Definition Service Design

What is Service Design? During the last three decades, economic conditions have changed fundamentally in western industrial nations. Without doubt, a fundamental change from a manufacturing society to an information- and service-based economy is discernable. While the share of services in the gross economic product is around 60-70%, business start-ups and new jobs can almost exclusively be found in the tertiary sector. Along with such rapid developments came new economic challenges. In the past, investments within research and design were made primarily in the manufacturing industry. Means and processes of production were optimised, products innovated, and investments in market research, marketing and design of products were made as a matter of cause while research, development and design for services was an exception. This situation is now changing essentially – and this is where Service Design comes in. Within Service Design, Service Interfaces are designed for intangible products that are, from the customer’s point of view, useful, profitable and desirable, while they are effective, efficient and different for the provider. Service Designers visualize, formulate and choreograph solutions that are not yet available. They watch and interpret needs and behaviours and transform them into potential future services. In the process, exploring, generating and evaluating approaches are used similarly and a redesign of existing services is just as much a challenge as the development of new innovative services. An exhaustive definition of the term service design can be downloaded below. It is a text by Birgit Mager from the Design Dictionary published by Birkhäuser, Basel.