Designing the intangible

An introduction to service design

Jennifer Bove & Ben Fullerton

1. What?
2. Why?
3. How?
4. Case studies
5. What makes a good service experience?
6. Any questions?
1. What?
2. Why?
3. How?
4. Case studies
5. What makes a good service experience?
6. Any questions?
2 definitions:
“Service design: A method for designing
experiences that reach people through many
different touch-points, and that happen
over time.”

from: http://servicedesign.org/service_design/
“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.”

from: “Total Design: Managing the Design Process in the Service Sector”. W & G Hollins, 1990
Let’s unpack those statements a bit.
“Intangible.”
“Many different touch-points.”
“Over time.”
image courtesy of live|work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk
What else?
Services are produced at the same moment
as they are consumed - the customer is
a “co-creator” of the service.
Services can be constantly monitored against
success factors and incrementally improved
“on the fly”.
1. What?
2. Why?
3. How?
4. Case studies
5. What makes a good service experience?
6. Any questions?
"e “service industry” accounts for
around 75% of the Western economy
(currently!)
But services are rarely designed with the
same care and attention to detail as products.
Better designed services lead to greater
customer loyalty - from customers who pay
more! - and more efficient business processes.
Service envy!
And by promoting use over consumption -
encouraging people to use services rather than
products - we also promote sustainability
1. What?
2. Why?
3. How?
4. Case studies
5. What makes a good service experience?
6. Any questions?
Service design isn’t a new discipline.
"e thinking, tools and methodologies come
from interaction design - for so$ware
and products - so the process looks somewhat
the same...
small man courtesy of live|work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk
Design research:
Internal (to the business) and external (to
the customer and the world the service will
exist in)
Example deliverables might include:
Personas
Service Ecology

courtesy of live|work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk

Essentially, design for opportunities:
unmet customer and business needs.
Example deliverables might include:
Service Blueprint

courtesy of live|work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk

Experience Prototype

courtesy of live|work Studio Ltd. - http://www.livework.co.uk

Storytelling (Scenarios)
Touch-point Specifications
Go into production.
Release and monitor.
Techniques for doing this include:
RATER (SERVQUAL):

Reliable
Assurance
Tangibles
Empathy
Responsiveness
Take learnings from this back into
discovery, iterate, and improve!
1. What?
2. Why?
3. How?
4. Case studies
5. What makes a good service experience?
6. Any questions?
3 examples of real world services
designed in a customer-centric way
Case Study 1
“My BAA”
live|work, London, UK
“Raise awareness of the BAA brand in
the mind of the traveller.”
We visited Heathrow.
We talked to passengers.
“"at’s BAA.”
We created personas
We created a framework based on
the existing customer journey
 We used that framework to
generate service propositions
"en we illustrated what those
propositions might look like
We also created business
rationale and principles
And finally, we walked our personas
through their new travel experience.
Case Study 2
“Favor Link”
IDII, Italy
“Make the day to day life of the working
mother just a little bit easier”
We interviewed working moms
We mapped their routines
"en we analyzed their days
We created user scenarios
And designed a service concept
We created an experience prototype
And created interface designs
We tested the application with mothers
Case Study 3
Streetcar
live|work, London, UK
“Improve the customer experience of a
great idea.”
We mapped and evaluated the
existing experience...
...and highlighted “pain points” where
the experience could be improved.
 We created a service blueprint to
describe how the service should behave.
 ...and that helped to focus on those
touch-points that needed improving.
Following these improvements, Streetcar
became the fastest growing car club in Europe.
1. What?
2. Why?
3. Case studies
4. What makes a good service experience?
5. Any questions?
6 opportunities for designing
service quality
1. Responsiveness
Design for different circumstances.
Services are multi-functional
Services are multi-functional
Services are multi-functional
Services are multi-functional
2. Consistency
Tangible evidence tells customers
what kind of service to expect.
3. Adaptable
Services should anticipate potential
fail points.
4. Tailored
A service can learn from customer
behavior and anticipate needs.
5. Efficient
Getting the internal business processes
right will create a more consistent
customer experience.
6. Rewarding
Service loyalty can be designed
into the details.
another example of a reward
1. Responsive
2. Consistent
3. Adaptable
4. Tailored
5. Efficient
6. Rewarding
1. What?
2. Why?
3. Case studies
4. What makes a good service experience?
5. Any questions?