SDN Insider March/April 2009

			New Members During the last few months, 10 new members have joined the Service Design Network, increasing its size to 53 active members. Welcome everyone! Find out more about our new members: Volkswagen \| Proto Partners \| Savannah College of Art and Design \| Seren Partners \| Rudolf Haufe Verlag GmbH & Co. KG \| KONE \| Institute for Information Industry \| Delft University of Technology \| University of Art and Design Helsinki \| lvl studio

	SDN Community News Touchpoint The new Service Design Journal is now in print. It will be sent out to all SDN full members and all those who have pre-ordered it within the next days. Order your issue here! The next issue’s topic will be “Health” in its broadest, service-design-related, sense. If you are interested in writing an article on this subject, please do not hesitate to contact the SDN Office for more information. New SDN Community Platform The new website is finalised and in its testing phase. We cannot wait to introduce it to you soon!
	SDN Conference The coming Conference of the Service Design Network will take place in Madeira, Portugal from 26 to 27 October 2009. The call for papers will start soon. Watch this space to stay updated. National Chapters of the SDN The international Service Design Network is currently working on the incorporation and support of national Service Design Networks. Such National Chapters offer an important opportunity to develop an international community structure closely connected to the national development of Service Design knowledge and practice and to regional needs and interests. You will hear from us as soon as the concept is elaborated!

			Thinkpublic: Video on Co-Design Thinkpublic have recently released a four-minute overview on co-design on their website. It introduces the concept to all laymen and everyone interested. The beautifully made chalkboard animation is certainly worth a look, even if you are familiar with co-design. It can be watched here.



			Engine: Southwark Rise Project Engine’s current “Southwark Rise Project” with London Borough of Southwark aims to address the complex needs of families and children living on low incomes. The project intends to design new services that enable people to fully use their potentials, improve their life chances and support themselves better. Find out more.



			live\|work: Service Thinking The UK service design consultancy live\|work has published a manifesto on service thinking, demanding fresh perspectives for the future in denying the industrial model of “product thinking”. In the article, Ben Reason, Chris Downs and Lavrans Lovlie identify three key service imperatives that are to be considered when creating services that make things better for people, businesses and society. Read full article!



			Continuum: Puzzle Piece - The Laptop for Autistic Kids Designers at the Boston office of Continuum have developed a teaching aid for children with autism. The Interactive Autistic Teaching Aid „Puzzle Piece“, which is still in its concept phase, might help to ease the difficult and often frustrating teaching process. Teachers at the test school are already enthusiastic about its potential. Read more



			31 Volts: Less Choice But Better Service? Marc Fonteijn from 31 Volts has recently published an article on how great choice does not necessarily improve the value of a service. In his article “Creating a better service experience by providing less choice”, he exemplifies that giving customers more choice than necessary might even decrease the service experience and cause confusion. Marc introduces the idea of “functionally overlapping touchpoints” (FOTP), which occur whenever a customer is confronted with more than one way to perform a specific task, such as paying for a train ticket online, at a kiosk, at the counter, or on the train. Read full article!



			Business & Design Lab: Service Design Conference at University of Gothenburg From 23 to 24 March 2009, business representatives and academics met up for a two-day conference on Service Design at the University of Gothenburg. The conference was part of a two-year Master program at the Business & Design Lab and a collaboration with SVID (Swedish Industrial Design foundation). At this interactive conference, international renowned researchers and practitioners gathered to share their knowledge with students of the masters program and with business partners of the Business & Design Lab. Read more



			Frontier Service Design Helps Avanceon Create New Revenue Channel The company Avanceon, Inc. designs and integrates factory automation systems. Originally positioned as a project-oriented service company, Avanceon supports their corporate manufacturing clients in streamlining their processes. Frontier Service Design helped Avanceon conceive of and design a new service that offered manufacturers remote monitoring of their automation system via the Internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new service created new and recurring monthly revenues. Read entire case study here.



			Run Your Own we20 Meeting The new platform we20 aims at helping people to run their own meeting with up to twenty participants in order to create ideas assisting individuals, companies and communities in the recession. People can meet, discuss and agree on a plan to solve a local, national or global challenge. The project brings people together to discuss what is important in today’s society and initiate change – on a small or large scale. Go to website.



			Co-creation to the Masses The website redesignme.com is the first platform where communities and companies collaborate on new products and services. And this is how it works: Companies present “Challenges” to open or private communities, whose ideas on the issues will then be rewarded with points and considered in the development process of products and services. Having collected a specific amount of points, participants can buy products in the online RDM Shop with them. The website is an excellent platform, providing a unique opportunity to make use of the creative skills and opinions of the public. Go to website.



			I Am Public Service The website “I Am Public Service” is a most interesting platform, which highlights the importance of public services and, at the same time, provides an excellent opportunity to public servants to share their experiences in transforming public service from within. By sharing the stories of people who work in government, “I Am Public Service” seeks to change the unfavourable perception of public sector personnel. Go to website.



			THE LAB: Innovating Public Services In order to face the increasing pressure on public services, NESTA created “The Lab”. The project aims at bringing together experience and ingenuity from across the public, private and third sectors, while, at the same time, drawing on the insights of citizens and consumers. However, the Lab is not a physical space or an institution but a series of practical projects, in which lessons about what works - and what doesn't – can be shared. By this, the lab creates opportunities for people to solve (service) problems together. Go to Website.



			2020 Public Services Trust 2020 Public Services Trust at the RSA is the first organisation to focus on the role and transformation of public services in Britain. Operating independently and impartially, it brings together representatives from politics, public services, business, public administration, and consumer voices to initiate debates and research on the improvement of public outcomes. Go to Website. Watch Ben Lucas (director of the 2020 Public Services Trust), Alan Johnson MP (Secretary of State for Health), and Matthew Taylor (chief executive, RSA) discussing public health (“Public Health: how to influence behaviour - nudge or nanny?”) here.



			San Francisco Drives Hybrid Through a partnership with the city of San Francisco, Zipcar, one of the world's largest providers of cars-on-demand, has launched a pilot program for plug-in hybrid vehicles. Together with San Francisco’s Mayor Gavin Newsom, the company aims to increase the awareness and use of electric vehicles. With the new program, a convenient, cost-effective solution to consumer transportation needs is introduced in San Francisco. Read more



			America, a “ServiceNation” The campaign „ServiceNation“ aims to inspire a new era of voluntary citizen service in America. The underlying vision is that, by 2020, a hundred million citizens will volunteer time in schools, workplaces, and faith-based and community institutions each year and that one million Americans will annually volunteer for a year of national service. By this, the tradition of citizen service should be restored and find new acceptance and appreciation. In view of this goal, ServiceNation, a coalition of almost 200 national and local non-profits, works on expanding community and national service opportunities. Americans should be able and animated to serve their nation at every stage of life. Service is understood as a problem-solving force and a quality that deserves to be (re-) elevated as a core ideal in American society. Go to Website.



			Accenture 2008 Customer Satisfaction Survey For the fourth time, Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, has carried out its annual Customer Satisfaction Survey. Insights from the 2008 study underscore the fundamental importance of delivering a customer-centric service experience in order to acquire and retain profitable customer relationships. Remarkably, consumers participating in the study ranked the quality of the customer experience as the primary reason for leaving providers. For more information click here. Register here to download the full report.



			Dott 2009\|10 in Cornwall The user-led design initiative Dott (Designs of the time) is a rolling region-by-region programme, led by the UK Design Council. Dott aims at creating and designing innovative solutions to social and economic challenges by engaging the affected local communities. After the national initiative was introduced in the North East of England in 2007 as a year of community projects, events and exhibitions about the social capabilities of design, the new programme, starting in 2009, plans community engagement projects, educational projects and skills sharing initiatives within Cornwall. Read more. Download Dott Cornwall Flyer.



			When Service Means Survival Recently, it was discussed in Business Week how service is being affected by the recession. The article is an insight into how companies are struggling to maintain customer services amid sinking sales and declining employee morale. Read about how companies satisfy their customers despite tighter budgets here. You can also listen to the podcast.



			Videos of UX Week 2008 Over the last months, Adaptive Path has uploaded videos of their latest UX Week on Vimeo. The user experience conference took place in August 2008. Click here to watch the presentations.



			Service Research Innovation Initiative (SRII) Announces New Awards Program The Service Research Innovation Initiative (SRII), which strives to stimulate more research on service innovation through business, government and academic cooperation, has launched a new, first-of-its-kind awards program. In conjunction with leading global organizations and academia, the SRII offers two distinct award categories: the Service Science Partnership Award and the Service Innovation Practice Award. Participation is open to SRII community members (SRIC), service business professionals, institutions, and academia from around the world. Find out more.



			Upcoming Events ICSS 2009 International Conference on Service Science May 14-15, 2009. Beijing, China Read more CHI Nederland Conference 2009: Change! June 11, 2009. Leiden, The Netherlands Read more Art & Science of Service Meeting June 17-19, 2009. Waltham, USA Read more The third annual Service Innovation Design and Development Conference June 22-24 2009. Chicago, USA Read more INFORMS 2009 International Conference on Service Science August 6-8, 2009. Hong Kong, China Read more NORDES ´09, Engaging Artefacts August 30 - September 1, 2009. Oslo, Norway Read more UX Week 2009 September 15-18, 2009. San Francisco, USA Read more OLO.MUOTO-09 Future-oriented Designer Expo October 22-25, 2009. Lahti, Finland Download PDF SDN Conference October 26-27, 2009. Madeira, Portugal Watch this space! The 20th Annual Compete Through Service Symposium November 4-6, 2009 Phoenix, USA Read more The 23rd Service Conference & Workshop by Academy of Marketing November 5-6, 2009. London, UK Read more First Nordic Conference on Service Design and Service Innovation November 24-26, 2009. Oslo, Norway Read more

			International Journal of Services, Economics and Management (IJSEM) The International Journal of Services, Economics and Management enables discussion on empirical and theoretical work on services economics and management. It aims to reflect and comment on the development of service sectors across the world. At the same time, it provides a forum for discussion to its international readership. The journal does also seek to provide a bridge between those conducting research on service economics and management on the one hand, and those working in the areas of service sectors on the other. Find out more.



			Continuum: Customer Research Study “Colorblind” Colorblind is a consumer research study that combines both online and in-person ethnographic interviews and research in order to understand the motivations behind consumer's behavioural and purchasing decisions in relation to green and sustainable. Download Executive Summary

			Lucerne University Seeks Professor of Service Design Lucerne School of Art and Design, which is part of Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, is dedicated to offering high quality courses at the Bachelor and Master levels that are unique in Switzerland and that have an international orientation. The university's Design Faculty is now offering the position of Professor of Service Design (part-time 70%), whose task it will be to promote research activities in the field of Service Design and contribute to the refinement of our Product Design & Management major in our Master’s programme. The post is available with immediate effect or by agreement. Download PDF. Lucerne University: Master of Arts in Design Programme Incorporates Service Design From September 2009, Lucerne University will offer comprehensive qualifications in Service Design as part of a MA in Design. Major Product Design & Management students can choose between Textiles, Products or Services as their main subject and develop their own projects in these disciplines. The close relationship between Master’s Degree students and research is set to generate new insights into Service Design. Find out more.



			SCAD seeks Professor of Service Design The Savannah College of Art and Design seeks candidates for a full-time faculty position for an innovative new program in Service Design offering B.F.A. and M.F.A degrees. Applicants should be highly motivated designers with a background in designing interactions, services and consumer products for well-known brands. SCAD recognizes that Service Design is a new and emerging design profession that entails service innovation and experience design. Through Service Design, designers can create better value for their clients and their customers and in so doing create service equity. Increasingly, services represent a significant part of the economy in sectors that include digital media, healthcare, finance, entertainment, telecommunications, retail, leisure and the Internet. Find out more.



			Lancaster Uni: New Master on Sustainability, Innovation & Design MA The MA Sustainability, Innovation and Design develops design-literate professionals for creative roles in industry, the public sector and non-profit organisations. Graduates will be well positioned to shape innovative solutions for a sustainable future, conducting design projects within interdisciplinary teams and tackling critical contemporary issues that will help determine future directions for design theory, research and practice. Find out more



			Laurea University of Applied Sciences: Degree Programme in Service Innovation and Design Laurea offers a new, cutting edge degree programme in Service, Innovation and Design - an ideal vehicle to create distinctive competences. This Master of Business Adminstration programme is a 1,5 - 2,5-year, 90 ects credits professional program, which trains students from diverse backgrounds to become practicing service developers. It will be offered in English. The requirement for Master's studies in Finnish universities of applied sciences is a Bachelor's level degree and at least three years of work experience after the Bachelor's degree. The Master's studies are free of charge and can be completed alongside a full-time job. Find out more.

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