare it to an orchestra. According to the article Designing Services at Engine, service design involves product, process, and people to make things better just like how the individual instruments harmonize to create a song.
The lessons I have learned so far from the course makes me look at the world from a different perspective. I realized that services exist everywhere even if we do not realize. Examples in our daily lives include cafe order/pay services, systems in the airport, shipping systems, and many more. The airport example was especially striking to me because even though I travel all the time, I did not realize how many different systems the entire service consists of and merely looked at it as a single ecosystem. In other words, I looked at the routes into the airport, baggage claim, lounge, duty free, and etc, all separately. However, there were countless layers of systems to satisfy customer needs. This is one of the reasons why I enjoyed Dongin’s visit because she actually worked on a service I am interested in: airport service. Although she did not go into the details, being able to hear the contributor to the development of Delta’s app and discovering the countless layers to it was interesting as the app user.
Moreover, I thought that product design and service design were the same thing or at least had a similar development process. However, I have learned that service design is designing for a service to be sustainable whereas product design focuses on a product. Although service design looks more flexible and gives more freedom to the designer, it actually requires to be more strategic through “creative tools, design-led approaches” (Fayard 4).
Service Design Centers around People
Service Design genuinely considers people and how to make things better for the users and the marketplace as a whole, which often complicates the process and requires service designers to zoom out to see the big picture. The BluePrint Mapping exercise shows how service designers consider both the front-stage and back-stage stakeholders, which not only includes their roles but also their feelings. Doing the group service analysis made me realize it was challenging to come up with the feelings for the backstage stakeholders because we did not have the time to step into their shoes and immerse ourselves in their lives nor do interviews. However, the aspect of considering the backstage staffs, and even feelings stood out to me because I thought service was a one-way relationship where the stakeholders simply accept the system regardless of their opinions. Again, this highlights the mission of service design to design for ‘people’ and underscores the importance of ‘shadowing.’ I am excited to learn about different individual’s perspectives for the final project to come up with a service based on the user’s actual needs.
Another lesson I learned through different in-class activities is the importance of presenting the idea. There were many instances where I had to present my findings and research but not my own ideas. However, doing the group presentation and mini jam made me realize that if I do not present my vision and idea well, no matter how good the idea is, the audience will not get it. This taught me that service designers not only have to have innovative ideas but also the ability to convince others why their idea is good, which is also why collaboration is crucial in the process. It also highlights the aspect I want to improve on from this class, communication.
Moving Forward
As the world gets more advanced, the importance and demand for service goes up. Like mentioned, services are abundant and AIs (Alexa, Chat GTP, etc) are slowly accounting for various aspects of our lives. Therefore, it is becoming essential for service designers incorporate AI as a stakeholder. I was always warned by my parents that AIs may take over humans but reading Human Machine Collaboration awakened me to recognize the mutually beneficial relationship between humans and AI. Therefore, I want to apply service design that uses artificial intelligence that will not only change the public stereotypes of AI but also make one’s daily experience better.
I also want to delve deeper into measuring success. What are the ways to tell how well the service did in adopting experience and taking design approaches? Professional service designers can measure their success by looking at public reviews and marketplace reaction but what are ways that I, a amateur service designer can do so.
