Why the perspective of Service Design has helped me to see UX Design and Content from a broader perspective

Usually, UX/UI designers work with the approach of Design Thinking Methods which means empathize with the user, define their problems, ideate and then test.

UX Alone Is Not Enough

Recently, I got in touch with Service Design and I realized that UX Design is not enough to provide the best user experience. Though, UX and Service Design have one thing in common. They are an approach to solve complex problems in a user-centered way.

But Service Design is an approach that goes one step further. You can’t have a good user/ customer experience without considering the people or processes.

Service Design

Service Design innovation is the creative application of Design Thinking Methods to the development of services. Just as products are designed in product design, concepts for services are developed in service design. In this way, any service can be improved or created from scratch.

It refers to planning and organizing business resources (people, props, and processes) to deliver the best customer experience. How the user experience gets created and how the internal parts of the organization align to deliver that experience.

How does Service Design come into practise?

In a service blueprint is a diagram that visualizes all activities that happen at each stage and the relationships between different service components including stakeholder, problems and processes that are directly tied to touch points in a specific customer journey.

General structure of a Service Blueprint “User Centric” (User Actions). Service Design includes front stage actions (products, touchpoints, interfaces and content), backstage actions (policies, technology, infrastructures, systems) and support processes. People interact with service through touchpoints and the summary of all touchpoints comprises a service experience.

And which role does Content play in Service Design?

In this context it is also indispensable to mention the role of content in service design because content is a fundamental component of how users engage with a service” and is experienced through touchpoints. “A piece of content may exist on only one touchpoint or it may travel between touchpoints”. The summary of all content touchpoints is called content experience and a content strategy is the mechanism that enables that service experience to be delivered holistically and consistently across all touchpoints.”

Being aware of the holistic approach

To sum up, you can’t have a good user / customer experience without considering the people or processes used to create it, and it’s useless to build something that end users don’t need or can’t use. And this holistic approach can be helped while building up the right content for your business. it helps to understand delivery gaps between what the company does. It creates value for all stakeholders, builds a distinctive brand experience and it increases business potential.

Sources:

• https://www.fjordnet.com/conversations/content-strategy-in-service-design/
• https://www.fjordnet.com/conversations/content-strategy-in-service-design/
• https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-vs-service-design/
• https://www.nngroup.com/articles/service-blueprints-definition/#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20service%20blueprint%20is,in%20a%20specific%20customer%20journey.