Academic researchers agree on the difficulty of developing metrics and evidence-based frameworks for assessing the impact of service developments.

In this issue’s profile, Touchpoint Project Manager Cristine Lanzoni and publisher Prof. Birgit Mager speak with Richard Ekelman, Service Designer at Chicago-based bswift, and cofounder of the annual Service Experience Chicago conference.

The wide umbrella of Design encompasses many disciplines: From long-established practices such as industrial and graphic design, to the relative newcomers of information architecture (IA), user experience design (UX) and service design.

Methods to reduce fear, anxiety and pain in the pediatric patient experience.

This interview poses questions drawn from this issue's theme to Erik Spiekermann and Pia Betton, who are colleagues at the Berlin office of Edenspiekermann. Interview by Jesse Grimes

A guest editor for this issue of Touchpoint, Varun Malhotra is a Principal with Changeis (www.changeis.com), a Washington, D.C. based management consulting firm that focuses on the public sector.

Community health workers (CHWs) are often referred to as the ‘last mile’ of healthcare delivery in resource-challenged communities around the globe, but while their impact and value has been widely proven, their crucial role is still often questioned by the larger healthcare system.

This article describes the stages and outcomes of a programme to embed service design capabilities within Mind, the mental health charity, and its federated network of over 140 local organisations.

Many young people are today suffering from ‘physical activity allergy’, a condition that is proliferating due to new digital lifestyles. The media refer to sedentary lifestyles as ‘the new smoking’, which is having disastrous effects on our health. Hence, there is an urgent need for targeted research into interventions that promote physical activity.

Despite the growing interest in service design within companies, managers often question what difference it makes and how to measure the results. Is it worth investing in? This article shares Nordea’s Savings and Wealth Offerings practical experiences.

Design agencies and in-house design teams can do more together than either can do on its own. How they do this exactly, depends on the type of organisation and project. Though individual designers may prefer working for one or the other, our industry should focus on spreading and evolving service design as a whole, as we are still a relatively new field.

After graduating from university, I got a job as an intern in a product design consultancy. This was, after all, what I had trained for and I was grateful for the opportunity to do some real work with a team of experienced designers.

Austrian healthcare provider PremiQaMed decided to sharpen its competitive edge by providing an outstanding patient experience on top of reliable medical quality. In 2008, the company decided to invest in a permanent service design unit within the head office of its five private clinics.

Traditionally, design consultants have been viewed as experts who meet needs beyond their clients’ skill set. Time, budget, and predefined deliverables drive the designer-client relationship. In the end, the designer presents a recommendation and the job is complete. When a new need arises, the consultant returns. This approach results in design dependence.

For decades, designers have lamented that the business world didn’t understand or respect design. We howled didn’t have ‘a seat at the table’. We wondered when – or if – the tide would turn.

Shortly before the SDN’s Global Conference in late 2014, news broke that Capital One was to acquire Adaptive Path. It was a hot topic during coffee breaks in our Stockholm venue, and within the wider worlds of service design and UX design.