The service design inspiration 002: Digital communities for human connections.
In current times, digital interactions have become progressively more valuable, from mimicking real life to today’s addition to it. There are a number of ways in which people can come together online to do things, some services build on top of this phenomenon to create a community, allowing people to share their interests and activities.
Hello, we are two enthusiastic service designers who love to dive into the world of products and services. We are here to share with you our service design explorations and inspirations which we think could be helpful for all of us to develop and innovate.
Following are the five services and platforms that represent different ways to create meaningful communities, for business and for the people involved. The cases were selected out of the research based on some interesting aspects worth discussing
Let’s go and take a look at some interesting services for digital communities!
Lego Ideas
A community platform for Lego enthusiasts to bring the offline Lego projects online, while taking part in competitions, challenges and contributing to new Lego designs.
What problem are they solving?
Lego has a legacy in the world of toys and creativity. It has majorly been a physical touchpoint for playing and collaborating. As the world gets connected online, Lego ideas are offering a possibility to have an online community of lego players to share, compete and collaborate.
Who is it for?
It is for lego enthusiasts to display their work and also to participate in challenges.
2 things we liked!
- Using the legacy physical product to have a strong online community.
- A well defined channel to let target users participate in the creation of future products.
We wish…
there were more creative and innovative ways to use this offline-online community to participate in challenges which are beyond a fun pass time. As Lego has been used in innovation under Lego serious play, maybe there is untapped potential there!
Service Design Inspiration
Creating an online space, Lego was able to establish a community that not only shares passion and inspirations, but also contributes to the next products; recognizing these efforts of the community Lego rewards them.
Context jam
(A tool to apply inspiration from the case study in different context)
ABC is a knitting supplies manufacturer, by creating a digital space for suggestions and to showcase people’s work, ABC is able to direct a portion of the new lines to the community’s most appreciated suggestions.
Nike training club
An online well curated fitness community by Nike featuring training from the known athletes.
What problem are they solving?
Creating a digital community based around the strong brand and products; Nike is strengthening the online presence in the fast growing digital market.
Who is it for?
For the people who believe in the philosophy of Nike as a fitness lifestyle and want to follow the training from celebrity sportsmen.
2 things we liked!
- Using a strong, well established brand to increase digital presence through the fan base.
- Attempt to connect physical products to the digital world or vice versa.
We wish…
the “add friends” function would have enabled the possibility to actually train along with your pals.
Service Design Inspiration
Training with the help of the service is an activity that is restricted in space, by introducing the friends function sharing the usage of the service becomes more natural and inclusion becomes fun. Strengthening the interactions between users would allow for them to establish an online community.
Context jam
ABC is a service that manages finances for freelancers. They also provide a platform for all their customers to engage in conversations to help each other with smart financial choices; supporting the feeling of community amongst the free floating freelancers.
Discord
A platform to create a discussion space around a topic, which leads to the formation of a community with people of common interests.
What problem are they solving?
A platform which started with a discussion space for online gamers now serves as a communication platform for various communities on diverse topics.
Who is it for?
For the people who like to follow certain topics while being part of the discussion.
2 things we liked!
- A dedicated discussion space based on topics.
- An enabler for organising and hosting topical activities.
We wish…
the service gave the possibility to search and request to join communities. Currently you need invites from the community to start using the service.
Service Design Inspiration
Discord allows people to freely participate in a community’s digital space. Providing organizers and enthusiasts of a certain topic with the possibility to get premium features and improve the quality of the community’s space, in order to grow their community.
Context jam
ABC is a global digital school with its own platform. As the number of students increases every year, ABC tried to introduce new, exciting courses. In order to manage the infrastructure, ABC asks students/parents to get premium courses so that they can afford to run this school.
Freeletics
An online AI based personalised fitness training service, which also has a growing community of co-trainings.
What problem are they solving?
Primarily they are a personal training service which helps you workout without any instruments/external weights. They also let you compete with your friends as a challenge based motivation system. But they have been successful in setting up also physical spaces in the cities which have given rise to the community of freeletitians to work out together.
Who is it for?
It’s for the people who want to get into consistent fitness training, with flexible options and possibilities to work out with others.
2 things we liked!
- Creating a free for all physical touchpoint in the form of workout stations in various cities for citizens and freeletics users alike.
- Freeletics has managed to create a strong community value in spite of being an online platform; facilitating creation of new connections amongst the freeletitians.
We wish…
Freeletics would have shared the success stories of the users that changed their lives as a way to motivate people in the on-boarding process, instead of focusing on the premium offers.
Service Design Inspiration.
The community shares progress and their thoughts on the various programs, becoming a quality grant for the service. Freeletics AI training uses users’ feedback to adapt the users’ training programs to their limits.
Context jam
ABC is a non-profit organization in constant demand for new volunteers to help them with their cause. By documenting and sharing the stories of their volunteers it was possible for them to show the fulfillment of the activity to more people, introducing themselves outside of events or one-to-one meetings in a way that holds true to their reality.
Wildlabs
An open community where members can share their challenges and successes, give and receive guidance, and access the resources needed to ensure a healthy, biodiverse planet for generations to come.
What problem are they solving?
WildLabs is connecting the people who are working on environmental issues across the globe. By having a clear structure, the community utilises the platform to have a dialogue between experts who might have faced similar challenges and the ones who are currently facing them.
Who is it for?
For the people who are working on environmental/wildlife issues across the globe who can offer or ask for help.
2 things we liked!
- An online community of resource sharing for a noble cause.
- The clear approach of publishing challenges, successes and resources to make it easier for help seekers.
We wish…
that community also had a possibility to initiate and collaborate on projects
Service Design Inspiration
Wildlabs created an active community with ideas exchanges and discussions to improve how wildlife conservation is done, having a great amount of contribution and identifying successes and failures they started creating operative best practices to move the entire sector forward.
Context jam
ABC is a growing artificial intelligence resource platform. By their active forum that supports the usage of artificial intelligence as a tool for innovation and provides easy access to discussions on common issues, it was possible to extrapolate data driven best practices for their industry.
Our big takeaway
Products of any kind can be the common interest that develops a community. It is important to monitor and to adapt to the natural community of people that use the product and to offer them a space in which they can come together and form relationships with one another and not only with the brand.
At the same time, communities which are based on common interests need to have a strong value which can keep the community together and functional. Clear exchange channel/medium for knowledge or resources plays an important role in such a group of people.
To keep the community active, there needs to be well designed actions/interactions on the platform which add value to the life of the members. These actions define the purpose of the community and why one should use such a platform.
What the project is about
We as service designers have always loved to get inspired from various products & services. We have found that every service can give us at least one learning or insight which we can use in various other contexts. We started to breakdown services in various domains and began to mention the actionable insights which anyone/everyone can use in creative ways. This project for us is the output of that hunt and a growing resource which will keep unwrapping in front of us.
About Authors
Sebastiano Gobbo
Service Designer, problem solver and work-shopper, enthusiastic about reading and travelling.
Follow him: Linkedin, Personal Website, Instagram.
Suyog Sunil Risbud aka The fun Indian guy
A creative solo-entrepreneur. Service designer, musician, filmmaker, podcaster!
Follow him: Linkedin, Youtube, Instagram, Spotify, Personal Website
