What is service design?
An introductory guide
Have you ever wondered why some public services just work, while others leave you frustrated?
Often, behind that successful service is something called 'service design'. It's not just a buzzword. It's a powerful approach that helps create services people actually need and use, especially in the public and third sectors.
Curious about what service design is and how it can transform your work? Let’s dive right in!
First, let’s break down the term ‘service design’…
What is a service?
A service is something that helps someone do something. This could cover a vast range of activities, from getting treatment for an illness to getting your home repaired to getting permission to fish. It can also apply to activities that happen within an organisation, like getting your laptop as a new starter or applying for annual leave.
The people delivering the service can span multiple teams, departments, or even multiple organisations.
All of these examples, from the simplest to the most complex, can benefit from service design.
What is design?
To borrow a phrase from the Design Council, ‘design is what happens when people use creativity to solve problems’. Importantly, to design something is an intentional act – it doesn’t happen by accident. There is also an implication that the designer(s) has been through a process of some kind.
Service design is all about figuring out how to make services work better for the people who use them and the people who deliver them. It’s about thinking through how everything fits together—people, processes, and communication—to create a better experience and get the right results.
It takes a big-picture view, looking at every part of the service. That includes the front-end (what users see and experience) and the back-end (all the stuff happening behind the scenes to make it work).
How service design differs from traditional approaches
Service design is a way of designing services that start – first and foremost – with the needs of the humans using the service and balance that with the intended outcomes for the organisation.
In some ways, it’s more telling to say what service design isn’t. What service design isn’t is:
an individual or team conjuring up an idea, ‘designing’ it in isolation and imposing it on users
starting with a preconceived solution and fast-tracking delivery without checking in with people along the way (though this provides the illusion of efficiency)
a ‘once and done’ consultation with service users, creating something based on false assumptions and misunderstandings
something that can only be applied to digital services. It's as useful for designing a coffee shop as it is for designing an online application process.
Many aspects of service design are similar to other kinds of design, for example user experience (UX) design. A key difference between service design and UX design is that UX design focuses on improving particular encounters for the people using the service.
Service design encourages you to zoom in (to focus on the details) and out (to look at the bigger picture).
It looks at the whole end-to-end experience of the provider and user, and considers how things like policies, procedures, training and infrastructure impact the service experience. It also encompasses all channels – digital, telephone or face-to-face, to ensure a consistent experience across the board (whereas UX design tends to focus on digital interactions).
How service design helps organisations
“User-centred" has been a buzzword in the social and public sectors for decades. Service design gives people the tools to make it a reality.
By understanding service design principles, tools and methods, you can create a framework for engaging with people with lived experience, generating ideas, balancing user and organisational needs, and refining services through ongoing testing and research.
When done well, service design enables organisations to:
Improve services, making them easier and faster for users, reducing the need for extra support
Solve real problems for people - and better achieve organisational outcomes
Cut waste by eliminating unwanted or inefficient services
Improve staff satisfaction, reducing turnover and sick leave
Build trust by leaving users with a positive impression of the organisation.
Good service design is:
User-centred: Service design approaches put user perspectives at the heart of decision making.
Effective: It starts with the needs, aspirations and motivations of the people who will use the service, continues with regular check-ins and ends with a service that works for everyone.
Cost efficient: Traditional approaches that prioritise the needs of the organisation often result in inefficient, underused services. It’s far more cost-efficient to start with designing the service people need.
Service design in public services and the third sector
The motivation for private sector organisations to design services that work well is obvious – the results impact their bottom line. I would argue that the benefits of using service design approaches are even more relevant to services delivered by public and third-sector organisations - especially if the service user has no choice.
The drive towards more user-centred public services continues, as does the need to ensure services are effective and cost-efficient.
Service design doesn't mean ignoring the needs of the organisation. Instead, it means starting with the needs of users and then considering how technically feasible and how viable it is for the organisation to deliver.
Budgets in many smaller public or third-sector organisations don’t stretch to having a team dedicated to service design, though this is changing. However, every time someone makes a decision that impacts how a service is experienced, they are making a design decision.
Existing staff, whatever their role, can be upskilled in service design, with the added bonus that they are already well-versed in the organisation’s context, existing culture and decision-making processes.
How you can learn about service design
If this has sparked your interest in service design in the public and third sector, here are a few steps you can take to find out more:
Sign up to Service Design Insider - a monthly newsletter
Explore our blog for insights on service design and real examples of how it has helped organisations create effective services.
Read more about service design. For entry-level reading, I always recommend:
This is Service Design Doing: for a "how-to step-by-step guide on applying service design tools, methods and principles"
Good Services: Lou Downe: for 15 principles for designing good services.
Get a taste of service design with our fun, interactive Introduction to Service Design course—perfect for anyone in public services or the third sector.
Go to the annual Service Design in Government Conference, every September in Edinburgh.
Introduction to Service Design
Three 2.5-hour sessions to introduce service design to people working in public and nonprofit organisations. If you are looking to build your understanding of service design methods and language, then this course is for you. Learn more
