Service Design 101: The Ultimate Guide For Optimizing Customer Experience Through Holistic Service Design

International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC) has released a very useful guide; Service Design 101.

Service Design continues to grow as priorities around human-centered design take center stage. However, many organizations struggle to understand—what is service design.

While many principals of Service Design also apply to other HCD methods including Experience Design, Design Thinking, UX, etc. there are uniquely specific proponents within service design that are exclusive to the practice.

Another point of interest includes the varying definitions around Service Design emergent due to the specific needs of certain organizations, industries, and departments. There certainly is no “one size fits all” approach, instead a nuanced and specific refinement of the common principals is often the recipe for success.

So, What Exactly Is Service Design?

Service design starts with the goal of increasing satisfaction in quality & efficiencies between services and customers utilizing the organization of people, infrastructure, data, operations, and experiences to do so.

While there are many moving parts, the overall idea highlights the holistic nature of Service Design as a practice. Service Design is not focused on a singular touchpoint, channel, or experience, instead, it looks at all moving pieces involved in excellent service delivery as essential components in the design improvements.

According to the guide shared by IQPC:

Service design represents the umbrella discipline for the creation, optimization and execution of experiences with users and customers. It is not limited exclusively to physical or digital interactions, a single product/service, or customer-facing touchpoints, but is inclusive of the holistic service blueprint, including the front stage and backstage actors and partners involved in service delivery.

Download the full guide here: Service Design 101

If you’re keen to discover more, you can join Service Design Week this fall for a truly comprehensive take on Service Design and how it can reinvent the customer experience in your organization.

About Service Design 2019

Service Design 2019 is one of the greatest design thinking conferences that optimizing customer experience through holistic service design. This great design week will gather service design leaders from various functions, silos and disciplines across the flavors of service design.