As a digital product designer, sometimes we (or I) are too focused on designing the screens, and often time overlook what happen outside the screens. In 2019 I took several service design workshops and tried to integrate the learning into my day-to-day work. While I’m no expert by any means, this is my takeaways from implementing service design at work.

What is service design

“Service design is the activity of planning and organizing a business’s resources (people, props, and processes) in order to (1) directly improve the employee’s experience, and (2) indirectly, the customer’s experience.”

While most organizations focus more on the customer-facing outputs, the service design focuses on the internal processes that are often overlooked. As a designer, we are often too focussed on the customer and the end product and overlook the people (anyone who creates, uses or indirectly affected by the service) and process (workflows, procedures or rules needed to perform the service successfully) of the products. So how can we improve our outcome by integrating service design in the design process?

How Service Design Works

Service components are broken down into front-stage and backstage, depending on whether the customer sees them or not. Think of a theatre performance. The audience sees everything in front of the curtain: the actors, costumes, orchestra, and set. However, behind the curtain, there is a whole ecosystem: the director, stagehands, lighting coordinators, and set designers.

To visualize the relationship between components, we can use a service blueprint. Like customer journey maps, a service design blueprint helps us discover weaknesses and identify opportunities.

How I implement it in work

In 2020 my team was asked to redesign our company’s website that houses dozens of services, teams and stakeholders. To help us visualize the relationship between components, we map the website using service blueprints, making sure every dot is connected. Here are my learnings of applying service design during the project.

Having a better understanding of the platform ecosystem

By mapping the services, we have a birds-eye view of the system. While designers often asked to focus on the detail, mapping the system help me to give attention to the big picture as well. It helps me visualize the connection and provide a better understanding of our product’s positioning and opportunities. Knowing the weakness and opportunities has helped us to create the right strategy to approach the task.

Cultivating a better relationship

Working on a big project, in a big office, is quite challenging. Even finding the right PIC can be a challenge in itself.

Service design helps align stakeholders and teams. It helps us understand our touchpoint and foster a clearer discussion. By doing so, we can collaborate better and create cross-functional solutions.

The answer is not always in the user.

As a designer, we are always told to put the user first. But then what is the second and third? Applying service design made me realize that to deliver the best experience, knowing our limitations in terms of infrastructure, technologies, and employees is as important as knowing what our user needs. Well, I mean, if your user needs to be able to purchase in your app, but you don’t have the budget, infrastructure, and people to run the feature, then you need to find another feature to develop.

Conclusion

Simply put, service design works like my psych. It helps me understand that internal factors are as important as external factors. Looking into internal factors (people, process and props) will help you deliver a better experience.