Why Service Design Thinking

This is an unprecedented mini episode that will preview our next big topic – customer journey mapping. I just had a wonderful interview about with two design strategists in Europe - Daniel Sunden and John Flitcroft. Somehow our discussion about customer journeys led us to look at the customer journey of pizza.

It was such an interesting tangent that I wanted to share it with you in its own context – 3 different journeys of ordering pizza in the UK, Sweden, and the US.

Enjoy and look out for the complete interview in the next episode.

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Check out the website to download a free ideation worksheet: whyservicedesignthinking.com.

For this week's episode, we are in for a special treat. This is a recording of a fascinating panel discussion called The Future of Customer Experience, by the service design community in Los Angeles. Hosted by John Ayers, who was our guest in episode six, they discuss the differences, similarities, and benefits between service design, design thinking, user experience design, customer experience, and more.

The panelists are: Jod Kaftan, Group Design Director at Fjord Sarah Stern, Service Design Manager at LootCrate Michael Hardy, Lead Experience Designer at Tradesy Chris Chandler, Design Practice Lead at Philosophie Seema Jain, Director of Customer Experience at Bluewolf

Download the slides and get all the links in the show notes.

Special thanks to General Assembly in Los Angeles for being a generous partner in education for the Los Angeles Service Design community.

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Special thanks to Monica Shriver of BraveMusician.com for this episode's theme music.

Research is an important part of service design and design thinking because it is the center of the empathy and insight that will lead your work. Design researcher, Seth Weissman from BCG Digital Ventures, talks about different research techniques including Ethnography, Observational Research, Surveys, and more. He shares tips on how to get comfortable speaking with people, what sorts of insights to look out for, and even a design fail about suds-less soap.

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Participate in the design challenge on the website.

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Love what you hear? Please subscribe, rate, and review us!

Get a free Idea Brainstorming worksheet: whyservicedesignthinking.com

Special thanks to Monica Shriver of BraveMusician.com for this episode's theme music.

One of the most fun techniques of design thinking is analogous inspiration: applying an out-of-context concept to the problem that you are trying to solve. We talk with Victoria Vivas, an experience designer in Chile, who focuses on enhancing the process of learning through analogous situations.

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Participate in the design challenge on our website.

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Love what you hear? Please subscribe, rate, and review us!

Want a free Idea Brainstorming worksheet? Get it at whyservicedesignthinking.com

Special thanks to Monica Shriver of BraveMusician.com for this episode's theme music.

Starting a project or business can be easier said than done and there are many touchpoints that an entrepreneur goes through when starting something. We talk with Jon Leyh, the founder of Ruckus Projects, a community of entrepreneurs who come together to create projects that matter. Jon shares his powerful philosophy about why it's important to design your experience as an entrepreneur, while you are designing your project.

Read about the incredible projects created by Ruckus Projects members.

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Participate in the design challenge on our website.

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Want to keep in touch? Sign up for the mailing list at whyservicedesignthinking.com for access to useful freebies and bonus resources that won't be available anywhere else.

Special thanks to Monica Shriver of BraveMusician.com for this episode's theme music.

Service Design is unique in its customer-centric practices because it views each experience in two components - the frontstage and backstage interactions. For every customer-facing activity (frontstage), there is a series of behind-the-scenes technology, training, and processes (backstage) required to create a positive interaction.

John Ayers, an LA-based service designer and customer experience designer, tells us all about why service blueprinting is a crucial element and how a business can adopt this process.

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Participate in the design challenge on our website.

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Love what you hear? Please subscribe, rate, and review us!

Want to keep in touch? Sign up for the mailing list at whyservicedesignthinking.com for access to useful freebies and bonus resources that won't be available anywhere else.

Special thanks to Monica Shriver of BraveMusician.com for this episode's theme music.

Innovation can still sometimes to be considered an "extra"or "nice to have" in business. But it is actually essential to competing in the constantly-evolving business landscape. So how can a company adopt innovative practices? We talk with Allen Weaver, who is an expert at facilitating innovation among groups of all sizes,having worked with companies such as Target, Direct TV and AT&T.

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Participate in the design challenge on our website.

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Love what you hear? Please subscribe, rate, and review us!

Want to keep in touch? Sign up for the mailing list at whyservicedesignthinking.com for access to useful freebies and bonus resources that won't be available anywhere else.

Special thanks to Monica Shriver of BraveMusician.com for this episode's theme music.

In this episode, we talk with Jesse Grimes, of the Service Design Network. Jesse, who is a practicing service designer at Informaat, is on the management team of the Service Design Network (SDN) as well as the editor-in-chief of SDN's publication, Touchpoint magazine. Jesse tells us about the wonderful resources at the Service Design Network, including its plethora of free online information, in-person gatherings, and its official trade publication.

It's not too late to register for the Service Design Network conference. If you are attending, be sure to find me and say hello!

Check out the show notes for all references and links.

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Special thanks to Monica Shriver of BraveMusician.com for this episode's theme music.

Service design and design thinking can have groundbreaking results when applied to business. But imagine what could happen when these innovative principles are applied to education! Near LosAngeles, in Silicon Beach, there is an incredible school called Incubator School, started just a few years ago by visionary educator SujataBhatt. Thoughtfully built using human-centered design and featuring a curriculum that teaches design thinking and entrepreneurship, theIncubator School provides an unparalleled experience in education.Currently serving grades six through nine, the school will soon expand to include high school as well, with the first graduating class in 2020. I spoke with the school's founder Sujata Bhatt andDirector of Entrepreneurship Ryan Oliver.

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The Incubator School thrives with the involvement of its community - both business partners and individual supporters. You can be part of their innovations by contributing to their crowd funding campaign, which launched TODAY. The campaign directly supports the student businesses as well as curriculum development and supplies. ________

Love what you hear? Please subscribe, rate, and review us!

Want to keep in touch? Sign up for the mailing list at whyservicedesignthinking.com for access to useful freebies and bonus resources that won't be available anywhere else.

Special thanks to Monica Shriver of BraveMusician.com for this episode's theme music.

One of the BEST ways to get acquainted with service design in person is through an annual event called Global Service Jam. This event, co-founded by Adam StJohn Lawrence and Markus Edgar Hormeß of the service innovation agency WorkPlayExperience, is a "hackathon" where people from all professions gather to ideate and prototype a service business, all in one weekend. It is simultaneously held in more than 100 cities each year, with thousands of participants in a tight-knit community.

Adam is the embodiment of everything that the Global Service Jam stands for: open-minded creativity, teamwork, and lots of customer empathy. He talks about how a background in improv comedy inspires the jam, and why it's so important for everyone to participate.

The Jam was actually how I found service design, when I was a participant several years ago. I am now happy to be one of the co-organizers of this annual Los Angeles Global Service Jam and strongly encourage you to check it out and keep an eye out for events in the future. To get an idea of the innovative projects that come out of this event, check out videos of the 2016 LA Global Service Jam projects.

Learn about Adam's work: WorkPlayExperience Global Service Jam Global Gov Jam Global Sustainability Jam

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Participate in the design challenge on our website.

________

Love what you hear? Please subscribe, rate, and review us!

Want to keep in touch? Sign up for the mailing list at whyservicedesignthinking.com for access to useful freebies and bonus resources that won't be available anywhere else.

Special thanks to Monica Shriver of BraveMusician.com for this episode's theme music.