Table of Contents Who is this for? What makes Services Different: Service Characteristics How to Design a Service: Service Components The Service Mindset Service Design Tools Conclusion Next Steps 1. Who is this for? While respecting the difference between knowledge and mastery of a subject, my goal in this article is to give readers an... Continue Reading →
A New Model for the Design Thinking Process
(Note: This article’s intended audience is mid-to-seasoned design practitioners. I will make a simpler post for new learners soon.) Why do we need models in the first place? As a designer, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been practicing for days or decades, it’s inevitable that you’ll be asked to explain what you do and how... Continue Reading →
There is more to life than simply increasing its speed
(Originally published in February 2016) With today’s post, I hope to clear up a common presumption in the relationship between experiences and efficiency. In many situations, people tend to think that the ideal experience is synonymous with the most efficient experience. For instance, think about the last time you were locked out of your house,... Continue Reading →
Experiences aren’t Quantities
(Originally published in September 2015) “A fundamental problem in business is that business tools are nearly completely quantitative. . . The qualitative is almost ignored completely or nonexistent in any kind of organization’s decision-making process — but it’s always driving customer decisions.”— Nathan Shedroff, Chair of the MBA in Design Strategy at CCA To improve the depth of understanding... Continue Reading →
How do you know when you’re successful?
This blog post (originally published in April 2015) is the first of two parts about alternative metrics. “What you measure affects what you do. If you don’t measure the right thing, you don’t do the right thing.”— Nobel Prize Winning Economist, Joseph Stiglitz Part 1 — The Shortcomings of Traditional Metrics When gauging the value and success... Continue Reading →
Interesting Service Characteristics
(Originally published in November 2014) As stated in an earlier post, a service is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “the action of helping or doing work for someone.” By breaking this definition down, we see a service is comprised of three things: an intangible good (the outcome of the action), a provider, and a... Continue Reading →
Newest isn’t always Best
(Originally published in October 2014) From renting movies, to selling clothes, to providing family vacation packages, every business should strive to understand how it can provide the best possible service experiences. Services have existed since long before formalized economies and, along with the rest of the world, have always changed and evolved in response to...
Customer Service is only one aspect of a Service
(Originally posted in Sept 2014) Blockbuster may have never been rude to you, but, in the end, they still failed as a service offering. That’s why it’s important to ensure that you’re not thinking about Service Design and Customer Service as synonyms. A service is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “the action of helping... Continue Reading →