Based on the results, five fields were identified that were mentioned by the majority of the interviewees. These were graphic design, communication design, design thinking, process design, marketing (incl. social media marketing), and usability design. These can be considered as the fields to which service design is most related to as perceived by the interviewees. The respondents also saw linkages with interior, industrial, and landscape design as well as web design, communication, and strategic planning. In addition, content analysis of the responses highlights three main observations about how the concept of service design is positioned in relation to ohter fields: 1) wide-ranging links with various design sub-fields, 2) connectivity with metalevel design concepts, and 3) multi- and cross-disciplinary linking of fields.

First, wide-ranging links with various design sub-fields indicates that practically every sub-field of design can be related to the concept of service design — depending on the context and the service that is designed. As explained by an interviewee: A service must always take place in some sort of environment: it can be the design of an interior, landscape, infrastructure, or there’s a digital environment. That’s where you consume this service. The prerequisites for this are another thing: if this service is in a digital environment, you clearly need interaction design, communication design; you need product design in case you’re consuming this service in some certain product — a phone, for example. [...] Service design is about the whole process being elaborated, including how the information is being graphically forwarded, what the product is like, what you need to consume this service, etc. [19].

A second observation the results present is that the interviewees saw stronger linkages to what could be called meta-level design concepts, such as design thinking, design management, and concept design. This indicates that service design is perceived first and foremost as a set of universal principles or as a background philosophy that can be applied regardless of the type of the service. As described by interviewees: Concept design — certainly related. [...] It’s for creating new markets and products. It could easily be used for service design, like what types of services could exist. [...] Design thinking (design as a process) — certainly related. This is one of the main components of service design. [...] Design thinking can be applied universally. [...] Design management — certainly related. It’s a field that any subfield of design needs. Notwithstanding the type of field of the design that the company is buying, they have to manage it somehow. This includes composing a budget, the starting goal, etc. This exists in any field. In the grand scheme of things, it means managing a specific project. That is, composing and managing strategy. [19]

Service design should be a background philosophy for work; one that includes a toolbox that is applicable in many different cases and different problems. Service design cannot take the place of any other design field nor become a competing solution to any given problem. Service design should be a means to find out clients’ needs, to break existing silos, and to customise services in ways that suit the situation at hand. [50]

Thirdly, service design is understood as a multi- and cross-disciplinary concept. In most cases, the interviewees  combined it to a broad scale of different disciplines, e.g. design sub-fields or other creative fields, meta-level concepts of design, and organisation-related disciplines. To quote the interviewees:

Service design brings traditional design work and socio-cultural aspects (psychology, architecture) to close cooperation with each other. [45]

Design thinking + process design + marketing = service design — that’s how we can put it together, more or less. [20]

[Service design is] first and foremost about this multisensory design, followed by web design, architecture and marketing. [7]