the blog for experience innovators

Service Design

a pink and orange cloud merging and visualizing wants and needs

December 29, 2023

The difference between customer ‘wants’ vs ‘needs’ – from a service design perspective

In the realm of service design, understanding the difference between what customers ‘want’ versus what they truly ‘need’ is crucial for creating exceptional customer experiences. While these terms may seem interchangeable, they carry distinct meanings that can significantly impact the success of a service. This article will delve into the disparity between wants and needs, uncovering the implications for service design and how businesses can effectively cater to both aspects. So, let's explore this fascinating topic in greater detail.

Katharina Rainer

a person carrying a suitcase upstairs in a hotel

December 26, 2023

The Most Important Service Standards for Service Excellence

In today's competitive business landscape, providing exceptional service is no longer a choice; it's a necessity. Customers have more options than ever before, and their expectations are higher than ever. To stay ahead of the competition, businesses must prioritize service excellence and ensure they meet the most important service standards. In this article, we will explore the key service standards that every business should know to deliver exceptional customer experiences and drive customer loyalty.

Isabel Grillmayr

sparkling blue DNA string on dark background

November 7, 2023

The biology of collaboration: a human-centered perspective on process management

Bad collaboration does not only hurt employee satisfaction, but also the organization’s success. Process models however fail at preventing this because they lack an essential aspect: the actual adoption – the human aspect. In this article, we show how journey mapping can help organizations to better understand and manage collaboration beyond theoretical intents.

Katharina Rainer

two people standing in front of a paper workshop journey map

October 17, 2023

A guide to design thinking workshops

Design thinking workshops are a powerful tool for fostering a team's creativity, problem-solving, and customer-centric solutions. In this article, we will explore the essence of design thinking workshops and their role in driving innovation. We'll also provide insights on how to organize and optimize these workshops for maximum impact.

Isabel Grillmayr

Lou standing on a stage and speaking to an audience. Dark background.

September 5, 2023

Designers as the voice of the most excluded people: an interview with Lou Downe

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: Designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a renowned CX expert share some of their background, their learnings, and a few insights into their work: please meet Lou Downe!

Katharina Rainer

Two women speaking with each other, smiling across the cashdesk in a salon

August 1, 2023

The basics of customer experience management: all you need to know

Customer experience management is a strategic approach that focuses on creating exceptional product/service experiences for customers. It involves understanding and meeting customer expectations, addressing their needs, and fostering long-term loyalty. By consciously managing the customer experience, organizations can build strong relationships with their customers and differentiate themselves from competitors. In this article, you learn everything about customer experience management and how to get started.

Isabel Grillmayr

Adam explaining something to workshop participants. A wall with sticky notes and other artefacts is visible in the background.

April 25, 2023

The power of theater in design: an interview with Adam Lawrence

Professionals working in the field of experience management represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a leading figure of the global service design community share some of his background, his knowledge, and a few insights into his work: please meet Adam Lawrence!

Katharina Rainer

A woman testing out virtual reality goggles in an office environment.

March 28, 2023

We don’t innovate products or services – we innovate how they are delivered

People often talk in general terms about “products and services” in reference to what they offer their customers. In this short article we suggest that this distinction is incorrect, and even harmful to the ability to innovate how services are delivered.

Cambrian Berry

A group of women smiling in the camera, in the background there is a bridge.

February 28, 2023

Seeding service design: an interview with Birgit Mager

Professionals working in the field of experience management represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have one of the most crucial community members share some of her background, her knowledge, and a few insights into her work: please meet Birgit Mager!

Katharina Rainer

A modern building with lots of greenery in front of a blue sky.

February 1, 2023

Designing for sustainability: challenges and opportunities

Each year a growing number of companies and consumers take into account the massive impact the production of consumer goods and the range of services have on the environment. Designing for sustainability is becoming increasingly important in today's world, as we face growing concerns over climate change and the depletion of natural resources. In this article, we discuss challenges, opportunities, and a best practice example.

Isabel Grillmayr

the melted gondola, piece of art placed in Aspen to point towards climate change

January 17, 2023

Planet-centered design: how service design can help combat global warming

As the world is warming, discussions about how to reverse it are also heating up. World leaders recently met at the COP27 to hammer out the requirements, actions, and measures that need to be taken to tackle global warming. One thing is clear, global warming is an issue that can no longer be ignored, and requires global action. Individuals, families, communities, organizations, businesses, governments, and yes, service designers must change their behavior to a more sustainable mindset.

Paul Cook

Patricia Stark writing on a sticky note on the wall.

December 15, 2022

Co-creating our future: an interview with Patricia Stark

Professionals working in the field of experience innovation represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a truly inspiring CX expert share some of her background, her learnings, and a few insights into her work: please meet Patricia Stark!

Katharina Rainer

Adam standing in front of a board with sketch notes

December 1, 2022

Designing rituals: an interview with Adam Cochrane

Professionals working in the experience design field represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a service designer working in the field of financial services share some of his work and his background: please meet Adam Cochrane!

Katharina Rainer

November 15, 2022

Trauma-responsive design: an interview with Rachael Dietkus

Professionals working in the experience design field represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a design strategist from the fields of social work and mental health share some of her background, her learnings, and a few insights into her work: please meet Rachael Dietkus!

Katharina Rainer

photo of a young female doctor doing eye surgery

November 2, 2022

11 impressive examples of how to design healthcare experiences

We collected a few great practice examples from all over the world to demonstrate that sometimes it doesn’t take much effort to ease difficult situations – it just takes empathy and the knowledge of pain points.

Isabel Grillmayr

A group of people standing around a bar and smiling into the camera.

October 25, 2022

Understanding gender to design tourism services: an interview with Sylvia Prunthaller

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a truly inspiring CX expert share some of her background, her learnings, and a few insights into her work: please meet Sylvia Prunthaller!

Katharina Rainer

print of a table and a graph next to a notebook

October 18, 2022

11 good reasons to fight for your customer experience budget in times of recession

In economically stable times, we try to design customer experiences (CX) that make us stand out from the competition and that ideally make our customers loyal and share their experiences with others. In other words: we try to get rid of experience debt and create products and services that meet customers’ expectations. However, we tend to forget a crucial element of any good relationship: the promises we give need to be valid in good and in bad times.

Michael Steingress

Marc standing on a stage with people watching him and a presentation with a white slide in the background, that says: "Disclaimer, I don't know anything about the future"

October 4, 2022

Working towards clear goals: an interview with Marc Fonteijn

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: Designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a truly inspiring CX expert share some of his background, his learnings, and a few insights into his work: please meet Marc Fonteijn!

Katharina Rainer

August 31, 2022

10 things you only know if you work in service design

Working in the field of service design takes patience and dedication. It does not matter in what phase of the innovation process you are – you’re probably familiar with the following ten situations.

Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai

colorful wall with sign: "accessible entry"

June 21, 2022

38 examples of how to design for diversity, inclusion and accessibility

Users of products and services are diverse; they have different needs, abilities, interests, and desires. As service designers / CX managers we must consider diversity, and design for it. But how can we make products and services inclusive and accessible to everyone? We collected a few best practice examples from all over the world to show: Sometimes it doesn’t take much to design for diversity.

Isabel Grillmayr

Cambrian Berry in front of a workshop wall

May 31, 2022

Catalyzing innovation: an interview with Cambrian Berry

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: Designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a truly inspiring CX expert share some of his background, his learnings, and a few insights into his work: please meet Cambrian Berry!

Katharina Rainer

Shoes and handbags displayed in a nice store.

May 25, 2022

7 products and services that improve experiences in shopping and retail

In some cases, small changes and improvements make a big difference for customers when consuming a product or service. In the following examples you get an idea of how service design could improve shopping and retail experiences. Enjoy!

Isabel Grillmayr

May 17, 2022

Everything is connected: an interview with Christof Zürn

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: Designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a renowned CX expert share some of his background, knowledge, and a few insights into his work: please meet Christof Zürn!

Katharina Rainer

Visualization of a journey map showing multiple channels

May 11, 2022

Ask Marc – about managing CX across online and offline channels

In this webinar, we talked about how to manage customer experience across online and offline channels. The main question was what the challenge of omnichannel customer experience management is. Furthermore, we looked into the details of how you can research experiences beyond digital analytics. Also we will look into why qualitative data is so important and how you can manage experiences if they happen out of your reach.

Marc Stickdorn

Gerry Scullion talking with a group of people.

May 3, 2022

Service designers as facilitators of conversations: an interview with Gerry Scullion

Professionals working in the experience innovation field represent an array of skills and knowledge: Designers and managers, researchers and engineers, data-driven and creative folks, CX, UX, EX… the profession has many faces. We are thrilled to have a renowned CX expert share some of his background, his learnings, and a few insights into his work: please meet Gerry Scullion!

Katharina Rainer

A photo of houses on the hillside with colorful facades

April 26, 2022

8 products and services that improve customer experience in architecture, interior, and building

In the following images, you can see some extraordinary experiences in the field of architecture, interior design, and building that might be helpful and convenient –or, in some cases, even life-saving. The examples range from easier evacuation in case of emergency, over clever space-saving hacks in hotel rooms, to a practical and fancy-looking way of storing skateboards in schools.

Isabel Grillmayr

laptop with lettering about designing simple experiences

April 12, 2022

15 inspiring service design quotes for a customer-centric mindset

What is service design? One question, many potential responses. In the end, there is no such thing as the one and only answer to it. It’s a mindset, a way of working and thinking, something you have to experience and embrace. We’ve collected a few voices that instantiate the spirit of service design.

Isabel Grillmayr

Notebook with sticky notes and a pen. One note says: Design a feedback form.

April 5, 2022

5 Principles of service design to make your CX project a success (oops, actually it’s 6!)

We all know about the power of customer experience. When it comes to improving the experience of a service or product, basing the innovation project on service design principles may be fundamental to achieving your goals consistently.

Juan Alves

a man standing next to a road with headphones, waiting for the bus and listening to something

March 29, 2022

The 30 best podcasts about customer experience, service design, design thinking, human-centered design, UX/UI…

Working on customer experience needs expertise in diverse fields: service design, architecture, UX/UI design, business and management, ... just to name a few. Therefore, it can be hard to find the right podcast for yourself. We’ve collected a few of them for you to learn more about the CX focus area of your choice, and listed them with the publisher's description.

Katharina Rainer

a bike standing in a room with art in the background

February 22, 2022

10 surprising examples of customer experience innovation from traffic and transportation

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a product or service come with a better customer experience. Here are some examples where (service) designers, based on the pain points they found and after some out-of-the-box thinking, further developed services that sometimes even go beyond the initial purpose.

Isabel Grillmayr

two smiling faces (Marc Stickdorn and Nicole Broeckling)

December 16, 2021

Ask Marc – becoming a human-centered organization

In this webinar, we talked about how to become a human-centered organization: What's the first step that you can take? What are challenges that you are likely to face? What are chances for first success moments? And who do you need to involve in the process?

Marc Stickdorn

December 1, 2021

20 design thinking books to learn from and get inspired

We want books that are eye-opening; that show us the great work and initiatives of other people who care about making the world a better place; that inspire us to embrace, or even initiate change. And definitely books that remind us of our self-efficacy; that show us we can become more hands-on, become part of change processes.

Zsofia Szatmari-Margitai

loose puzzle pieces that indicate a challenge

November 24, 2021

Top 10 customer experience challenges and how to overcome them

Organizations are often not alone with the customer experience challenges they face and they grapple with rapidly changing contexts. How an organization faces these can determine whether it succeeds, or fails as it engages with its customers. So, within these conditions, what options do we have? In this article we will explore ten of the most pressing CX challenges being faced by businesses in 2023 and how to overcome them.

Cambrian Berry

The lobby and waiting room of a hospital that looks very welcoming.

November 12, 2021

Social impact through service design: case studies from health and wellbeing

Three inspiring service design case studies that showcase people creating positive change.

Cambrian Berry

August 31, 2021

Case Study with Deutsche Telekom: how a customer-centred strategy can help drive innovation

Deutsche Telekom has been one of the earliest customers of Smaply. Now they share their experience with embracing journey mapping as a company.

Cambrian Berry

Laptop with text: I design and develop experiences that make people's lives simple.

June 17, 2021

Service design implementation (Guide part 4)

When it comes to implementing service design, the first step many organizations take is often to run training programs for their team. Even though such workshop-style training is great to raise awareness of the topic and give a good overview of different tools and methods, it often remains hard for participants to apply the learnings in their day-to-day work. In this article, we will share some lessons learned on how to successfully bring service design into an organization so that it can be used to supplement and enhance existing ways of working.

Antonia Cramer

A wooden table with a keyboard, a mouse, a phone, pens and other tools to work.

May 27, 2021

16 Customer Experience Tools for mapping, management, and researching CX

The number of customer experience tools out there is overwhelming. For people who are new to the field can be hard to gain an overview of which of them are useful for their work. In this article we will explore the potential of tools in the context of CX, what are some of the benefits of using digital tools, and finally we will conclude by taking a look at some specific tools from all phases, from research to customer experience management tools.

Cambrian Berry

A woman working with a laptop, a cup of tea and a college block next to her.

May 19, 2021

What are service design tools? (Guide part 3)

When talking about service design tools, many people think of a customer journey map hanging on a wall and people pointing at sticky notes. In this article, we dive into the subject of service design tools and templates, what they are, and how they can be implemented during the different phases of a design process.

Antonia Cramer

a group of people working together on a UX project

May 12, 2021

The service design process (Guide part 2)

Service design always follows an iterative design process, meaning that it follows cycles of learning, prototyping and improvement. Similar to design in general, service design is constantly evolving and improving. In this article, we explain the key components of a service design process and offer a framework for creating your own.

Antonia Cramer

a bunch of colorful sticky notes with a pen on top

April 29, 2021

The basics of service design (Guide part 1)

Service design, or design thinking, is often linked with terms such as innovation (process), change, and improvement. But what exactly is it? And why is it important? In this article, we will explore some of the principles of service design, as well as the positive impacts it can have on your customers’ lives and the performance of your business. Learn more about the principles of service design and the impact it can have on your business.

Antonia Cramer

vendor passing bread to buyer in a bakery

April 13, 2021

Practical service design approaches that help us build relationships with our stakeholders

The field of service design has emerged from a growing need for organizations to reconnect and re-establish closer relationships with their customers, staff members and other essential stakeholders. Through better relationships and a renewed sense of clarity for customer experience, many organizations have realized the potential that service design approaches offer for improving their ability to innovate, generating service value as well as improving the lives of the people they are trying to help. In this article, we will explore three vital relationship values, namely, communication, adaptability and support. We will also explore on a practical level how we can use service design tools in ways that bring these values to life in our organization to improve and strengthen our relationships.

Cambrian Berry

many hands, each holding a lego play figure

March 25, 2021

Three essential relationships that help us deliver great services

Relationships are the invisible forces that bind our customers, employees, and other stakeholders together. By taking the time to understand the challenges and needs faced by each of these groups, we are much better placed to develop services that will each deliver towards their desired outcomes.

Cambrian Berry

visualization of three different types of workshop groups on grey background

February 18, 2021

Ask Marc – about service design workshops

In this session, we talked about service design workshops: how to run a successful service design workshop? What are the upsides and downsides of in-person workshops and digital workshops? And how to connect the two worlds together?

Marc Stickdorn

emotional journey of three personas on grey background

February 16, 2021

Ask Marc – measuring service design impact

How do you know if your service design project has been successful? How do you prove if your changes and improvements had impact? How can you use numbers to convince others of the effect of prior service design activities so you get budget for the next ones? In this session, we'll talk about measuring service design, the horrible experiences NPS and driver analysis can cause, and the importance of impact controlling.

Marc Stickdorn

December 22, 2020

Ask Marc – about methodology silos

People call ‘it’ service design, design thinking, (holistic) ux design, experience design, to name just a few. Sometimes, organizations even have different teams under these labels – although they actually do the same stuff. On the other side, what some organizations call ‘service design’ might be completely different to what others call ‘service design’. Language matters. And the labels we use, often end up in methodology silos.

Marc Stickdorn

photo of a sign that warns about the wet floor and danger of slipping

December 3, 2020

Reducing harm through service design - how we can positively shape our future

Creating a better world means both improving the way in which we deliver services now, while also improving the outcomes that result from our services in the future. Taking an ethical look at our service delivery, how can we continue to improve the ways in which we influence individuals, communities, and the systems that support life on our planet?

Cambrian Berry

4 people standing in front of a brick wall, smiling into the camera.

May 29, 2019

Best practice report: how service design methods helped HR managers focus on their employees’ needs

The Federal Association of Personnel Managers together with hkp/// group launched an initiative to introduce design thinking into HR departments throughout Germany, independent of the company size or industry. Participants learned how to apply service design methods to HR to boost their employee experience and increase employee loyalty towards the company.

Katharina Rainer

Marc Stickdorn smiling into the camera, a laptop and a microphone

March 6, 2019

Podcast: Tools and ways on how to implement service design in large organizations

In this podcast, our co-founder and CEO Marc Stickdorn shares his experience on how to successfully bring service design to large organizations.

Marc Stickdorn

July 24, 2018

Podcast: embedding service design in an organization

Service design as a much discussed topic offers many possibilities and room for innovation when successfully embedded in an organization.

Marc Stickdorn

March 3, 2016

Traditional marketing vs. service design

There are products which are well considered and seem to have the right price but still are not as popular as they should be. Reasons can be dissatisfying circumstances such as bad suitability or even a screwy image delivery. Service design incorporates customer’s point of view to reach optimal customer’s satisfaction by spending little money.

Katharina Rainer