Service Design Methodologies

UX/UI VS Product Design VS Service Design! What's the difference? The industry keeps trying to collapse them into one role. And honestly? This is where a lot of confusion in design careers now comes from. — 🔹 UX/UI Design primarily focus on, but not only: → discovery → user research → defining problems → ideation → wireframing → prototyping → usability testing → accessibility → interaction design → user journeys → information architecture → visual interfaces → reducing friction → design systems The core question is usually: “How does the user experience this product?” And this work matters enormously. But it mostly operates around the visible layer of a service. — 🔸 Product Design expanded this further. Today, Product Designers are often expected to understand: → UX/UI → UX Research → product strategy → experimentation → analytics → conversion → product metrics → business goals → stakeholder management → agile delivery → prioritisation → user behaviour → feature adoption → growth thinking The core question becomes: “How do we design a product that is useful, viable, usable, and commercially successful?” This is why Product Design became so dominant in tech and UX roles started to reduce with time. It connected design to business outcomes. — 🔴 Service Design expands even further beyond the product itself. Because services are not isolated interfaces or standalone products. They are interconnected operational ecosystems. Service Design often requires understanding: → operations → governance → policy → organisational structures → backend systems → APIs & integrations → service blueprints → delivery constraints → end-to-end ecosystems → cross-channel journeys → implementation reality → staff workflows → dependencies → risk → service ownership → organisational incentives → legacy technology → procurement → accessibility across systems → communication flows → real-world delivery pressure → overlapping services → ecosystem coordination → supplier relationships → third-party dependencies → interoperability between services → how one service impacts another → institutional complexity → multi-service environments → public and private sector interactions The core question shifts again: “How does the entire ecosystem of multiple services work together to deliver an outcome?” And this is where many designers begin realising: good interfaces alone cannot fix broken systems. This is one of the reasons I moved deeper into Service Design and System Thinking over the years. — I've been trying to make sense of the future of AI, tech and Service. If you feel the same way... Join my Newsletter: ⤷ https://lnkd.in/ehy-HwXW Volume 3: Service across Societies: How Services Became the Infrastructure Behind Modern Life Date: 12/06/2026 If you are trying to transition from UX into Service Design, get my workbook: ⤷ https://lnkd.in/eRGV-PhY

#BadassBookAlert Kate Tarling's The Service Organization offers a blueprint for organizations that want to deliver high-quality services efficiently, with a strong emphasis on customer needs and internal alignment. This book delves into the systemic issues that affect service delivery and proposes practical steps for creating service-oriented cultures. "A service is not what the organization thinks it provides but what a user experiences." Kate stresses that services should be designed based on real user experiences and needs, not around internal processes or organizational structures. This is vital for both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. "A service organization needs to design for the entire system, not just the touchpoints." Organizations often approach service improvement with isolated fixes or one-off projects, which she argues are insufficient. Systemic, organizational change is necessary to build sustainable service improvements. "We can't design effective services if each part of the organization is working in isolation." Modern service organizations have to break down silos and ensure departments collaborate effectively. Cross-functional teams are key to ensuring that services meet user needs and organizational goals. "Good services are designed and then redesigned as we learn more." Service organizations should not view their work as static. Tarling advocates for iterative design processes that involve ongoing testing, learning, and adaptation. "The people who work on services must be trusted to shape them." To build a truly service-centric organization, employees must be empowered to make decisions and provide input into how services are delivered. This fosters accountability and innovation. In the age of digital transformation, companies that focus on the customer journey and needs will outperform those that remain focused on internal metrics or outdated processes. For example, the approach resonates with businesses that prioritize service design and UX, ensuring all touchpoints are seamless and intuitive. Many modern businesses, especially large corporations, still struggle with departmental silos. Applying Tarling’s insights can help these organizations unify their efforts, ensuring that all teams (from customer service to IT) are aligned around shared goals. Tarling’s emphasis on continuous improvement ties into modern agile and lean methodologies, where the focus is on testing, learning, and evolving quickly to meet changing needs. This book is a great read for companies and designers looking to thrive in today’s service-driven economy. Her work underscores the importance of designing services with users in mind, embracing systemic change, fostering collaboration, and focusing on continuous improvement. This approach is highly applicable to businesses across industries, from healthcare to technology. #SystemsDesign #ServiceDesign #BusinessDesign #OrgDesign #Strategy

💎 UX Mapping Methods (Miro/Figma) for empathy maps, customer journey maps, experience maps and service blueprints ↓ ✅ Empathy maps capture user’s mindset for tasks. ✅ Journey maps describe a persona’s specific interaction. ✅ Experience maps cover “full” UX across all user types/products. ✅ Service blueprints focus on internal processes and flows. ✅ Process maps capture user’s mental model, done by users. ✅ Empathy maps: 4 quadrants — Says, Thinks, Feels, Does. ✅ Journey maps: 4 lanes — phases, actions, thoughts, emotions. ✅ Experience maps: 4 lanes — phases, actions, thoughts, emotions. ✅ Service blueprints: 4 lanes — user, frontstage, backstage, support. ✅ Process maps: no lanes — sticky notes, organized by users. ✅ Use empathy maps in initial design phase and early research. ✅ Experience maps inform and shape the customer journey map. ✅ Journey maps are a key reference in entire design process. ✅ Service blueprints are drafted after user journey mapping. As Stéphanie Walter noted, user journeys often start way before users actually start interacting with our product — so always consider non-digital touchpoints as well. Users might even need to consult other tools and services as they interact with yours, so keep track on them, too. UX mapping helps document and visualize findings and constraints. More often than not, it becomes a general reference for the entire team, guiding and shaping decisions and directions. But: question assumptions and biases early. Once they live in your UX map, they grow roots — and it might not take long until they are seen as the foundation of everything, which is very difficult to challenge or question later. -- ✤ Useful resources UX Mapping Methods: A Cheat Sheet, by Sarah Gibbons, NN/g https://lnkd.in/eSnExG4h UX Mapping For Product Design, by Aaron C. https://lnkd.in/eNQaKpX6 Ultimate Guide to UX Mapping (+ Templates), by Josh Zak, Justin Tan, Peter Komierowski, Mackenzie Mitschke Post: https://lnkd.in/eyRn7-qt Figma: https://lnkd.in/eir9jg7J Spotify Journey Mapping, by Alexandria Goree, Faith McAllister https://lnkd.in/egSM5jnV Shopify Process Mapping, by Sean McGowan https://lnkd.in/eYYEH3xU Customer Journey Mapping (+ Template), by Taras Bakusevych https://lnkd.in/e-emkh5A User Journey Maps + Miro/PDF Templates, by Stéphanie Walter https://lnkd.in/erheegtf Journey Map vs. Service Blueprint, by Morgan Miller, Erika Flowers https://lnkd.in/eHBXDxYR #ux #design

Time for the Summer reading list. People Experience has great tools and methods and they come from User and Customer Experience and are based on Human-centered Design, Agile & Analytics. If we want to see new/better business results, we have to get serious about learning & applying these tools and methods: do better research on how and where people do their best work, map their experiences, Moments that Matter (interactions with outsized impact) and other KPI's, and then build and test prototypes to ensure success. Here are my Top 5 books on Human-centered Design, Analytics and Agile – I emphasize books that help if you want to set up and facilitate a workshop or do research or design. If you only have space to pack 2 books, take the first 2 along: 1- This is Service Design Doing – Stickdorn et al – A comprehensive overview of every kind of tool and method at every phase of research and design. Simple and well-explained. This book takes Service Design Methods and puts it in a framework with even richer context and explanations. These first 3 books are like 101, 201 and 301 university courses. 2- Design Thinking Metrics & Analytics – Lewrick et al – the latest in their series now with how to set up and measure the impact of what you create using Design Thinking, with tools (lots of illustration) and practical guides for how to use them e.g. in facilitating a workshop, this is a great book. 3-  This is Service Design Methods – Stickdorn et al – if you want one book that explains all the tools in all the phases on how to DO Experience Research and Design, this is your book. The detailed guide for facilitators is my favorite feature. 4- Mapping Journeys – Kalbach – the best, in-depth guide on how to design, create and use Maps. Chapters on Visualizing Value, and how to create Service Blueprints, Journey and Experience Maps, Mental Models and Spatial Maps. 5- Universal Methods of Design – Martin, Hanington – An exhaustive guide to 125 Design Research methods (2 pages each), with a quick outline on when to use each one, great illustrations, and where to get more information. Other favorite books on Human-Centered Design, Analytics and Agile –with great examples of how to use and apply methodology and tools: The Design of Everyday Things, Emotional Design – Don Norman The Design Thinking Toolkit - Lewrick et al Experience Design – Liedtka et al Sketching User Experiences – Buxton Designing Interactions – Moggeridge Excellence in People Analytics - Ferrar & Green Qualitative Research Practice - Ritchie, Lewis et al Sprint – Knapp Scrum Fieldbook – Sutherland Lean UX - Gothelf What are your favorite books and resources? Where have you applied and learned from these sources?

Public-sector organizations are under increasing pressure to modernize, but bureaucracy, legacy systems, and institutional complexities often prevent them from doing so. Service design, however, can change that. It’s a human-centered approach that can align internal processes or constraints with user needs in public service delivery to deliver on policy intent. Key methods that make the difference: • people-centered research through observations and citizen journey mapping to identify friction points and improvement opportunities • Service delivery design that optimizes touchpoints, citizen interactions, and supporting processes • Co-creation workshops that bring stakeholders and citizens together to develop solutions collaboratively The impact is real. Services can become more efficient and easier to navigate. People have better experiences with public services, leading to greater trust and engagement. Innovation can thrive as teams navigate and challenge outdated assumptions and work across silos. There are challenges—resistance to change, complexity, institutional rigidity. However, organizations that embrace service design are proving that thoughtful, well-designed services don’t just improve experiences. They create lasting impact. I came across this paper by Tsotsas and Fragidis entitled: The Contribution of Service Design in Public Sector Modernization: Challenges, Barriers, and Opportunities of the Design Methods They outline three key barriers to adopting service design in the public sector: • Institutional structures and regulations that limit flexibility • The complexity of public service ecosystems makes change difficult to implement • Resistance from public servants who may see design-driven change as disruptive   Despite these barriers, they argue that service design presents a significant opportunity to modernize public administration by increasing efficiency, fostering people-centered innovation, and improving service delivery at scale. #ServiceDesign #PublicSectorInnovation #HumanCenteredDesign #DigitalTransformation #GovernmentInnovation #CitizenExperience #ServiceDelivery #PolicyDesign #InnovationInGovernment #SystemsThinking #PublicService #DesignThinking #UserCenteredDesign #CoCreation #ModernizingGovernment #PublicSectorTransformation #OrganizationalChange #DesignForImpact