Find out the real problem before the solution
It's unfortunately very common in the software industry to use vague descriptions that customers find hard to understand. In software development projects this approach may lead to disappointment, if the end result is far from the image the customer had in mind.
Customer need is the main driver of our work. We always take a comprehensive approach to the customer’s world, both the digital and the physical. With service design we can discover the real problem we need to solve. Service design methods and tools makes it also possible to have an active dialogue between the user and other stakeholders.
How we use service design
Using service design methods we can look at the future service from the user’s point of view which helps us to discuss about the service on a more concrete level.
We identify customer needs and the critical features of the service with customer journeys and user stories
We use co-creation methods to engage the user in the design process
We test the service with real users using interactive user interface prototypes
The steps in a design project
We begin by defining the goals of the design project together with the customer. Do you have an idea that needs clarification? Or have you faced a challenge you want to solve? The service design process leads us on the path of finding out the answers together.
Explore and understand
We use different kinds of methods to gather information about the business environment and the customer's world:
By interviewing the customer and other stakeholders
By getting to know the customer's business and processes
By observing the end users
By benchmarking other solutions
Summarize and prioritize
We analyze the data we collected and compile our findings with visualization methods.
We define the customer journeys
With user personas, we can share the understanding and talk about the service with different stakeholders
Ideate and design
After we have discovered the challenge we need to solve, it is time to ideate solutions.
We can organize ideation workshops. We can also use workshops in all the other phases of the design process to engage the users and other stakeholders.
We visualize the ideas into a service concept
We design a UI-prototype of the digital service
Test and validate
We can test the service with the real users using the prototype and make sure that our solution works in practice.
User testing
Prioritizing the features in the design
Feasibility assessment and cost estimate
