LAB+WEEK+9+SERVICE+DESIGN

Service design: The emerging field of service design combines design methods from product design and interaction for designing the experience of and the interface to services. Service design is the most developed in northern Europe (Scandinavia, The Netherlands and Great Britain and to a lesser extent in the US). It is about making what you do more useful, usable and desirable for your users, and more efficient, effective and valuable for you. (Cottong) Service design is a human-centered approach that focuses on customer experience and the quality of service encountered as the key value for success. Key concepts include: advertising; web, mobile phone and PC interfaces; physical environments (shops, hospitals, etc); customer facing staff (call centres, receptionists, etc); communication and mailings, etc. (Cottong) Services are provided and experienced through systems and relationships. Different services create and measure value in different ways, but most services try to provide the best value for both users and producers. All services are experienced over time and are generally packaged as a ‘proposition’ for users to buy into. People also take different journeys to, through, and from a service. They always involve people and rely on both the user and the producer working together. (Cottong) Tools and methods used to test service designs involve ethnography, customer journey map, service blueprinting, ideation, context mapping, and participatory design, and service prototyping. They involve discovering the user’s studies and personas as well as the service context. The customer journey map illustrates how the customer perceives and experiences the service interface along the time axis. Participatory design reveals users’ conscious and latent needs, experiences, hopes and expectations. Users participate in tutored workshops which involve service prototyping. (Cottong) Lastly, some benefits of service design include: the enabling of ease of use, resulting in higher conversation rates and greater cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. They reduce support costs, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and improve the perception of brands. It gives companies a competitive advantage and helps with the social and economic challenges to sustainability. (Cottong)
 * Tutorial 9 Question: ** According to the slideshow by Sylvain Cottong, who is an employee at [|http://www.integratedplace.com], what is the definition of 'service design', and why is it so important? (5 paragraphs)