Oct 26, 2011 2:41:40 PM -
Tuomo KuosaAccording to Reima Rönnholm, service design includes five main elements that separate it from other fields of design and thus make it unique.
The first and foremost element of SD is the prioritization of revenue creation for the client. SD has to find solutions that enable the designed service to create additional value where the needs and business of the client is concerned. This is why SD has to understand business and be able to assess whether a given service is functional and relevant for the client’s business operations.
The second element is understanding the customers. This means that service designers have to be conscious of customers being integrated to all phases of a service process.
The third element is holistic understanding of the client’s needs and the means to solve related problems. All the parts and phases of a service create a unified whole for the customers, but traditionally all the actors providing the service have not worked closely with each other. Service design has to be able to break down silos without becoming a silo of its own.
The fourth element is the coordination of multi-disciplinarity. This means that service design has to be able to bring business skills, understanding of customer needs and spatial design competences together so that the designed service serves both business operations and customers.
The fifth element is quick prototyping. Because service design deals mainly with immaterial issues that are brought to life through concrete actions, quick illustration and iteration hold key positions of a service design process.
service design, prototyping, multi-disciplinarity, silos, customer, revenue creation