Week+9


 * Tutorial 9 Question:** According to the slideshow by Sylvain Cottong, who is an employee at [|http://www.integratedplace.com], what is the definition of 'service design', and why is it so important? (5 paragraphs)

Service Design is a combination of methods from product design and interaction design, it outlines the experience of and interface to services. Service design is used thoroughly in northern Europe. The goal of service design is to make things simple for the user, and so making what one does "useful, usable and desirable" for the users is important as well as making it "efficient, effective, and valuable" for us. Service design claims that success relies on the quality of service which depends on the customer experience.

Service touch points are the tangibles. things like advertising, web, physical environments, customer facing staff, and communication. These are spaces, objects, people, or interactions that build the experience of using services like those previously mentioned. Service designs have specific qualities which build their appeal. Firstly, systems are established as services are provided and experienced through this and relationships. Secondly, there is value as services aim to provide the best value for both the users and producers. Thirdly, services are considered journeys as they are experienced over a period of time. Fourthly, it is vital that both users and producers work together as people are essential to services. Lastly, most of the time users buy into services which can also be classified as propositions.

There are various tools and methods which aid service design. Ethnography, user studies and personas serve to identify, discover and understand the context as well as users. Customer journey maps serve as visual of how customers see the service design along a period of time. Service blueprinting serves to describe critical service elements quantitatively (time, logical sequences of actions and processes). The front stage focuses on the actions and events that happen in the time and place of the interaction, while the backstage focuses on the actions and events that are not visible to users, but are critical to the delivery of service. It is also important that service design use tools like the service prototyping. This includes elements like using scenarios, storyboards, storytelling, and real world experience simulation.

Service design has many key elements one of which is to make things easy to use, this relates to higher conversion rates and also an increase in cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. Another key element in service design is the fact that it decreases support costs, bringing greater customer satisfaction and loyalty and improving how others perceive the brand. One thing is for sure customers are more likely to pay more money towards a product or service that helps make their lives easier, more enjoyable and exciting, and so customer service is a vital element in the overall service design.

And so, service design is important in a society for many different reasons. Mainly, it serves to keep users and producers of services happy by simplifying things. Service design helps in various areas like meeting customers' continuous expectations of choice and quality, as well as answering the pressing environmental, social and economic challenges to sustainability. Service design is used to make use of revolution in constantly changing technology today, which multiplies the possibilities of creating delivering and consuming services. In the end, it is vital to have service design as people like simplicity and are always looking for services that make their lives easier and more enjoyable.