A Beginner Guide to Service Design

We have always been told that in the basic economics class, companies provide goods or services and nothing else.

You might be wondering what service design is? Or how do you design a service? Here’s what we’ll outline in this article, including tools that designers can add to their toolkit when designing a service.

What is Service Design?

Service design can be defined as actions and decisions made in the design of systems and processes aimed at delivering a smooth, holistic and satisfying service to the user.

The design of the service covers a much wider area than the UX(User Experience) design alone.

"UX design is like treating one tree, while service design would be like treating the whole. Garden."

The starting point for service designers can be one of two scenarios:

• Take an existing service and try to configure or streamline its design.
• Start with a brand new service and configure the design from the first step.

Service Design Elements

The function of the service design process is in two parts, the "Frontstage (frontEnd)" and "Backstage (Backend)"

Frontstage

These include contact points and communication channels through which users interact with the brand, as well as products and interfaces through which they interact to receive or use the service. The audience or the user should see the processes which are not behind the scenes

Backstage

The design of the service behind the scenes does not interact directly with the user of the service, but they are as important as any other function because it helps the interface. These tasks include technology, infrastructure, and systems that help or complement the service directly to the public.

5 Keys Principles of Service Design

All of these principles are at the heart of service design and are essential for a brand or company to effectively manage the ecosystem in which their users operate.

User-Centered

Before designing or redesigning, Research is made from the user to find out where and how the design of the service can be improved. Overall, users are at the heart of every service design.

Co-creative

This service design principle states that all stakeholders(internal and external)should be involved in all aspects of the service design process. Wait, these can also be employees, partners, external contractors or agencies.

Sequencing

The whole design of the service involves taking complex process and dividing it into the smallest possible pieces to optimize each individual task for the user, which is the principle of sequencing.

Evidencing

Evidencing is exactly what the name implies, the service a company provides should be “proof” of the images or value that their brand brings to them. It uses all the intangible assets of a business’s image which allows users to participate in real-life experiences.

Holistic

Yey, finally the fifth principle of service design, which is holistic. This means that all access points to which the user has access are covered and designed. Therefore, everything from the greatest interaction to th e least communication with the user is considered and recommended.

Service Design Tools

As with all aspects of design, there are several tools available to service designers that they can use at different stages of the service design process. This allows them to better understand their users and how they interact with the service, or to explore the service themselves more thoroughly and decide to integrate it into users ’lives.

• Customer Journey Map
• Personas
• Storyboards and sequence

Storyboards and sequence

Storyboarding and sequencing can help improve the service design process by giving designers a more comprehensive understanding of how the service is integrated into users ’lives. Although the consumer roadmap is much more technical and scientific, the scenarios and sequences are often more artistic and narrative. A storyboard is basically like a little comic that emphasizes the user’s interaction with a service or other point of contact with a service provider.

This allows designers to create the exact story or feeling they want for the user when interacting with a particular point of contact. When it comes to working backwards, it is probably the most useful tool for every service designer, as feeling, emotion, and user satisfaction are at the core of every service design process. It also helps to place the designer alongside the user to answer a few important questions: "where is the service used?" And "in what situation does the user find the service most appropriate".

How To Become A Service Designer?

Without much talk I know you really want to jump on this and start your way around but here is the thing.

Service designers often start as interactive design or UX designers. If you want to manage the entire ecosystem successfully and solve a large number of problems, you need to be able to use design thinking to solve individual problems from the beginning. Once you’re fluent, you can retreat and optimize the entire service design process, and you’ll be considered a service designer.

Conclusion

Overall, service design is a relatively unknown part of the design, certainly compared to its UX and interface design, but not so important. The principles promote more inclusive design at the center of the user, which should always be ideal. In addition, service designers need to be versatile in their toolkit and in their contribution to problem solving rather than ecosystem management. The ability to design something at the macro level as a service is an integral part of creating a seamless customer experience. In addition, responsibility for the management of the entire ecosystem provides comprehensive control over service design processes, allowing designers to express themselves by adding and subtracting a fixed formula.

Got a question in my DM when I tweeted about this service design.

Question: what’s the different between product and system design?

My Answer:

Product design focuses on designers who isolate and solve a problem faced by users around the world through a product. On the other hand, service design is an overall user experience to optimize a service that’ll covers all points of interaction or contact to ensure optimal humidity and efficiency.