What is service design? Explanation of definitions and basic design methods!

“Service design” is attracting attention as a method to create new value. This is a word that refers to designing systems and mechanisms that can continuously provide excellent customer experiences. This time, I will introduce the definition of service design, basic methods, and the viewpoints required for service design.

Table of contents

Definition of service design

Service design is the design of an organization and a system that can continuously provide both good products and a comfortable customer experience that accompanies the products. Customer experience refers to all the experiences a customer has after recognizing, purchasing, and using a product, such as “I had a good time with that product.”
In service design, we emphasize the creation of customer experience, so we consider not only the product itself but also all aspects of the backstage, such as the organization that provides the product and the on-site staff, to be “services that should be designed.” It is a big feature to include in the design target.

Why is service design important?

The reason why the concept of service design has come to be emphasized is that modern society is undergoing major changes in the economy, society, and technology.

First, there is the economic factor. With the maturity of various industries, the world is now overflowing with convenient things. Once people have obtained all the things they want, there is a movement to seek added value in services instead of things.

There are also changes in social conditions. In today’s world, which is filled with all sorts of things and information, customer expectations are at an all-time high. It is becoming difficult to impress customers with the current method of appealing to the performance of things.

In addition, with the development of digital technology, various fields have collaborated in unimaginable ways to create new value and improve efficiency. Expectations are rising.

In modern times, not only the “thing” of the product but all the customer experiences related to the product, that is, the “things”, are required as much as or more than the “things”. Therefore, to appeal to customers, it is necessary to look at the overall “service” that integrates “things = products” and “things = experiences”. In this trend, the concept of designing better services that satisfy things and things was born. This concept of service design is attracting attention as a method that can be expected to have a great effect on both the creation of new businesses and the improvement of existing businesses.

Relationship with UX design and CX design

Design related to customer experience includes “UX design” and “CX design”.

UX design is an abbreviation for user experience design, and it is to design the experience obtained by using products and services. For example, the act of improving the communication environment and the usability of the application so that you can obtain experiences and impressions such as watching videos comfortably using video distribution services, satisfying with rich content, having a good time, etc. also falls under UX design.

CX design is an abbreviation for Customer Experience Design, which is to design all experiences from purchasing products and services to using them. In contrast to UX design, which focuses on the experience when using products and services, CX design focuses on the total experience from before to after use.

The big difference between UX design, CS design, and service design lies in the design target. In contrast to UX design and CX design, which focus on the customer experience, service design considers the whole, including the elements on the side of providing products and services, and targets everything. Of course, service design is closely related to UX design and CX design, and each must be optimized and combined.

The basic method of service design

The four core activities of service design are research, ideation, prototyping, and implementation. I will explain each activity.

1. Research

First, to formulate hypotheses that form the basis of behavior and to verify whether existing hypotheses are valid or not, we collect information by investigating customer behaviors and their triggers. We analyze the collected data from various perspectives to deepen our understanding of customer values ​​and potential needs.

2. Ideation

We share ideas to solve problems and create new value. Ideas are classified, organized, integrated, and brushed up repeatedly. New ideas can come at any time. It is important to have an attitude of constantly evolving to aim for even better ideas, rather than finishing with an idea once.

3. Prototyping

Prototype and verify the product of the idea and the concept of “Let’s do this”. This is an activity to reduce risks and uncertainties and improve the quality of services by trying small scales at a low cost as early as possible. At this stage, we create what is necessary, such as the assumed usage model of the service and the visual prototype of the website.

If we decide that the ideas tested at this stage are insufficient to meet the customer’s needs, we repeat the research, ideation, and prototyping process.

4. Implementation

After prototyping, we apply the contents of the prototype to the actual environment, prepare the production system and operating system for that, and proceed to normal work such as manufacturing and product PR. At this stage, when the service begins to be applied to the actual site, various departments such as management, engineering, and the development group will be involved in the service design.

Two Perspectives Required for Service Design

Service design, which captures services from a broad perspective, requires verification from multiple perspectives. Let’s take a look at the two perspectives necessary to practice service design.

A perspective that overlooks the entire service

When thinking about service design, instead of focusing only on the customer experience on the user side, it is necessary to look at the environment itself in which products and services are provided and how the organization as a whole should be. . Being interested in a wide range of fields regularly and acquiring diverse knowledge and skills will also help broaden your horizons. It is important to have a broad perspective that allows you to see the entire service, and not only to improve the product but also to improve the system surrounding the service as a whole.

The perspective of repetitive and continuous brush-up

Of course, designing once is not the end of the story.

One of the effective frameworks for thinking about service design is “Double Diamond”. This is an array of diamonds representing the process of resolving a problem, in which ‘diffusion’ and ‘convergence’ are repeated. As this double diamond shows, we can “diffusion” when generating ideas and making prototypes, narrow down ideas while reconciling them with reality, and eliminate unnecessary things by giving feedback on test results. It suggests that it is important to repeatedly perform “convergence” to scrape off to create a good design.

It is also very important to have a perspective of repetitive and continuous brush-up that can be improved according to customer needs and changes in social conditions. It is important to repeat “research,” “ideation,” and “prototyping” as necessary and continue to add improvements.

Summary

Service design is attracting attention as a way to create new value in products and services. This is an initiative to design a system and mechanism that can continuously provide high-quality products and customer experiences. Why not consider service design to create new businesses or improve existing businesses?