Service Design Process Models

Several service design process models were found in academic literature, which shows a lack of consensus on which process model is described as the most appropriate fit to follow or widely adopted by service design practitioners. Several differences were pointed out among the existing process models in contemporary literature, in terms of terminologies, or number and name of service design phases.

Nonetheless, it is clear that they all have the same ideology in common, which is initiated by activities that involves gathering insights and in-depth understanding of the problem, followed by an ideation process

and development of innovative services, and ending with the implementation of the service (Kuosa and Westerlund, 2013; Meroni and Sangiorgi, 2011; Moritz, 2005; Schneider and Stickdorn, 2010). Some researchers stressed that although service design process models generally present the stages it goes through in a chronological order, this does not mean that service design is a linear process. However, it is highlighted that it can rather be iterative if required to take a step back to previous stages (Moritz, 2005; Schneider and Stickdorn, 2011). Below, two major models will be analysed, and additional models can be found in the Appendix.

Double Diamond Process Model by the British Design Council

The double diamond diagram came into life in 2005, as a result of an in-house research conducted at the Design Council. The diagram is shaped as a double diamond with the aim to visualize the service design process in a simple way, as shown in the Figure 3 below (Design Council, 2017, p. 6). The process entails four distinct phases, namely as Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. The first quarter of the double diamond model refers to the discovery phase and marks the initiation of the project with a divergent mode of thinking to allow for a wide range of initial ideas and influences.

In this phase, insights gathering is sourced by conducting secondary research that focuses on the interpretation of the market’s current situation in terms of competition and future trends. Another source of information is approached by conducting primary research with the aim to identify users’ needs, behaviour and experiences toward an offering. Moving to the define phase, in the second quarter, where it is characterised by a convergent mode of thinking. Recognition and analysis of a clear problem lies at the core of this phase. The aim is to address the well-defined problem through the rest of the process.

The third quarter is represented as the development phase, where it focuses on the generation and assessment of ideas that are tested by users in an iterative manner until reaching a refined service concept.

This stage involves the working of multi-disciplinary teams along with the employment of visual management techniques and development methods in the pursuit of bringing the agreed product or service to fruition. At the delivery and final stage, the service or product offering is launched with the aim to fulfil user’s needs which were identified during the discovery phase. This stage also deploys numerous feedback loops with the users to measure or report back on the success of the offering delivered to the market (Design Council, 2017, p. 23).

Figure 3. “Double Diamond” Framework, from: Design Council, (Design Council, 2017)

Service Design Process Model by Marc Stickdorn

Marc Stickdorn argues that there is not one rigid theoretical service design process that can be constantly replicated in any project. In Marc’s opinion, a framework development for service design process is rather context dependent. In other words, the process may vary depending on the company, stakeholders involved, complexity of the challenge, and most importantly resource availability in terms of budget and time. “The best design processes are those that adapt to the problem you want to solve - and not the way around”

(Stickdorn & Schneider, 2012, p. 128). Nonetheless, Stickdorn proposes a framework for a flexible service design process comprising four highly iterative phases, namely, exploration, creation, reflection, and implementation. Stickdorn put a lot of emphasis on the iterative aspect of the service design process, as this aspect serves as the main difference with other design processes that only follow a linear process. Service design process is non-linear, and it is highly essential to be explorative and iterative, in order to constantly move forward and adapt (shown in Figure 4).

Figure 4. Service Design Framework Developed by Stickdorn (Stickdorn et al., 2012)

Exploration:

During this stage, the main goal is to obtain a clear understanding of the problem. Although service design always puts the customer at the centre of the process, in this stage the first step addresses the organization in terms of learning more about their goals and culture and comprehending their perspective on a certain problem. In the second step, the focus is more shifted towards gaining an in-depth understanding of the real problem from the perspective of existing and potential users towards an offering, by gathering insights about their context, mindset, and behaviours. Lastly, the aim is to make the gathered information less complex and more tangible for key stakeholders to visualize and share the same understanding of the problem.

Creation:

This stage is focused on generating and assessing ideas based on the problem defined in the previous stage.

The aim of this stage is not to avoid mistakes, but rather to discover as many as possible mistakes by undergoing the needed iterations for testing and feedback gathering purposes prior to selecting the most promising idea and further proceeding with implementation. The cost of an additional iteration during this stage is much more affordable compared to the cost of failure after the concept is launched. It is important to work in a holistic manner by involving multidisciplinary teams and main stakeholders in the process to ensure developing a holistic and sustainable solution.

Reflection:

This stage is also characterized as being highly iterative as it focuses on prototyping the ideas with the greatest potential in order to test and get feedback accordingly. However, the main challenge is that unlike product design, services are difficult to prototype as they are intangible by nature. Service design offers a wide range of tools that aid in making the user visualize the future service concept at low cost with the opportunity to gather meaningful feedback as a result of the iterative improvements to the concepts.

Implementation:

The launch of a new service by necessity requires a change in process. In other words, a couple of principles in change management has to be considered at this stage. It is highly essential to ensure that employees are

of the prototyping process to have a clear vision of the concept. This increases the chances of having a smooth transition to change implementation.