Misunderstandings about service design, or why we should think about the whole ecosystem

Service design is a term that was first used in 1982, but only recently it has been adapted: while still barely known in 2010, it has exploded during the last decade and a title of service designer has gained some demand on the market. However, like any other new process, profession, and activity, and being quite intangible, it created some misunderstanding and misconceptions of what service design is; why, when and how it can be applied. Can we apply service design in every organisation and every product? Is service design something only some companies have? Is it enough to focus only on the user? Can a service designer design the whole service?

The overall answer to these questions is that the purpose of service design activities is to create a holistic view over the whole service ecosystem. User experience design is always a key element in the process of creating services, but it is not enough to focus on single interactions if we aim to create a memorable experience for all of our users and customers, through different touchpoints. We also need to establish new links between all the different actors and processes, as organisational functions needs to be designed in a similar way as the interfaces that users interact with. With the complexity of services today, we need to use right methods to create transparency, ownership, and co-creation in order to succeed.

Through four different misconceptions of service design, using examples from my own practice as well as other sources, I will be explaining why it is important to focus on the whole service ecosystem, as this is the biggest value that service design can provide.