New Grounds, New Challenges? Exploring Stakeholder Research in Service Design

Abstract

This is a submission for the doctoral consortium at NorDes 2011. The research described herein focuses on how existing design tools and techniques need to be appropriated when used in a new context – in this case service design. It is argued that the nature of services poses new challenges for designers. A theoretical introduction to these challenges is given, presenting a view of service design as the intersection between the user-centred design tradition and thoughts on service from marketing and management.

The specific challenges in conducting stakeholder research for service design are introduced. The research objectives of the PhD candidate are given. The findings which were used for the licentiate thesis of the author are presented; they focus on visualisations for service design. The licentiate thesis confirms the view that visualisations are a crucial part of service design practice, but also shows that many visualisations primarily highlight those features of service which have been the traditional focus of design and lack in representing other service traits. Finally, the planned direction of the continued research is highlighted.