Many design management methods for service design are a luxury of large companies, who have dedicated research budgets to throw into customer research. They can hire specialist companies around the world for the assignment and outsource the work to skilled design management professionals. If you are a small or medium sized company (SME), you may not have enough expertise or money to use dedicated research companies. If your customer base is from a different culture or you don’t have a common language, it may seem impossible to use existing methodology to gain insights. This paper aims to answer the following question: Which design management tools are best suited for a SME to gain a better understanding of end-­‐users/customers? As a case example, a small travel agency, which provides services for a foreign customer base and lacks a common language with its’ customers.

1.
SERVICE
DESIGN
METHODS
IN
SMALL
AND
MEDIUM
SIZED
ENTERPRISES
-­‐
CASE
STUDY:
TRAVEL
AGENCY
IDBM
PRO
2012
PIIA
TIILIKAINEN
27.12.2012

2.
TABLE
OF
CONTENTS
SERVICE
DESIGN
METHODS
IN
SMALL
AND
MEDIUM
SIZED
ENTERPRISES
-­‐
CASE
STUDY:
TRAVEL
AGENCY
......................................................................................................................................................
1
TABLE
OF
CONTENTS
............................................................................................................................................
2
1.
ABSTRACT
..............................................................................................................................................................
3
2.
INTRODUCTION
...................................................................................................................................................
5
2.1
Service
design
as
a
function
....................................................................................................................
5
2.2.2
Design
methods
during
the
customer
insight
phase
................................................................
5
2.2
Research
objective
....................................................................................................................................
10
3.
ANALYSIS
.............................................................................................................................................................
11
3.1
Introducing
the
business
need
...........................................................................................................
11
3.2
Tourism
as
a
service
.................................................................................................................................
11
3.2.1
Chinese
tourists
in
Finland
...........................................................................................................
11
3.2.2
Characteristics
of
Chinese
Tourists
...........................................................................................
12
3.3
Company
profile
.........................................................................................................................................
12
3.4
Service
design
tasks
during
the
customer
insight
phase
..........................................................
12
3.5
Ideal
service
design
method
–
characteristics
..............................................................................
13
3.6
Evaluation
of
service
design
methods
..............................................................................................
13
3.7
Role-­‐play
immersion,
observation,
shadowing
and
day
in
a
life
...........................................
14
3.8
Diary
methods
(video,
camera,
written)
..........................................................................................
16
3.9
Other
methods
(Co-­‐design,
Make
Tools,
Five
Times
Why,
Affinity
Diagrams,
Mobile
probes)
...................................................................................................................................................................
17
4.
SUMMARY
.............................................................................................................................................................
18
APPENDIX
1:
SERVICE
DESIGN
METHODS
ANALYSIS
TABLE
..........................................................
19
APPENDIX
2:
STEFAN
MORITZ
LIST
OF
TOOLS
AND
METHODS
DURING
SERVICE
DESIGN
UNDERSTANDING
PHASE
..................................................................................................................................
20
BIBLIOGRAPHY
.......................................................................................................................................................
21

3. 1.
ABSTRACT
Design
has
many
faces
within
an
organization
–
a
designer
can
act
as
a
mediator
between
different
business
functions
in
visualizing
the
company
strategy
and
targets,
customer
segments,
products
and
services
etc.
Service
design
is
an
interdisciplinary
function1,
which
combines
different
methods
and
tools
from
various
disciples
such
as
market
research,
anthropology,
and
psychology
as
well
as
design
management.
It
is
a
new
way
of
thinking
and
an
evolving
approach
but
at
the
core
of
this
discipline
is
the
understanding
of
customer
needs,
dreams
and
wishes.2
This
research
paper
focuses
on
design
management
tools
and
methods,
which
can
be
used
to
gain
a
better
understanding
of
end-­‐user/customer
requirements
in
order
to
deliver
delightful
service
experiences
to
meet
those
requirements.
Service
design
process
and
tools
emphasize
strong
social
skills,
empathy
toward
user/customer,
creativity
and
visual
thinking.
3
The
link
to
design
thinking
comes
from
an
iterative
approach,
which
is
similar
to
an
empathic
design
process,
which
tries
to
visualize
the
future
service
concepts
through
prototyping.4
However,
as
Stickdorn
and
Schneider
point
out:
“If
you
would
ask
ten
people
what
service
design
is,
you
would
end
up
with
eleven
different
answers
–
at
least.”5
During
my
career,
I
have
been
developing
many
services
without
the
theoretical
background
on
service
design.
In
those
projects,
I
have
used
multiple
methods
such
as
focus
groups,
traditional
surveys,
customer
journey
mapping,
shadowing,
mystery
shopping,
UX
testing
with
cameras,
card
sorting
etc.
and
have
always
found
them
useful
in
understanding
the
customer
at
hand.
Now
that
I
am
managing
a
start
up
with
limited
money
and
resources,
I
am
curious
to
explore
what
kind
of
tools
and
methods
can
be
applied
with
relatively
low
cost.
Many
design
management
methods
for
service
design
are
a
luxury
of
large
companies,
who
have
dedicated
research
budgets
to
throw
into
customer
research.
They
can
hire
specialist
companies
around
the
world
for
the
assignment
and
outsource
the
work
to
skilled
design
management
professionals.
If
you
are
a
small
or
medium
sized
company
(SME),
you
may
not
have
enough
expertise
or
money
to
use
dedicated
research
companies.
If
your
customer
base
is
from
a
different
culture
or
you
don’t
have
a
common
language,
it
may
seem
impossible
to
use
existing
methodology
to
gain
insights.
This
paper
aims
to
answer
the
following
question:
Which
design
management
tools
are
best
suited
for
a
SME
to
gain
a
better
understanding
of
end-­‐users/customers?
As
a
case
example,
I
am
going
to
use
a
small
travel
agency,
which
provides
services
for
a
foreign
customer
base
from
a
different
culture
and
lacks
a
common
language
with
its’
customers.
I
decided
to
focus
on
the
initial
customer
insight
phase,
which
is
critical
in
designing
a
new
service.
I
used
Hämäläinen,
Vilkka
and
Miettinen’s
framework,
which
outlined
the
following
methods
that
can
be
used
during
the
customer
insight
phase
in
service
design:
• DESIGN
ETHNOGRAPHY:
ROLE
PLAY
IMMERSION
• ETHNOGRAPHY:
OBSERVATION
• ETHNOGRAPHY:
SHADOWING
• CONTEXT
MAPPING:
MAKE
TOOLS
• DESIGN
PROBES:
DIARY
(WRITTEN)
• DESIGN
PROBES:
DIARY
(CAMERA)
• DESIGN
PROBES:
DIARY
(VIDEO)
3

4. •
•
•
•
•
DESIGN
PROBES:
MOBILE
FIVE
TIMES
WHY
DAY
IN
A
LIFE
AFFINITY
DIAGRAMS
CO-­‐DESIGN
METHODS
These
methods
were
analyzed
from
the
target
customer
segment
(Chinese
tourist),
company
(small
travel
agency),
industry
application
(tourism),
tourism
product/experience
and
on
analysis
effort
dimensions
based
on
subjective
review.
Based
on
my
research,
it
seems
that
Role-­‐play
immersion,
Observation;
Shadowing
and
Day
in
a
life
method
offer
most
potential
for
the
travel
company,
when
they
want
to
design
new
travel
services
or
improve
existing
service.
Most
importantly,
they
don’t
require
a
heavy
up-­‐front
investment.
These
methods
can
be
used,
when
there
is
no
common
language
with
the
customer
and
they
don’t
require
deep
specialist
skills
in
order
to
use
them.
Some
training
will
be
required.
In
addition,
these
methods
produce
results
in
an
easily
‘digestible’
and
reportable
format.
Their
shortcoming
is
limited
geographical
scope
and
dependency
on
understanding
the
customer’s
language;
however,
as
most
communication
is
anyhow
non-­‐
verbal,
observational
methods
can
still
be
used.
4

5. 2.
INTRODUCTION
2.1
Service
design
as
a
function
Service
design
is
an
interdisciplinary
function,
which
has
similarities
with
an
iterative
and
empathic
design
process,
where
the
key
aim
is
to
involve
the
user
or
customer
into
the
design
process.
Although
there
seems
to
no
agreement
over
the
‘correct’
way
of
defining
service
design,
there
are
certain
similarities
in
most
definitions.
The
following
phases
can
be
recognized
in
most
service
design
approaches.
FIGURE
1:
SERVICE
DESIGN
PROCESS
PHASES6
During
the
customer
insight
phase,
the
service
designer
should
focus
on
growing
his
understanding
of
user
needs
in
order
to
come
up
with
development
ideas.
Understanding
is
learning
about
customer’s
latent
and
conscious
needs.7
According
to
Moritz,
understanding
clients
is
about
understanding
their
goals,
values,
needs,
behavior,
problems,
group
dynamics,
interaction,
demographic
and
psychographic
factors.8
Hanington
divides
the
human
centered
research
methods
into
three
categories:
traditional
(such
as
customer
surveys,
focus
group
interviews),
adapted
(such
as
ethnographic
research,
video
ethnography)
and
innovative
(such
as
co-­‐creation
workshops,
user
diaries).9
2.2.2
Design
methods
during
the
customer
insight
phase
According
to
Hämäläinen,
Vilkka
and
Miettinen10
the
following
approaches
can
be
utilized
during
the
customer
insight
phase:
1. Design
ethnography,
where
the
service
designer
takes
the
role
of
the
customer
or
user
in
order
to
gain
insights
about
a
product
or
a
service.
For
example,
the
designer
could
take
the
role
of
a
tourist
bus
driver
in
order
to
capture
the
real
customer
journey
during
a
sightseeing
tour.
The
observation
process
should
not
be
5

6. intrusive
even
though
it
is
common
to
use
video
cameras
to
capture
information.
The
designer
can
also
interview
the
users.
The
purpose
is
to
understand
the
motivations
of
people
to
use
a
product
or
a
service.
2. Ethnographic
methods
have
been
used
in
anthropology
and
they
aim
to
make
the
culture
visible,
audible
and
understandable
by
giving
meaning
to
the
symbols
and
rituals
in
a
culture.11
Traditionally
is
has
been
entirely
face
to
face
cultural
interaction
and
data
collection
but
lately,
the
virtual
online
world
has
been
studied
through
‘netnography’,
where
the
interaction
and
data
collection
happens
purely
online.
A
mix
of
both
methods
can
also
be
used
to
study
cultures
and
communities.12
Observation
is
a
common
ethnographic
method.
It
is
easy
to
imagine
an
anthropologist
in
a
jungle
village,
sitting
on
a
stone
and
taking
notes
about
the
behavior
and
rituals
of
the
villagers.
Shadowing
is
similar
to
observation
but
focuses
more
on
user’s
interactions
and
tasks
through
real
time
interaction
processes.
In
tourism
context,
following
a
tourist
group
as
a
member
to
observe
how
the
group
interacts
with
the
guide
and
other
people
or
what
kind
of
tasks
do
the
tourists
perform
during
a
tour
are
examples
of
shadowing.
3. Context
mapping
methods
are
often
used
in
facilitated
workshops,
where
the
users
or
customers
carry
out
exercises
with
make
tools.
For
example,
they
could
be
asked
to
make
a
‘future
airplane’
out
of
cardboard
and
other
handicraft
materials.
Through
visualization,
they
express
their
subconscious
and
underlying
needs.
4. Customer
uses
design
probes
to
document
‘
day
in
a
life’
type
scenarios
or
other
contexts.
Design
probe
methods
are
based
on
self-­‐observation
and
documentation.
Typical
examples
are
photography
diaries,
video
diaries
or
written
diaries.
Mobile
probes
were
introduced
by
University
of
Art
and
Design
in
Helsinki.
Users
use
a
camera
phone
to
send
written
answers
and
pictures
and
the
researcher
has
a
browser-­‐based
application
to
send
questions
and
probes
to
users.
The
responses
are
recorded
in
a
server.
Lately
this
methodology
has
veered
more
towards
quantitative
research
due
to
the
limitations
in
designing
true
empathy
probes
with
mobile
technology.13
A
tourist
could
be
provided
with
a
camera
and
asked
to
record
‘most
unusual
and
memorable
events’
during
this
tour
in
order
to
find
out
service
differentiation
options.
5. Five
times
why
method
focuses
on
finding
a
root
cause
to
the
problem
at
hand.
It
is
one
of
the
Six
Sigma14
methods
and
tries
to
establish
a
cause
and
effect
relationship
underlying
a
problem.
‘Customers
think
our
prices
are
too
high’
1. Why?
They
are
saying
that
competitors
are
offering
the
same
tour
at
a
lower
price.
(First
why)
2. Why?
Maybe
the
competitors
have
been
able
to
negotiate
better
prices
with
hotels
and
taxis.
(Second
why)
3. Why?
Due
to
their
higher
volumes,
they
are
able
to
get
volume
discounts.
(Third
why)
4. Why?
Hotels
and
taxis
prefer
to
work
with
travel
agencies
who
bring
in
most
money.
(Fourth
why)
5. Why?
That’s
how
they
make
their
profit.
(Fifth
why)
6

7.
It
is
possible
to
keep
asking
more
Why’s
in
order
to
get
to
the
root
cause
but
a
rule
of
thumb
seems
to
be
that
5
Why’s
are
often
sufficient
to
get
to
the
root
cause.
6. Day
in
a
Life
method
puts
the
service
designer
in
customer’s
shoes
and
makes
him
list
and
document
all
user
tasks,
circumstances
and
user
experiences
during
a
day.
This
method
can
be
used
to
discover
unusual
events
or
themes
in
daily
routines
of
people.
First
step
is
to
decide
what
is
the
scope
of
the
study,
where
do
we
need
more
information;
is
it
about
roles,
interactions
or
the
environment.
In
tourism,
this
method
could
be
used
for
example
when
observing
what
alterations
are
needed
to
a
pre-­‐programmed
tour
by
observing
when
the
group
does
not
follow
the
program
and
analyzing
the
context
of
the
deviations.
7. Affinity
diagrams
help
process
and
categorize
information,
which
has
been
collected
through
Affinity
notes.
It
brings
out
the
customer
needs,
issues
and
problems.
In
this
method,
all
ideas
and
notes
are
first
recorded
on
Post-­‐It
notes
and
then
collected
on
the
wall,
grouped
and
categorized.
In
Six
Sigma,
this
method
is
called
KJ
(Kawakita
Jiro)
Model.
8. Co-­‐creation
or
co-­‐design
methods
such
as
board
games,
card
games,
role-­‐plays
or
storytelling
aim
to
involve
and
empower
the
users
into
the
design
process
along
with
other
stakeholders
in
order
to
provide
ideas
and
solutions
for
the
design
of
multi-­‐channel
and
complex
services.
This
could
provide
a
nice
playground
for
designing
a
new
travel
service
just
as
an
example.
However,
use
will
be
limited
in
situations,
where
the
user/
customer
and
the
design
team
do
not
have
a
common
language.15
7

8.
Examples
of
user
diaries:
Trambook,
an
Aalto
University
project
2012
8

9.
In
the
service
concept
phase,
the
purpose
is
to
generate
multiple
ideas
for
alternative
service
implementations.
A
service
can
be
described
through
service
touch
points,
customer
journey
maps
or
other
structural
elements
needed
in
service
creation.16
This is an example of the output after a couple of steps; showing an approach to design a WOW experience for a
flight to NYC. Reasons to like this tool:
• It’s great to have a formal approach to describing/designing experiences
• It starts with the description of a specific customer (in the center)
• It recognizes the life cycle of experiences: before, during, and after
• It’s easy to use and simple to understand
http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/legos-building-block-for-good-experiences/
Company Confidential. ©2010 Nokia
1
Example
of
a
customer
journey
map
from
Lego
Prototyping
makes
the
idea
of
a
service
visual
and
helps
to
communicate
it
to
the
end
user
or
customer.
Different
methods
have
to
be
applied
in
service
prototyping
than
product
prototyping,
where
the
designer
typically
builds
a
replica
of
the
intended
product
and
embeds
some
real
functionality
to
it.
Service
prototyping
methods
are
more
experimental
by
nature
and
often
use
storytelling
as
a
key
method.17
9

10.
Example
of
a
storytelling
service
prototype
from
Lauttasaari
bridge18,
2012
During
the
launch
and
maintenance
phase,
service
design
is
not
over,
though
often
forgotten.
Many
companies
fall
into
the
traditional
‘customer
survey’
cycle,
where
customers
are
being
questioned
at
regular
intervals
to
see
if
they
are
still
‘happy
with
our
service’.
IDEO,
one
of
the
world’s
most
recognized
design
agencies,
think
that
today
companies
are
valued
less
for
their
current
offerings
than
for
their
ability
to
innovate
and
come
up
with
something
new.19
User-­‐centric
service
design
methods
can
also
be
applied
after
the
service
is
launched
to
help
keep
it
competitive
and
to
innovate
on
value
adding
elements
to
customers.20
Given
the
variety
of
services
that
exist,
service
design
also
has
to
cope
with
different
situations
and
contexts.
Services
live
–
they
cannot
be
pre-­‐produced
and
stored.21
This
is
especially
true
of
tourism,
where
the
service
is
co-­‐produced
by
multiple
actors,
each
having
an
influence
on
the
overall
customer
perception
of
the
service.
2.2
Research
objective
This
paper
aims
to
answer
the
following
question:
Taking
into
account
the
complexity
in
service
design
as
an
interdisciplinary
function,
tourism
as
an
amalgam
of
goods,
services
and
people
and
the
business
challenges
of
small
to
medium
sized
enterprises
in
understanding
design
or
having
resources
or
funds
to
allocate
to
it
–
what
are
feasible
methods
for
a
small
travel
service
provider
to
use
for
gaining
a
deeper
insight
about
their
customers
needs,
wants
and
dreams?
Although
it
would
be
very
tempting
to
analyze
all
four,
service
design
phases,
I
have
decided
to
focus
on
the
initial
customer
insight
phase,
which
is
critical
in
designing
a
new
service.
Travel
is
a
very
competed
industry
with
relatively
low
differentiation
and
the
companies
face
heavy
price
competition.
Understanding
your
customers’
hidden
needs
may
offer
potential
for
new
innovation
and
differentiation.
10

11.
3.
ANALYSIS
3.1
Introducing
the
business
need
Many
travel
and
destination
service
providers
are
small
or
medium
sized
companies.
Design
is
commonly
used
among
large
businesses.
UK
Design
Council
research
into
the
use
of
design
also
revealed
that
rapidly
growing
businesses
were
six
times
more
likely
to
see
design
as
an
integral
part
of
their
operations
compared
to
the
static
businesses.22
Many
service
design
methods
are
a
luxury
for
a
SME,
who
may
lack
the
expertise,
people
and
money
to
carry
out
extensive
customer
research
projects
using
a
specialist
research
company.
Therefore
it
is
important
to
be
able
to
find
‘good
enough’
and
more
cost-­‐effective
methods,
which
are
simple
to
take
into
use
and
apply
during
the
key
phases
of
a
service
design
project
–
when
exploring
and
discovering
customer
needs,
for
creating
and
visualizing
new
service
concepts
and
reflecting
on
them
for
improvement,
as
well
as
during
the
implementation
phase,
when
the
ideas
are
put
into
action
within
the
organization.
3.2
Tourism
as
a
service
“A
tourism
product
is
an
amalgam
of
all
goods,
activities,
and
services
offered
to
tourists
by
different
sectors
of
the
tourism
industry
in
order
to
satisfy
tourist
needs
while
they
are
away
from
home.
It
includes
the
journey
to
and
from
a
destination,
transfer
from
and
to
an
airport,
accommodation,
transportation
while
at
the
destination
and
everything
that
a
tourist
does,
sees,
and
uses
on
the
way
to
and
from
the
destination,
including
purchases
of
food
and
drinks,
souvenirs,
entertainment,
amusement
and
a
very
wide
range
of
other
services
such
as
financial,
medical,
insurance,
etc.”
23
The
tourism
product
is
not
only
a
collection
of
tangible
(hotel
building,
bus)
or
intangible
(accommodation
service,
transportation
service)
elements
but
also
has
psychological
experiences
from
the
moment
the
tourist
leaves
home
to
when
is
arrives
back
home.
All
of
these
experiences
are
highly
subjective
and
influenced
by
demographic
(e.g.
age),
socioeconomic
(e.g.
social
class),
geographic
(place
of
origin),
cultural
(e.g.
cultural
values)
and
psychological
(e.g.
needs
and
motivations)
factors.
The
tourism
service
also
has
a
human
component
and
the
perceptions
of
this
are
particularly
important.
During
their
travel,
tourists
come
into
contact
not
only
with
guides
but
also
flight
attendants,
waitresses
in
restaurants
and
local
residents,
just
to
mention
a
few.
Therefore
the
authors
Kandampully,
Mok
and
Sparkes
suggest
that
the
key
components
in
a
tourism
product
are:
access,
amenities,
accommodation,
attractions,
activities
and
people.24
3.2.1
Chinese
tourists
in
Finland
As
early
as
2012,
China
is
expected
to
replace
Japan
as
the
world’s
largest
tourism
market,
with
sixty-­‐six
million
Chinese
traveling
abroad
in
2011,
a
number
expected
to
hit
100
million
by
2020,
according
to
the
World
Tourism
Organization.
Despite
the
expected
tens
of
millions
expected
inbound
Chinese
tourists
in
the
next
few
years,
most
hotels,
airlines
and
retailers
do
not
yet
understand
how
to
successfully
capture
this
market.
These
travelers
are
affluent;
expect
customized
travel
experiences
with
some
of
the
comforts
of
home.
25
11

12.
In
2010,
Finland
received
73,000
visitors
from
China.
42%
of
the
Chinese
visitors
in
Finland
were
on
business
trips
and
43%
on
leisure
trips.
The
average
stay
in
Finland
lasted
6
nights.
77%
of
the
visitors
stayed
at
a
hotel
or
motel.
Chinese
visitors
spent
around
EUR
36
million
while
in
Finland
in
2010.
The
average
spending
was
EUR
72
per
day
and
EUR
500
per
visit.
The
amount
of
travel
from
China
to
Finland
is
expected
to
increase
in
the
near
future
due
to
the
rising
living
standard
and
disposable
income.26
3.2.2
Characteristics
of
Chinese
Tourists
Chinese
tourists
are
used
as
a
case
example
to
represent
a
customer
base,
which
comes
from
a
very
different
cultural
background,
has
different
expectations
and
needs
regarding
travel
and
often
do
not
speak
English
or
Finnish.
The
first
barrier
that
needs
to
be
overcome
is
language
–
preparation
needs
to
go
into
translating
menus,
hotel
and
travel
information
and
basic
conversational
language
for
travelers.
Some
international
hotels
have
introduced
touches
aimed
at
Chinese
travelers
such
as
stocking
instant
noodles,
Chinese
teas
and
tea
kettles
in
mini-­‐bars,
offering
Chinese
TV
channels
and
slippers
in
guest
rooms,
and
serving
congee
(hot
rice
porridge)
and
dim
sum
at
breakfast.27
One
of
our
clients
said
that
getting
serviced
by
‘white
people’28,
automatically
implies
a
better
level
of
service
than
being
chauffeured
by
a
Chinese
driver
living
in
Finland.
There
are
many
things
that
are
not
tangible
at
a
first
glance.
3.3
Company
profile
The
company
can
be
characterized
as
follows:
-­‐ Small
company
offering
travel
related
services
for
Chinese
tourists
-­‐ Number
of
employees
<
10
-­‐ Has
recently
entered
travel
business
-­‐ Privately
funded
company
-­‐ Offers
packaged
and
tailor-­‐made
travel
experiences
in
Finland
and
Scandinavia
-­‐ Aims
at
medium
to
high
end
Chinese
customers
-­‐ Does
not
employ
any
design
or
market
research
professionals
with
Chinese
language
skills
3.4
Service
design
tasks
during
the
customer
insight
phase
Although
service
design
aims
to
put
the
customer
at
the
center
of
its
process,
the
process
often
starts
with
the
company.
Since
service
design
is
often
a
co-­‐creative
process,
where
multiple
company
employees
and
managers
need
to
participate,
it
is
crucial
to
understand
the
company’s
point
of
view
on
a
certain
problem.29
Using
our
travel
company
example;
let’s
assume
that
the
company
thinks
it
is
failing
to
understand
the
correct
price
point
of
services
since
they
are
receiving
feedback
from
some
customers
that
their
prices
are
too
high
for
Chinese
people.
12

13. The
second
task
is
not
finding
a
solution
by
‘lowering
the
price’
but
identifying
the
real
problem.
Gaining
a
clear
understanding
of
the
situation
from
the
perspective
of
current
and
potential
customers
is
crucial
for
successful
service
design.
To
simplify,
it
is
not
about
trying
to
find
the
solution
immediately
–
it
is
about
finding
the
problem
first!
It
is
about
finding
the
true
motivations
behind
customer
behavior
by
understanding
the
behavior
and
mindset
of
people.30
Using
the
price
point
example:
there
could
be
multiple
reasons
behind
customer’s
price
perception
e.g.
travel
offering
is
described
poorly
and
not
reflecting
the
quality
of
service,
in
customer’s
culture
different
things
are
valued,
company
is
providing
too
many
‘extras’,
which
customer
does
not
value…
The
third
task
is
to
visualize
the
findings
and
the
underlying
structure
of
the
previously
intangible
services.
This
helps
to
simplify
complex
and
intangible
processes
and
empowers
the
designer
and
team
to
change
those
parts
of
a
service,
which
might
not
be
functioning
properly.31
Let’s
use
a
city
sightseeing
tour
as
an
example.
If
the
service
designer
can
visualize
customer’s
expectations
on
what
happens
on
a
tour
by
building
a
storyboard
or
a
customer
journey
map,
it
will
be
easier
to
discuss
with
company
management
and
stakeholders
on
the
differences
between
customer’s
thinking
and
the
company
perspective.
3.5
Ideal
service
design
method
–
characteristics
From
the
service
designer’s
perspective,
an
ideal
method
would
have
the
following
characteristics:
-­‐ Suitable
to
use
during
customer
insight
phase
in
service
design
(choice
of
methods)
-­‐ Does
not
require
common
language
between
service
designer
and
customer
as
the
company
customer
base
is
Chinese
and
the
company
does
not
employ
Chinese
researchers
or
designers
(table:
LANGUAGE
DEPENDENT)
-­‐ Does
not
mandate
direct
interaction
between
designer
and
object,
as
the
company
in
question
does
not
have
Chinese
speaking
employees
(table:
INTERACTION
IS
INDIRECT)
-­‐ Suitable
for
researching
tourism
product
dimensions
(access,
amenities,
accommodation,
attractions,
activities
and
people)
(table:
INDUSTRY
APPLICATION)
-­‐ Captures
demographic
(e.g.
age),
socioeconomic
(e.g.
social
class),
geographic
(place
of
origin),
cultural
(e.g.
cultural
values)
and
psychological
(e.g.
needs
and
motivations)
dimensions
(table:
COLUMNS
H-­‐L)
-­‐ Does
not
require
specialist
skills,
the
researcher
can
be
trained
to
use
the
method
with
relatively
low
effort
(table:
SPECIALIST
SKILLS
NEEDED)
-­‐ Produces
research
insights,
which
are
relatively
easy
to
analyze
and
report
(not
requiring
complex
tools
or
systems
for
carrying
out
the
analysis)
(table:
LOW
EFFORT
ANALYSIS)
-­‐ Is
cost
effective
and
does
not
require
major
investments
(table:
LOW
COST)
Table
refers
to
the
Analysis
table
in
Appendix
1.
3.6
Evaluation
of
service
design
methods
I
carried
out
a
subjective
evaluation
between
the
following
methods
and
how
well
they
met
the
criteria
described
in
chapter
3.5:
• DESIGN
ETHNOGRAPHY:
ROLE
PLAY
IMMERSION
• ETHNOGRAPHY:
OBSERVATION
13

14. •
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
ETHNOGRAPHY:
SHADOWING
CONTEXT
MAPPING:
MAKE
TOOLS
DESIGN
PROBES:
DIARY
(WRITTEN)
DESIGN
PROBES:
DIARY
(CAMERA)
DESIGN
PROBES:
DIARY
(VIDEO)
DESIGN
PROBES:
MOBILE
FIVE
TIMES
WHY
DAY
IN
A
LIFE
AFFINITY
DIAGRAMS
CO-­‐DESIGN
METHODS
Simple
green
(meets
the
requirement
well),
yellow
(somewhat
meets
the
requirement)
and
red
(does
not
meet
the
requirement)
symbols
are
being
used
to
provide
a
quick
visual
overview
of
the
methods.
Calculating
together
the
green
scores
out
of
the
eleven
(11)
evaluation
criteria
used
did
the
final
scoring.
See
Appendix
1
for
more
detail.
Based
on
the
subjective
evaluation,
the
methods
could
be
arranged
into
‘Best
Fit’
order:
1. ROLE
-­‐PLAY
IMMERSION
(score:
9/11)
2. OBSERVATION
(score:
9/11)
3. SHADOWING
(score:
9/11)
4. DAY
IN
A
LIFE
(score:
9/11)
5. VIDEO
DIARY
(score:
7/11)
6. CAMERA
DIARY
(score:
6/11)
7. WRITTEN
DIARY
(score:
4/11)
8. FIVE
TIMES
WHY
(score:
4/11)
9. CO-­‐DESIGN
METHODS
(score:
4/11)
10. MOBILE
PROBES
(score:
3/11)
11. AFFINITY
DIAGRAMS
(score:
3/11)
12. CONTEXT
MAPPING:
MAKE
TOOLS
(score:
2/11)
It
is
important
to
keep
in
mind
that
‘Best
Fit’
means
the
best
fit
for
the
company
and
industry
type
in
question
and
the
evaluated
methods
can
be
used
for
other
situations
and
businesses,
which
may
result
in
a
different
ranking.
3.7
Role-­‐play
immersion,
observation,
shadowing
and
day
in
a
life
At
a
glance,
these
methods
appear
very
similar
–
there
is
a
service
designer,
who
uses
the
method
on
his
own,
without
too
much
interaction
with
the
research
objects.
Using
the
travel
example,
perhaps
we
can
find
some
differences.
Let’s
use
the
following
research
objective
to
highlight
the
similarities
and
differences:
“Study
Chinese
female
visitors
in
Helsinki
to
create
new
shopping
related
tourist
services.”
In
role-­‐play
immersion,
the
service
designer
could
take
a
role
of
a
shopping
assistant,
who
is
helping
the
visitor
by
carrying
their
shopping
bags.
He
would
follow
her
around
and
study
where
she
goes,
who
she
interacts
with,
what
she
buys,
how
she
pays
for
the
goods,
what
are
the
‘unknowns’
and
surprises…
The
designer
then
uses
this
information,
reflects
on
it
and
creates
first
prototype
concepts
of
the
new
shopping
related
travel
service.
14

15. ...
Browse
ladies
department
Enter
Stockmann
department
store
Ask
driver
to
drive
to
Esplanadi
Study
This
Week
in
Helsinki
for
shopping
options
Order
cab
to
hotel
A
purely
observational
method
could
put
the
designer
in
a
luxury
goods
store,
for
example
sitting
behind
the
counter,
to
make
observations
about
Chinese
women
visiting
the
store.
How
are
they
behaving,
what
are
they
wearing,
what
are
they
looking
at
…
Based
on
the
observations,
service
prototypes
can
be
presented
for
further
evaluation.
Day
in
a
life
method
tries
to
capture
the
flow
of
events
during
a
day.
In
this
assignment,
the
designer
would
focus
on
documenting
the
interactions
and
events
in
a
journey
type
description.
In
this
method
it
is
important
to
also
focus
on
the
exceptions.
The
company
may
have
a
pre-­‐assumption
of
the
journey
such
as:
...
Browse
ladies
department
Enter
Stockmann
department
store
Ask
driver
to
drive
to
Esplanadi
Cannot
pay
with
credit
card,
visits
bank
teller
to
draw
cash
Order
cab
to
hotel
Visits
hotel
concierge
to
rind
out
more
information
Notices
that
guide
is
only
in
English
and
cannot
read
it
Study
This
Week
in
Helsinki
for
shopping
options
In
practice
the
designer
can
notice
that
the
real-­‐life
journey
will
look
very
different:
Shadowing
is
similar
to
the
previous
methods.
Service
designer
observes
the
customer,
front-­‐line
staff
or
other
stakeholders
with
minimal
intrusion.
They
can
employ
a
range
of
methods
from
taking
pictures,
recording
conversations,
videotaping
etc.
Often
the
purpose
is
to
spot
situations
where
things
do
not
go
as
planned
or
where
people
may
say
one
thing
but
do
another.
Taking
the
Chinese
shopper
example,
the
service
designer
could
for
example
observe
the
dialogue
between
shop
assistant
and
client
to
capture
situations,
where
the
client
makes
a
spot
purchase
of
an
unexpected
item.
From
the
company
perspectives
these
methods
are
relatively
low
cost
and
do
not
require
a
lot
of
investment
into
technical
tools,
expensive
experts
or
facilities.
Although
experts
15

16. develop
the
methods,
with
some
training
most
people
could
start
using
them
to
gather
customer
insights.
They
can
also
be
well
used
in
travel
industry,
where
there
is
often
a
need
to
observe
people
during
their
tour
or
travel
destination,
at
hotels,
restaurants
and
other
attractions.
The
methods
are
well
suited
to
observe
the
interaction
between
people,
which
is
one
of
the
key
psychological
dimensions
in
a
travel
experience.
Ideally,
some
interaction
between
the
service
designer
and
customer
would
be
possible,
e.g.
during
the
role-­‐play,
the
designer
could
carry
out
a
dialogue
with
the
client.
In
my
opinion,
these
methods
can
still
work
in
a
situation,
where
direct
conversations
are
not
possible
due
to
language
differences.
These
methods
are
also
suited
for
capturing
information
about
the
cultural,
demographic,
socioeconomic
and
psychological
dimensions
since
they
are
based
on
close
observation.
Cultural
differences
are
good
to
keep
in
mind,
as
a
smile
in
Eastern
cultures,
may
not
mean
the
same
here.
A
good
service
designer
would
therefore
do
background
research
into
the
cultural
differences
between
himself
and
the
customer
in
question.
The
limitations
of
these
methods
are
language
dependency,
limited
capability
to
capture
geographical
factors.
Ideally
the
service
designer
should
be
able
to
follow
the
discussions
and
have
a
dialogue
with
the
person
under
observation.
If
there
is
no
common
language,
this
will
not
be
possible.
These
methods
are
also
geographically
limited
for
a
small
company,
if
it
does
not
have
money
to
hire
specialist
companies
abroad
or
to
send
their
own
team
to
different
locations.
For
large
companies,
this
will
not
be
an
issue.
If
the
researcher
uses
a
lot
of
video
material,
the
analysis
can
become
cumbersome,
as
video
editing
is
very
time
consuming.
If
more
lightweight
capture
mechanisms
are
used,
such
as
writing
notes,
taking
pictures
with
a
camera
or
recording
sound
bites;
it
will
be
easier
to
create
a
presentation
of
the
results.
However,
video
is
a
powerful
visual
tool
and
if
the
results
need
to
be
communicated
to
a
larger
audience,
it
would
justify
some
investment
into
video
editing
and
producing
a
presentation
with
embedded
video
material.
3.8
Diary
methods
(video,
camera,
written)
Diary
methods
are
self-­‐reflective
and
the
customer
will
use
the
media
to
document
the
assignment
usually
over
a
longer
period.
The
service
designer
can
send
further
probes
and
instructions
during
the
period
to
gather
additional
views
or
to
direct
the
assignment.
Tourist
groups
could
be
equipped
with
a
digital
or
video
camera
and
be
asked
to
document
their
journey
or
certain
parts
of
it.
For
example:
a
Chinese
tourist
could
be
asked
to
document
typical
‘Finnish
things’,
which
could
give
the
travel
agency
new
insights
on
their
customer
segment.
Tour
leader
could
be
asked
to
document
questions
from
the
tourist
group
in
a
normal
diary.
Travel
agency
can
use
the
information
to
write
more
descriptive
tour
brochures.
From
an
SME
perspective,
these
are
low
cost
methods
that
are
relatively
simple
to
use,
as
most
people
would
know
how
to
write
in
a
diary
or
take
photographs.
Video
cameras
require
more
technical
skills
from
the
users.
They
are
adept
for
documenting
cultural,
demographic
and
psychological
factors.
The
written
diary
falls
short
due
to
its’
language
dependency
(researcher
has
to
use
same
language
as
the
object)
and
it
provides
limited
capability
to
measure
demographic,
geographic
and
socioeconomic
factors;
written
text
is
a
simple
medium
compared
to
photographs
or
video,
where
contextual
information
is
more
rich
(visual,
audio…)
16

17. People
interaction
is
one
of
the
key
factors
in
travel
experience
and
cannot
be
captured
well
in
written
or
camera
diary.
Video
is
a
good
medium
for
that,
even
when
there
is
no
common
language.
In
general,
these
methods
are
effective
in
overcoming
cultural
boundaries,
as
the
research
materials
are
highly
evocative.
The
challenge
for
analysis
is
the
abundance
of
material:
hundreds
of
photographs
or
hours
of
video
that
is
full
of
visual
and
audiovisual
pieces
of
information.
3.9
Other
methods
(Co-­‐design,
Make
Tools,
Five
Times
Why,
Affinity
Diagrams,
Mobile
probes)
Co-­‐design
and
Make
Tools
are
used
often
in
groups;
where
service
designer,
subject
matter
experts
and
customers
come
together
for
a
design
assignment.
Make
Tools
are
good
for
building
concrete
prototypes
of
new
tangible
products.
In
travel,
customers
can
build
a
prototype
of
a
new
hotel
or
to
illustrate
a
new
travel
brochure
design
using
Make
Tools.
Co-­‐design
is
a
good
method
for
analyzing
and
designing
processes
and
complex
systems
such
as
a
travel
reservation
system.
For
a
small
travel
agency,
the
shortcoming
of
these
methods
is
that
they
require
direct
interaction
between
customers
and
the
service
design
team
and
therefore
cannot
be
used
in
a
situation,
where
there
is
no
common
language.
The
methods
are
not
low
cost
since
the
company
has
to
hire
experts
to
facilitate
workshops,
hire
a
facility
to
hold
the
workshop
and
purchase
materials
for
prototype
building.
Six
sigma-­‐oriented
methods
–
Five
Times
Why
and
Affinity
Diagrams
–
are
not
optimal
for
capturing
tourism
experience
dimensions
(cultural,
demographic…)
or
people
interaction.
They
are
also
language
dependent.
They
might
be
better
suited
for
the
service
concept
or
prototyping
phases,
where
the
insight
information
has
to
be
sorted
through
and
analyzed
by
the
company.
Mobile
probes
have
a
more
quantitative
application
and
are
not
low
cost,
require
specialist
skills
from
the
service
designer,
are
dependent
on
language
and
an
interaction
between
customer
and
researcher.
Therefore
it
can’t
be
considered
as
a
suitable
method
for
a
small
travel
company.
On
the
positive
side,
some
of
these
methods
can
produce
very
visual
prototypes
or
reports
at
a
relatively
low
cost.
For
example,
if
customers
co-­‐create
a
travel
brochure
prototype,
it
can
instantly
be
used
in
reporting.
Same
if
they
create
service
mock-­‐ups.
Five
times
why
and
Affinity
diagrams
are
low-­‐effort
reporting
methods,
which
hardly
require
any
specialist
skills
or
complex
tools
for
creating
the
report.
17

18. 4.
SUMMARY
This
research
paper
focuses
on
Service
Design
methodology
and
set
out
to
answer
the
following
question:
Taking
into
account
the
complexity
in
service
design
as
an
interdisciplinary
function;
tourism
as
an
amalgam
of
goods,
services
and
people
and
the
business
challenges
of
small
to
medium
sized
enterprises
in
understanding
design
or
having
resources
or
funds
to
allocate
to
it
–
what
are
the
feasible
methods
for
a
small
travel
agency
to
use
for
gaining
deeper
insights
about
their
customers’
needs,
wants
and
dreams?
I
decided
to
focus
on
the
initial
customer
insight
phase,
which
is
critical
in
designing
a
new
service.
I
used
Hämäläinen,
Vilkka
and
Miettinen’s
framework,
which
outlined
the
following
methods
that
can
be
used
during
the
customer
insight
phase
in
service
design:
• DESIGN
ETHNOGRAPHY:
ROLE
PLAY
IMMERSION
• ETHNOGRAPHY:
OBSERVATION
• ETHNOGRAPHY:
SHADOWING
• CONTEXT
MAPPING:
MAKE
TOOLS
• DESIGN
PROBES:
DIARY
(WRITTEN)
• DESIGN
PROBES:
DIARY
(CAMERA)
• DESIGN
PROBES:
DIARY
(VIDEO)
• DESIGN
PROBES:
MOBILE
• FIVE
TIMES
WHY
• DAY
IN
A
LIFE
• AFFINITY
DIAGRAMS
• CO-­‐DESIGN
METHODS
These
methods
were
analyzed
from
the
target
customer
segment
(Chinese
tourist),
company
(small
travel
agency),
industry
application
(tourism),
tourism
product/experience
and
on
analysis
effort
dimensions
based
on
subjective
review.
Based
on
my
research,
it
seems
that
Role-­‐play
immersion,
Observation;
Shadowing
and
Day
in
a
life
method
offer
most
potential
for
the
travel
company,
when
they
want
to
design
new
travel
services
or
improve
existing
service.
Most
importantly,
they
don’t
require
a
heavy
up-­‐front
investment.
These
methods
can
be
used,
when
there
is
no
common
language
with
the
customer
and
they
don’t
require
deep
specialist
skills
in
order
to
use
them.
Some
training
will
be
required.
In
addition,
these
methods
produce
results
in
an
easily
‘digestible’
and
reportable
format.
Their
shortcoming
is
limited
geographical
scope
and
dependency
on
understanding
the
customer’s
language;
however,
as
most
communication
is
anyhow
non-­‐
verbal,
observational
methods
can
still
be
used.
18

19.
APPENDIX
1:
SERVICE
DESIGN
METHODS
ANALYSIS
TABLE
HOW
TO
READ
THE
TABLE:
Method
=
name
of
the
service
design
method
Variables
on
top
row
(low
cost,
specialist
skills
needed…)
=
analysis
dimensions
based
on
the
travel
company
requirements
Score
=
number
of
green
symbols
out
of
total
11
dimensions
analyzed
Green
symbol
means
that
this
method
meets
the
requirement
well
I
Yellow
symbol
means
that
this
method
somewhat
meets
the
requirement,
but
there
are
some
reservations
about
using
it
✗
Red
symbol
means
that
this
method
does
not
meet
the
requirements
as
specified
in
this
context
(travel
industry
and
company
specific
requirements)
19

20.
APPENDIX
2:
STEFAN
MORITZ
LIST
OF
TOOLS
AND
METHODS
DURING
SERVICE
DESIGN
UNDERSTANDING
PHASE
Benchmarking
Client
segmentation
Context
analysis
Contextual
interviews
Contextual
enquiry
Critical
incident
technique
Ecology
map
Ethnography
Experience
test
Expert
interviews
Focus
groups
Gap
analysis
Historical
analysis
Inconvenience
analysis
Interviews
Market
segmentation
Mystery
shoppers
Net
scouting
Observation
Probes
Reading
Service
status
Shadowing
Thinking
aloud
Trend
scouting
User
surveys
Five
Times
Why
Insight
matrix
Tested
and
tried
components
Inspirational
specialists
SOURCE:
Moritz,
Stefan,
Service
Design
–
Practical
Access
to
an
Evolving
Field,
London
2005,
p
126
20

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uusia
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uusia
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22.
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30,
2012
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this
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source:
Route
88
Oy
customer
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Mark
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First
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Amsterdam
2011,
128-­‐129
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Mark
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This
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design
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First
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Amsterdam
2011,
128-­‐129
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Stickdorn
Mark
and
Schneider
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This
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service
design
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First
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Amsterdam
2011,
129
22