Daniele Catalanotto
Author - Daniele Catalanotto

Crazy comparisons often are full of insights. Let’s explore together how Service Design is like marriage in plenty of ways.

The different types of marriages. Or services? --
The different types of marriages. Or services? —
Service Design is a field that looks super complex to everyone. Nobody says that he fully understands it. Still, there are plenty of Service Designers around the world working. In a way, Service Design is like marriage, nobody understands it but everyone does it.
 
Marriage is not for experts
You don’t need a PHD to get married. You don’t need a special preparation for it, even if people who do specialize in this exist. To do service design you don’t need a super long education. There is a mindset, a will to work that is enough. There are even people around the world that do service design and do not know that term.
 
Marriage is complex, but it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it
For married people things are sometimes complex. You have to deal with the family of your beloved. The problems of your wife or husband are also a bit yours now. Service Design follows the same principle. You have to deal with stakeholders, you get new problems to solve. But both marriage and Service Design are really fun! You don’t need details about the fun part of marriage for sure. But for Service Design there are plenty of fun parts. Like the crazy brainstorming sessions. The crazy conversations with total strangers. The excitement to help people.
 
There are many types of marriage
You have open marriages, where people don’t stick with only one partner. They go see around if there are some nice people to have fun with. There are also open services. Services that you can share with others and were you are not trapped in the relationship.
There are conservative marriages. They use the good old fashion rules but still they work. You are not excited by seeing such a couple, but they are happy. There are conservative services. They are not exciting, but they work. The concierge of your building, cleaning the front door is a boring and conservative service. But you are happy with it.
There are the marriages that people contract only for the papers. You marry someone to get the nationality but you don’t want to live together or anything else. There are services with which one you don’t want any interaction. The garbage service that takes your garbage bag from outside your house is one of those. You don’t need or want to have an interaction with it.
Daniele Catalanotto
Daniele Catalanotto - Design Strategist

Daniele Catalanotto is a youngly married Service Designer. He believes that helping others is the best hobby in the world.

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