Live Work
February 5, 2009
Copy written by Joe Parker, found at practionersaib blog here.
‘Live work‘ are one of the most prominent service design companies in the U.K. Being based in London operating with a strong team of 17 multi-disciplined individuals, some of these skills include; designers, technologists, social anthropologists, marketeers, management consultants, operations professionals and entrepreneurs. ’Live work’ use resources in an innovative way, with the goal of improving existing services and creating new ones for business, society, consumers and the environment. Some their most prestigious clients include the BBC, the Ordnance Survey and Nokia.
Engine
February 5, 2009
Copy written by Joe Parker, found at practionersaib blog here.
Another renowned service design consultancy, founded in 2000 ‘Engine‘ collaborates with a varied team of designers, strategists, researchers and visualisers to create innovative service solutions in both the public and private sector, they have worked on projects such as connection through Heathrow for BAA and the creation of responsible credit cards for Visa.
Their website documents a variety of case studies as well as their methods of working. They elaborate on what they call ‘The Five Fundamentals Of Service’ (Value, Systems, Journeys, People, Propositions) a set of defining elements for service design which was insightful. There is also a helpful ’2 minute guide to service design’ pdf, which can be downloaded from their site also.
Radarstation
February 3, 2009
Copy written by Joe Parker, found at practionersaib blog here.
Radarstation are another London based organisation founded in 2003, their core team includes a collaboration between designers, human factor specialists and strategists which work very closely with the client and customer. Radarstation’s consultancy services include customer insight and organisational/service innovation, helping clients implement new methodologies to improve services by making them tangible. They describe their process as design led innovation, like ‘Engine’ they have broken this process down into 5 principles (User Focus, Tangibility, Iteration, Creating A Common Language and Mitigating Risk).
Radarstation have had a wide range of clients including Lego, BP and Hasbro, they also have an impressive list of academic partners such as the Royal College Of Art and The London School Of Economics.
IDEO
February 1, 2009
Copy written by Joe Parker, found at practionersaib blog here.
IDEO was started in 1991 and is now a global design consultancy, with offices in seven cities world wide. IDEO employ over 550 individuals with a wealthy set of disciplines including human factors, engineers, and designers concerned with designing products, environments, digital experiences, management consulting and finally services. Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and Microsoft are a few of their thousands of clients in recent years.
IDEO describes their approach to service design, “IDEO creates services that are desirable for consumers and feasible and viable for businesses. We draw on deftness in experimentation to build prototypes and pilots that reduce risk, and strengths in storytelling to make brand expressions more tangible”.
quote from www.ideo.com/thinking/focus/services
The Service Design Network
January 28, 2009
Copy written by Joe Parker, found at practionersaib blog here.
The Service.Design.Network is an organisation established in 2004, by several design design schools world wide. The organisation strives to create a community for organisations and businesses who are working in the service design discipline. Their website contains an informative pdf on a manifesto written around service design, it includes design approach and definitions. The website is a great reference hub, listing a huge range of case studies and projects from many contemporary service design consultancies.
Video on Service Design
January 19, 2009
What is Service Design?
January 16, 2009
Copy written by Joe Parker, found at practionersaib blog here.
The decline of the manufacturing sector and the growth of the service sector has opened a new gateway for design in the uk. Service design has propelled the specialism into a new era,being a relatively contemporary concept I think it deserves expanding upon
Service designers work collaboratively with many other individuals with a variety of skill sets to improve elements of service such as ease, satisfaction, loyalty and efficiency throughout such areas as environments, communications and products and the people who deliver the service. Examples of this could be anything from improving an experience such as the physical journey through an airport to improving the experience of using a service provided online.
The practice of service designers can clearly be recognised as design, as they apply many similar concepts as any other practitioner of design, although they differ in three main ways; firstly they look at the human experience as a whole and in detail, secondly they make the service tangible and visible by creating a narrative story of the customer journey, and finally they create and improve service concepts.
