One Line of Service Design
This post is a couple months late. I was tagged by Jeff Howard, author of the blog Design for Service, back in March, but I somehow missed it. I just noticed this past weekend. Better late than never, I guess.
Marc Fonteijn ran an exercise on his blog, 31 Volts, called One Line of Service Design, in which he invited designers to give one-line definitions, examples, or descriptions of Service Design. There are a number of good responses. I’ll try to add a new perspective.
There has been much discussion surrounding the matter of whether or not Service Design is actually a design discipline and why designers can do any better than other business participants. What makes it Service Design, rather than just service planning or customer relations?
Service Design is the application of design processes, tools, and techniques to the problems surrounding the relationships between an organization and its patrons.
I realize that this doesn’t work as an elevator pitch, as most people won’t understand what is meant by design processes, tools, and techniques. However, I feel that one must understand the value of design in general to understand its contribution to services.
