Introduction to Service Design

I just attended the first Service design conference at CMU called Emergence. The speakers and panel were great and there was an assortment of professions there. All the professions spoke the same language, but in different dialects. I thought the conference was well organized. It began by creating common definitions and terminology for use as a reference during the conference.

Service design can be both tangible and intangible. It can involve such things as artifacts, communication, environment and behaviors. Whichever form it takes it must be consistent, easy to use and strategically applied.

This is not something brand new. It is merly a clarification and collection of knowledge based around user centered design. The phrase "user centered design" is becoming as hot as the term "interactive". What sets firms apart from each other is not the process of service design, systems design, or human computer interaction, but the translation of the information gathered during these processes. The strength of these designs is their ability, in the right hands, to create something insightful to use. Everything is based on tests and investigations proven by the user.