Service
Design
Glossary
By Live|Work
www.servicedesign.org
Prepared by Lara Penin School of Design Strategies
Parsons The New School for Design
Evidence
Definitions
Service evidence are touch-points that represent parts of a service experience.
Tangible evidence of a service can be both from the past and present, but also designed artifacts that represent future service experiences.
Evidence can represent the effects of possible designs as much as the design of the service itself. Therefore evidence are not only core service touch-points, but often third
parties’ response to an service such as newspaper articles describing the results of the service.
Evidencing, or the making of evidence from the future, can be used as a rapid way to prototype future service
experiences. You can use the evidence as a stimulus with users or in Roleplay to test the ideas. This type of
“archaeology of the future” enables service providers to make early qualitative judgments about the implications of a design. Ultimately it allows customers and collaborators to “play back” their own assumptions as concrete
experiences rather then abstract evaluations.
Example evidence might be a bill, an advert, a news story, a poster, a product review, a letter or a contract agreement.
Links
Experience design
Links
Nathan Shedroff’s evolving glossary on Experience Design
The British Design Council - About: Experience Design
Recent stories and links on experience design Experientia, a new experience design company
Experience prototyping
Definitions
Service experiences are intangible, may take place over a lifetime and have multiple touch-points, media and modes. Therefore, services are prototyped in a different way then products.
Prototypes of a service experience can be seen as an equivalent to the way a product or architectural model prototypes the object. Service experience prototypes involve multiple service touch-points, set the scene, the place and the time of a service experience, and establish a way for participants to suspend their disbelief, in the way that theatre is able to temporarily transport an audience. Experience prototypes are an efficient way to do rapid service prototyping, involving customers, experts and clients in developing and refining services.
(live|work)
On behalf of Jane Fulton Suri @ IDEO... “Experience Prototyping” is about two things: 1. methods that allow designers, clients or users to “experience it themselves” rather than witnessing a demonstration of someone else’s experience. One of the basic tenets of the concept is that experience is, by its nature, subjective and that the best way to understand the experiential qualities of an interaction is to experience it subjectively.
2. an approach to prototyping that encourages us to think of interactions with product, space, service or system as integrated with the dynamic aspects of time and space, as they are actually experienced by people in their context, rather than one or more specific isolated artifacts.
So, for an operational definition we can say an Experience Prototype is any kind of representation, in any medium, that is designed to help us understand, explore or communicate what it feels like to engage with a product, space service or system. Traditional design prototyping tools like
storyboards, scenarios, sketches, models, video, or on-screen simulations are able to communicate the elements that make up an experience and do this by inviting people to look-on rather than actually participate. Experience prototyping would involve activities such as role-playing, simulation sessions, (using appropriate props), and
analogous situations that are carefully-designed/or selected to highlight particular qualitative aspects of engagement with product, space, service or system.
References
Jane Fulton Suri, Marion Buchenau, Experience Prototyping, Symposium on Designing Interactive Systems, Proceedings of the conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques, Pages: 424 - 433 , 2000, ISBN
1581132190, ACM
Interaction design
Definition
Historically the term interaction design has its roots in Graphic User Interface (GUI) design. Where service design has the design of multiple touch-points at it’s heart,
interaction design has also become more and more concerned about other interactions than the ones happening between a single user and a digital device.
Links
Lean consumption
Definitions
Lean Consumption: concept developed by by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones as as a service counterpart to the manufacturing concept of “lean production.” The
principles are:
1. Solve the customer’s problem completely by insuring that all the goods and services work, and work together. 2. Don’t waste the customer’s time. 3. Provide exactly what the customer wants. 4. Provide what’s wanted exactly where it’s wanted. 5. Provide what’s wanted where it’s wanted exactly when it’s wanted. 6. Continually aggregate solutions to reduce the customer’s time and hassle.
References
James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones, Lean
Consumption, Harvard Business Review, March-April 2005.
Market
Definition
The service sector accounts for almost 80% of UK employment and contributes to 67% of the economy, yet receives just 16.5% of research and development
investment. Across the EU, service growth is at 15%, while manufacturing is growing at just 5%.
Methods
Definition
One of the fundamental differences between products and services that has an impact on how we must approach their design and development is that products are consumed once they have been produced, where as with services, production and consumption occur at the same time. In order to take this time factor into account, the service design process is more iterative then a product design process, and different stages often happen concurrently. ---- These are some of the methods used by London-based service design studio live|work
Service Ecologies scope the actors involved in the service, and the relationships between them. We analyse the Value Exchange in each relationship and search for new opportunities for relationships that maintain a healthy balance of emotion, value and trust between the actors. In order to help understand and manage the complex relationships between the user, the touchpoints and the back end systems - all over time, we use Service
Blueprinting as a practical and poweful service usability and management tool.
To get a realistic view of the effects of a service we design service experience prototypes as well as evidence of how the service would live in the world. In this way we are able to explore the implications of a wider system.
Links
live|work
Natural capitalism
Natural Capitalism (Hawken, Lovins and Lovins, 2000) is an argument, built on a series of case studies, for the possibility of a shift in industrial thinking and management that the authors believe could dramatically increase the effective value of the natural resources that we consume. It comes from an engineering point of view and aims to convince business people and politicians that action can be taken to mitigate ecological crises in a way that is also compatible with economic realities.
For service design the key chapter of Natural Capitalism is chapter 7, Muda, Service and Flow, which outlines an argument for a customer pull approach to industry. The authors believe that by designing around the customer’s needs we can reduce the waste that is inherent in a product-orientated economy. It is in a product
manufacturer’s interest to sell as many units as possible. A service provider, on the other hand, is paid for the ongoing receipt of some form of value, from warmth to
entertainment, and is interested in getting the best return on investment from all materials involved in delivering the service. “This supports Natural Capitalism’s goal of protecting vital ecosystem services.” (Hawken, Lovins, Lovins 2000)
As the authors hint in this last sentence, what sounds like leading edge management theory also connects with the deeper intentions of Natural Capitalism. If services can be understood as more in tune with the cyclical systems of Gaia; and if by describing earth systems as warming services or fresh water services in an way that is easily grasped, we can begin to make a conceptual step forward
from the problematic understanding of natural resources as ‘products’ like oil or water there to be consumed. Then services become a way of describing a change in our understanding and in our vocabulary that can resonate in the mainstream whilst moving us forward.
Natural Capitalism is pragmatic, rational and measured believing that better processes and technologies can create huge improvements. The frustration with Natural Capitalism is that it doesn’t address some of the underlying systemic issues within capitalism that are felt to be responsible for our destructive actions and is therefore potentially tinkering at the margins.
References
Hawken Paul, Lovins Amory B, Lovins L Hunter, Natural Capitalism; The Next Industrial Revolution, Earthscan Publications Ltd, London 2000 ISBN 1844071707
Public sector
Recognition of service design methodology and practice is beginning to emerge in the public sector. While the term ‘public services’ is common the nature of such services means that the user experience of them has often been sub-optimal. Afterall, they are often monopolistic in nature and their delivery is inevitably producer-led. However, service design is now recognised as a critical tool that can be used to create customer-facing public services that are used and are satisfactory. Driving this is overspill from the dotcom world. As government has tried to make services available online it has hit barriers that can be surmounted using service design
Poor existing processes
As public service providers tried to put their services online it has often simply been an exercise in slapping on an e-front end to a process designed to handle paper. In addition, often the new e-process simply mimiced the old one. Little thought was given to exploring otherways of achieving an outcome. The application of service design can help providers analyse which part of their processes are really critical, and most importantly, how they interface with the customers own processes. In other words, when the provider thinks a process starts when a citizen makes an application for assistance the reality is that the decision to apply only comes after a long worrying process by the citizen.
Low up-take
Poor take-up of public e-services is often the result of poorly designed services. Poor design not just in terms of poor user interface design but in terms of a failure to
understand the beaviours and needs of users. Again, service design can provide insight that can be actioned to ensure that the service provides value to the user and encourages take-up of it
Barrier 3: vertical silos
Many public services are delivered through silo
organisations that are focused on certain types of process in certain contexts. Collecting tax, or paying benefits or applying for licenses or ensuring compliance. Despite there being common processes the services design to enact them often vary immensely. Thus a paparent of a child with special needs will be assessed, case-managed and paid benefit by different agencies in different ways. Often the subject will know more about the cross-government state of the provision of the services than the prproviders do
themselves. In effect, the parent ends up joining-up across the boundaries between the silos.
UK Government response
In the UK, the Cabinet Office e-Government Unit has issued guidance to help improve service delivery. The guide is called Service Design and Delivery Guide. It has six principles of which the second is most relevant. Design and deliver all services on an e-enabled multi-channel basis, using “research about customer needs, access and usability requirements,” and exploiting self-service wherever possible.
Service Design Principles
The creation of Service Design Principles was called for in the Transformation Government Strategy published in November 2005 (http://www.cio.gov.uk.)
In March 2006, the Strategy’s implementation plan was
published
(http://www.cio.gov.uk/documents/pdf/transgov/transg ovt.pdf) . On the subject of Service Design Principles it says:
29. The strategy said that government should: “Create a Service Transformation Board whose role is to set overarching service design principles, promote best
practice, signpost the potential from technology futures and challenge inconsistency with agreed standards.”
30. Government has established the Board, comprising senior officials from across the public sector. A secretariat has been set up within the Cabinet Office, four meetings have taken place, and a network of working level contacts has been put in place to enable the Board to test and develop its activities rapidly. The Board is supported by a “Service Design Authority” within the Cabinet Office staffed by full-time and experienced practitioners in service design from central and local government and the private sector. The Service Transformation Board has issued guidelines on a range of key topics.
31. By November 2006 the Service Transformation Board will have established itself as a clearing house for dealing with the obstacles to service transformation, identifying blockers through its networks, using the resources at the centre to clear them, and implementing agreed decisions in departments through individual members.
32. In 2007, the Service Transformation Board will be tracking the effectiveness of these initiatives and reporting on its conclusions.
Additional resources
RED
Definition
RED is a team at the Design Council. They operate as the Design Council’s advanced projects unit.
RED aims to challenge accepted thinking in economic and social issues through design innovation. They run rapid live projects in order to develop new thinking and practical design solutions in the form of systems, services and products. Their teams are interdisciplinary and include designers with policy analysts and sector experts. RED was founded in 2004.
Links
RED
Roleplay
Use roleplay to prototype and communicate concepts based on human behaviour.
How
Act out a scenarios with or without props.
Use your intuitive responses prompted by the enactment of the scenario to refine your design.
Roleplay can also be used as a method to test physical prototypes.
Resources
Props if required, eg clothing, walking stick, glasses, pushchair etc
Links
Scenarios
Definition
Use scenarios method to prototype ideas or possible directions. This method is also an effective way of
illustrating how end products or services will relate to users.
How
Based on observation, define a character or characters who will use the end product - see User Profiles. Define the key moments of interaction between the characters and the end product or service.
Realise these key interactions as a short text, a storyboard or even act it out as a role play. Test the scenario on users or yourself. Use what you learn to improve the design further.
To investigate the full scope of user interactions, three or four scenarios may need to be constructed, each around the needs of a different character.
Resources
Someone who can draw, sheets of paper, markers, a video camera or computer depending on chosen realisation method.
Links
Knowledge Cell: User Centred Design, Alison Black Recent stories and links on scenarios
Sensualisation
Sensualisation extends the concept of visualisation to all other senses (hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, moving, etc.). The sense of sight is the strongest sense for most human beings. Hearing is the next most significant channel of information for humans.
For Service Design the extended concept of Sensualisation is important for explaining and sharing concepts and to prototype Service Experiences. (Stefan)
Service ecology
Definitions
A service ecology is a system of actors and the relationships between them that form a service.
The service ecology takes a systemic view of the service and the context it will operate in.
Service ecologies include all actors affected by a service, not only those directly involved in production or use. By analysing service ecologies, it is possible to reveal opportunities for new actors to join the ecology and new relationships between them.
Ultimately, sustainable service ecologies depend on a balance where the actors involved exchange value in ways that is mutually beneficial over time.
References
Bonnie A. Nardi and Vicky L. O’Day, Information Ecologies. Using Technology with Heart, 1999, ISBN 0262140667
Cinzia Parolini, The Value Net: A Tool for Competitive Strategy, 1999, ISBN 0471987190
Designing Product/Service Systems: A Methodological Exploration, Nicola Morelli in Design Issues: Volume 18, Number 3 Summer 2002
Service blueprint
Definitions
A service blueprint describes a service in enough detail to implement and maintain it carefully.
According to the British Standard for Service Design (BS 7000 -3, BS 7000 -10, BS EN ISO 9000), blueprinting is described as Mapping out of a service journey
identifying the processes that constitute the service, isolating possible fail points and establishing the time frame for the journey.
G Lynn Shostack who was VP of Citibank in the US during the 1980’s pioneered the concept of service blueprinting, and developed it as a way to plan the cost and revenue associated with operating a service.
A blueprint can be used by both business process managers, designers and software engineers during development, and can be used as a guide to service managers that operate services on a day-to-day basis. Currently, the biggest challenges in blueprinting revolve around ways of depicting services in a holistic way, from elements of the branding and user experience on one hand to back-end technical and business processes on the other.
Methods
Service blueprints need to describe time in a service. This includes the sequence of events of a service experience, its durations and timings. A blueprint should graphically and narriatively describe this time element.
A sequence of events - sometimes called use cases or flows - is relatively easy to blueprint as it can be
responses and the touchpoints or interfaces that enable the service relationship. Sequences become challenged when there are multiple options or directions and when the planned process goes awry. The danger here is that the sequence becomes prescriptive with little room for variation from the ideal path.
References
Lynn G. Shostack. Breaking Free from Product
Marketing. Journal of Marketing. 41 (Summer 1977), 73-80. Lynn G. Shostack, Designing Services that Deliver, Harvard Business Review 62, no. 1 (January-February 1984), 133-139.
Lynn G. Shostack, How to Design a Service, European Journal of Marketing 16,1 (2001), 49-63.
G Hollins and W Hollins, Total Design: Managing the design process in the service sector, Trans Atlantic Publications, 1991 (republished 2002 in its original form), ISBN 0273033387
Service design
Definition
Design for experiences that reach people through many different touch-points, and that happen over time.
(noun) 1) ‘Set of instructions (specifications, drawings and schedules, etc.) necessary to construct an artifact or service.’
2) ‘Artifact or service itself.’
(verb) ‘Generation of information by which a required service or product can become a reality.’ (British
Standard for Service Design: BS 7000 -3, BS 7000 -10, BS EN ISO 9000)
Service design can be both tangible and intangible. It can involve artefacts and other things including communication, environment and behaviours. Whichever form it takes it must be consistent, easy to use and have strategic alliance. (Gillian Hollins, Bill Hollins, Total Design: Managing the Design Process in the Service Sector)
Links
www.service-design.de
Cologne International School of Design Service Design by Bill Hollins
Service Design on Putting People First Jeff Howard’s Service Design Research
References
G Hollins and W Hollins, Total Design: Managing the design process in the service sector, Trans Atlantic Publications, 1991 (republished 2002 in its original form), ISBN 0273033387
Christian Gronroos, Service Management and Marketing: A customer relationship management approach, 2nd ed, John Wiley & Sons, 2000, ISBN 0471720348
J. Tidd & F. M. Hull (eds) Service Innovation.
Organizational Responses to Technological Opportunities & Market Imperatives, Imperial College Press, 2003, ISBN 1860943675
Servicescape
Definition
Term coined by MJ Bitner to refer to “the role of physical surroundings in consumption settings” and how physical environments relate to activity. Bitner identifies three kinds of tangible service evidence: people, process, and physical cues.
References
Mary Jo Bitner, 1992, Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees, Journal of Marketing 56(2) 57-71.
SERVQUAL
Definition
SERVQUAL is a method for measuring service quality. The method was created during the 1980’s as part of research projects within the field of marketing. The model is based on the premise that the best way to measure service quality is to base it on the customer’s experience of quality.
In SERVQUAL, quality is defined by the gap between what a customer expects and what the customer perceives. SERVQUAL breaks service quality down to five basic dimensions; reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness, often referred to as RATER.
V. A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman and L. L. Berry, Delivering Service Quality: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, The Free Press, 1990, ISBN 0029357012
Situation creation
Definition
Situation creation is a phrase coined in the 1980s to look at how physical design details affect the customer
experience.
References
Gregory Upah and James Fulton. 1985. Situation Creation in Service Marketing. In The Service Encounter, edited by John Czepiel, Michael Soloman and Carol Supremant. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 255-263.
Touch-points
Definition
Service touch-points are the tangibles that make up the total experience of using a service. Touch-points can take many forms, from advertising to personal cards, web- mobile phone- and PC interfaces, bills, retail shops, call centres and customer representatives.
In service design, all touch-points needs to be considered in totality and crafted in order to create a clear, consistent and unified customer experience.
In service quality measurement system SERVQUAL, “tangibles” are one of the five core dimentions of capturing service quality.
References
V. A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman and L. L. Berry, Delivering Service Quality: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, The Free Press, 1990, ISBN 0029357012
Links
On the Origin of Touchpoints from Design for Service
User observation
Definition
Use this method to understand the reality of what people do rather than what they say they do, and to gain insights to inform the design process.
How
Determine the activities and the people to be observed in context, and identify an appropriate ‘expert’ observer. Depending on the information required observations might range from general (eg how people move around a
shopping centre) to specific experiments to test a design (such as observing how people complete a specified task on a computer in a simulated environment).
Recording your observation through photos or video will allow you to analyse after the event and can provide evidence for stakeholders. Use this method in conjunction with 1to1 Interviews.
Resources
An expert observer eg an informed designer, social scientist or human factors specialist. Video, camera,
Links
Ideo, Methods Deck, 2003 Stanton, N.A., Human Factors in Consumer Products, 1998
User profiling
Definition
Use this design method to define and communicate the characteristics of a user, or groups of users. Having user profiles available during the design process will help stimulate ideas and aid decision making.
How
Based on actual research of your user groups (see 1:1 Interviews, Market Information and User Observation), develop different character profiles to represent your users. Give the users names and visually represent how they look and dress, their aspirations, behaviour, lifestyle and any challenging peculiarities. It is important to make profiles of extreme users for this. It can also be useful to write ‘stories’ about a typical day in their life.
Prominently display the profiles. They will help you to stay on course and should stop you from designing for yourself. At decision points, ask yourself, ‘What would Mary or John think of this?’
Links
User Profiling in IDEO, Methods Deck, 2003
Value exchange
Definitions
The value exchange model describes how the enterprise’s promise is delivered by its front-line agents. It is through these agents that the customer experiences the service. If the experience matches the promise, then value is returned from the customer to the service provider. The model also suggests that the agents should be considered ‘users’ of the service, and that the use of ICTs should ensure that feedback is continuously gathered and fed back into the service design.
The model can be broken into three sentences:
1. The service provider makes a promise to the service recipient in exchange for some form of value.
2. The service provider provides tools and infrastructure for its agents who provide utility and experience to the service recipient.
3. The service recipient interacts with the service agents who give feedback to the service provider.
