As service designers, we understand the value of quick decision making. Timely consensus and approval ensures a project is delivered on time, on budget and in alignment with organisational objectives.

Aiming to define future areas of research funding, the UK Design Council and the Arts & Humanities Research Council took a closer look at design research and business collaborations in UK Universities.

Service design has become a valued business process in Europe, but has struggled in the US, despite efforts by firms like Continuum and IDEO. Part of the reason is the culture.

Designers bring ideas to life and are able to convince organisations to build services that their customers will love, but fail to communicate how these will bring value to business. At the same time, businesses spend millions to communicate their ideas through business cases that fail to convince customers.

Deciding which methodology to use in design work takes into consideration the type of information needed to conduct a project: that is, to inspire service designers to create innovative solutions. However, that decision has the potential to influence the way results are communicated within the enterprise.

The aims of the paper are to demonstrate how the combination of service design and traditional qualitative method have delivered proven and scalable results.

For most travellers, the transfer between connecting flights is a phase in their journey they would be happy to skip. In order to bring delight to a moment characterised by negative emotions, Air France and KLM have joined forces with their frequent flyers in the development of new service concepts.

Whenever a service design project is presented in a boardroom, questions on hard, measurable outputs often emerge, such as: ‘Who are our most valuable customer segments?’ ‘Which ideas and propositions resonate with these segments?’ and ‘How much are they willing to pay for these propositions?’

This article will address the challenges and opportunities in trans- forming quantitative data into qualitative experiences for patients. This approach culminated in the design of a shared decision-making service for cancer patients.

A service experience takes place at the very moment when a person interacts with an organisation’s touchpoints over time. That interaction can’t be exported, as the customer always has to participate. However, each person does wear different hats when it comes to their needs and expectations depending on mood, agenda, time of day, etc.

If UX research is to become the driving and defining force in the product development cycle – and it should – it cannot be sporadic.

In most cases, managers and designers need different data. Managers use ‘hard data’, figures and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to make decisions based on validated facts. Designers need tools to understand customer needs, motivation and behaviour.

The health club industry is booming: one in six citizens of the Netherlands is now a member of a health club. However, about one quarter of health club members cancel their membership every year. The cancellation rate is accelerating. Loyalty in other sports – football, for example – is much greater.

In any given service ecology there are multiple touchpoints that an organisation must design and manage.

If we are to undertake a human-centric approach to service design, then understanding human behaviour is a key component to designing the services people use.

As part of the inaugural class at the Austin Center for Design, a new educational institution that produces design graduates...