This is Service Design Thinking
Basics, Tools, Cases
byMarc Stickdorn, Jakob Schneider
Book Edition Details
Summary
In a world where boundaries blur between products and services, "This is Service Design Thinking" emerges as a beacon for the curious minds eager to explore new terrains. Crafted by an eclectic assembly of 23 international visionaries and enriched by a global chorus of contributors, this book embodies the very essence of co-creation and user-centered innovation it champions. Whether you're a curious beginner or a seasoned design professional, this guide unravels the dynamic tapestry of service design with clarity and inspiration. Dive into real-world examples and practical tools that not only broaden your understanding but transform how you perceive the interplay of design in everyday interactions. Here's your opportunity to rethink the future of services with a fresh lens—are you ready to redefine the ordinary?
Introduction
Organizations today face an unprecedented challenge: how to create services that truly matter to the people they serve. While products can be touched, tested, and refined before launch, services exist in the complex realm of human interactions, emotions, and experiences. Every touchpoint becomes a moment of truth, every process step influences perception, and every employee interaction shapes the overall experience. The gap between what organizations intend to deliver and what customers actually experience has never been more critical to address. Service design thinking offers a revolutionary approach to bridge this divide, transforming abstract service concepts into meaningful, human-centered experiences that create lasting value for both providers and recipients.
Put Users at the Heart of Every Design
True user-centered service design begins with a profound shift in perspective. Rather than starting with what an organization wants to deliver, it demands beginning with what people actually need, feel, and experience. This principle recognizes that services are fundamentally co-created between providers and users, making deep user understanding essential for success. Consider the transformation that occurred when the team at KONE Corporation faced a challenge at the Myyrmanni shopping mall. Customers consistently avoided the steel car elevators, creating long queues at the scenic lifts and disrupting foot traffic flow throughout the mall. Traditional solutions like new lighting and floor arrows had failed completely. The breakthrough came when designers truly stepped into the customers' shoes and discovered that the steel elevators felt cold, unwelcoming, and institutional compared to their more attractive counterparts. The solution emerged through genuine empathy: transforming the steel elevators with vibrant imagery from "The Incredibles" animated film. This simple yet profound change completely altered the customer experience, making the previously avoided elevators the preferred choice and solving the traffic flow problem entirely. To implement user-centered design, start by conducting contextual interviews in the actual environments where your service is used. Shadow your customers through their complete journey, documenting not just their actions but their emotions and frustrations. Create detailed personas based on real insights rather than assumptions, and regularly validate your understanding through direct customer engagement. Remember that user-centered design is an ongoing commitment, not a one-time research phase. Continuously gather feedback, observe behavior patterns, and remain open to insights that challenge your existing assumptions about what customers truly value.
Master the Iterative Journey from Insight to Impact
The path from initial insight to meaningful service transformation follows an iterative cycle of exploration, creation, reflection, and implementation. This process acknowledges that services are complex systems requiring continuous refinement rather than linear development. The Swedish bank SEB discovered this truth when attempting to consolidate 350,000 individual customer contracts into streamlined packages. Their initial approach involved creating a web-based offer called "Enkla Vardagen" that required customer consent for bundling services. However, their first prototype testing revealed a shocking reality: customers found the offer confusing, suspicious, and irrelevant, with less than five percent willing to sign up. Through multiple action research loops, the team systematically refined their approach. Each iteration involved rapid prototyping with simple PDF mockups, testing with real customers at bank branches, and immediately incorporating feedback into the next version. By the fourth iteration, they discovered customers viewed the required consent process as unnecessary bureaucracy rather than customer service, fundamentally challenging the original premise. The breakthrough solution eliminated the consent requirement entirely. Instead of asking customers to actively approve cost reductions, SEB automatically implemented the savings and simply informed customers through a well-crafted letter explaining the benefits. This approach achieved 100 percent adoption rates and exceeded all campaign targets. Begin your iterative journey by creating simple, testable prototypes early in the process. Use methods like desktop walkthroughs or service staging to explore concepts before investing in full implementation. Schedule regular reflection sessions to analyze what you've learned and adjust your approach accordingly. Embrace failure as valuable data rather than setbacks. Each unsuccessful iteration provides crucial insights that bring you closer to solutions that truly resonate with users and stakeholders.
Build Collaborative Teams That Co-Create Solutions
Service design thrives through collaborative co-creation that brings diverse stakeholders into the design process as active partners rather than passive recipients. This approach recognizes that successful services require insights and buy-in from everyone involved in their delivery and consumption. The MyPolice project exemplified this collaborative approach when addressing the breakdown in trust between UK police forces and the public. Rather than designing solutions in isolation, the team actively involved both police officers and community members throughout the development process. They conducted contextual interviews in people's homes, attended police conferences, shadowed officers on patrol, and facilitated workshops that brought different perspectives together. The collaborative process revealed insights that neither group would have discovered alone. Police officers shared their frustrations with existing feedback systems and their desire for more meaningful community engagement. Citizens expressed their preference for digital communication over traditional formal channels and their need for transparency in police responses. These insights shaped both the platform design and the underlying service approach. The co-creation extended beyond initial research into ongoing development. Police forces participated in pilot testing, providing feedback that refined the platform's functionality. Community members helped design the user experience, ensuring the service felt approachable rather than intimidating. This collaborative approach created shared ownership of the solution among all stakeholders. Start building collaborative teams by mapping all stakeholders who influence or are influenced by your service. Include front-line staff, management, customers, and even competitors in your co-creation process. Design workshops that give all participants equal voice and use visual tools to help diverse groups communicate effectively. Create safe spaces for honest feedback and conflicting viewpoints. Often the most valuable insights emerge from tensions between different stakeholder perspectives, leading to innovative solutions that satisfy multiple needs simultaneously.
Summary
Service design thinking transforms organizations by placing human experience at the center of service development and delivery. As one practitioner emphasized, "Service design thinking supports the cooperation between different disciplines towards the goal of corporate success through enhanced customer experiences, employee satisfaction, and integration of sophisticated technological processes in pursuing corporate objectives." This holistic approach creates services that truly serve their intended purpose while building sustainable competitive advantages. Begin your service design journey today by choosing one customer touchpoint in your organization and experiencing it entirely from the user's perspective, documenting every emotion, friction point, and moment of delight you encounter along the way.
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By Marc Stickdorn
