Service Design: Elevate (Self-paced)

Understand the basics of service design and its value in solving complex problems. Learn about the nuances that differentiate the closely aligned disciplines of Service Design, CX and UX. 

Topics

• Understanding Service Design, Human Centred Design and the Double Diamond framework
• Service Design minds: Strategic vs creative
• Differentiating Service Design, UX and CX
• The value of Service Design: Solving complex problems

Learning Activities

• Perform desktop research for your project

Kick off your service design project that you’ll work on throughout the course. Question the brief and define the scope as the first step towards executing your project. 

Topics

• Unpacking the brief: the (human) problem, business requirements & service landscape
• Using the Desirable – Viable – Feasible framework as a project guide

Learning Activities

• Create a reverse brief
• Evaluate and map relevant trends
• Design a stakeholder map

Learn about the different types of qualitative and quantitative research techniques. Plan and carry out field interviews to support your project. 

Topics

• Quantitative vs qualitative research
• Primary research: Interview guide and techniques
• Contextual inquiries and observations: Guerrilla research and ‘Fly On The Wall’

Learning Activities

• Conduct interviews to inform your design problem
• Capture and collect interview data

Synthesise your research and derive data-driven insights about customer motivations, needs and opportunities. This stage helps you to empathise with the customer and people involved in the service. 

Topics

• Coding & organising data to find insights
• Synthesising data using affinity maps
• Defining & aligning on the problem(s)/opportunity
• Mapping: Human needs and customer journey

Learning Activities

Prepare the following artefacts for your project: 

• Affinity map
• Empathy map
• Personas
• Archetype profile
• Jobs-to-be-Done

Understand how service blueprints can empower your business to optimise service processes. Get familiar with the elements of a service blueprint and put your learning into action using a blueprint template.

Topics

• Strategic vs operational forces: Why Blueprint?
• Blueprinting as an artefact
• Analysis Frameworks: Swimlanes; Front and back of house visibility; Analysis tracking and Emotional states
• Blueprint in action: A step by step guide

Learning Activities

•  Produce your own current state Service Blueprint 

Use ‘How Might We’ questions and creative matrices for ideation to step beyond the obvious and generate innovative potential solutions. Develop a service hypothesis and prepare a storyboard to communicate your vision. 

Topics

• Setting a future service vision and ideating towards solutions
• Alignment through workshops: ‘How Might We’
• Ideation & inspiration toolkit
• Developing a hypothesis
• Communicating ideas through Storyboarding

Learning Activities

• Write your own ‘How Might We’ questions
• Create Crazy 8s; a creative matrix; Concept cards & posters
• Generate a service hypothesis
• Prepare a storyboard

Bring your ideas to life and test their practicality with early and inexpensive prototypes. Learn about the different forms of prototypes and how to build them rapidly. 

Topics

• Introduction to prototyping: Making, visualising and failing fast
• Physical vs digital prototyping
• Rapid prototyping: Building ideas into concepts
• Role play: Acting out a real world scenario
• Defending your prototype’s value proposition

Learning Activities

• Use a rapid prototype to build out your project concept
• Understand and communicate your prototype’s value proposition

Let your users experience the prototype. Build and validate hypotheses based on user feedback and prioritise features that add the most value. 

Topics

• Validating hypothesis and capturing feedback
• Testing Methodologies
• Testing Frameworks: Concepts vs Features
• Usability testing
• Ruthless Prioritisation: How to prioritise following testing

Learning Activities

• Prepare a hypothesis test card
• Create a test plan 
• Apply testing and prioritising tools to your project

Build a strategic roadmap for your service that includes a desirable, viable and feasible goal and the major steps or milestones needed to achieve it. 

Topics

• Introduction to Roadmapping
• Blueprinting: Choosing the right template and designing the future blueprint
• Curating your own design process
• Dealing with ambiguity
• Aligning to the DVF framework: Desirable, Viable, Feasible

Learning Activities

• Create your future-state Service Blueprint

Now that you have finalised your future-state service blueprint, learn how to communicate its vision, get stakeholder-buy in and make it a reality. 

Topics

• Bringing together data and artefacts
• Building a future vision and adapting for unknowns
• Developing a compelling narrative: Storyboarding & building a deck
• What makes a great Service Design portfolio?

Learning Activities

• Create your presentation deck 
• Submit your video presentation and receive feedback