Service Design Process and Methods (5 cr)

Learning outcomes

The students is be able to:
- explain the principles of service design
- apply service design process into practice
- use service design methods and tools
- develop the facilitation skills required in service design

Materials

Books, dissertations and articles on service design, for example:
Buxton, B. 2007. Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design.
Goodwin, K. 2009. Designing for the Digital Age : how to create human-centered products and service. Indianapolis: Wiley.
Gray, D. et al. 2010. Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers.
Greenberg, S. et al. 2012. Sketching User Experiences: The Workbook. Burlington Morgan Kaufmann.
Kaner, S., Lind, L., Toldi, C., Fisk, S. & Berger, D.2014. Facilitator's guide to participatory decision-making. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, cop. 2014.
Meroni, A. & Sangiorgi, D. (ed.) 2011. Design for Services. Burlington, VT: Gower.
Miettinen, S. & Valtonen, A. (ed.) 2012. Service Design with Theory. Lapland University Press.
Moritz, S. 2005. Service Design, Practical Access to Evolving Field, Köln International School of Design.
Polaine, A., Loevlie, L. and Reason, B. 2013. Service Design – From insight to implementation, Rosenfeld Media, Brooklyn NY.
Reason, B.; Løvlie, L.; Flu, M.B. 2016. Service design for business: a practical guide to optimizing the customer experience.
Schneider, J. & Stickdorn, M. (ed.) This is Service Design Thinking: basics - tools – cases (2010). Amsterdam: BIS Publishers.
Stickdorn, M.; Lawrence, A.; Hormess, M.E.; Schneider, J. 2018. This is service design doing: applying service design thinking in the real world: a practitioner's handbook. First Edition. O'Reilly Media, Inc.

The complete literature list will be provided in canvas. See also https://libguides.laurea.fi/SID

Teaching methods

Blended learning implementation:

A Canvas learning environment is used to support the implementation. The study unit includes scheduled teaching (3 workshop days) on campus and online guidance. They are not recorded. The study unit includes working individually and in pairs/groups. You will receive feedback for assignments from the teachers, and peer feedback may also be utilised.

The study unit consists of an orientation task (individual task), a 3-day interactive workshop and a course assignment. The course assignment can be either a practical service design project (this can be done in pairs or in a small group) or a literature-based report with a plan to apply service design approach in your thesis.

Employer connections

The course assignment can be done for an organisation that is chosen by the student.

Exam schedules

Participation to the 3-day interactive workshop at Laurea Leppävaara campus in mandatory.

Based on the degree regulations (2024), the student accepted for the implementation is required to confirm his/her participation by showing activity at the start of the study in the following way:

In accordance with the degree regulations (2024), those who have been accepted for the study unit must confirm their participation by doing a pre-assignment according to a given deadline. If the student does not confirm participation by acting in this way, their registration for the implementation will be rejected and another student can be taken in his place.

International connections

International student group and instructor.

Completion alternatives

According to the degree regulations (2024), "Students are entitled to apply for recognition of prior learning regardless of where, when and how the competence has been acquired. ... At Laurea, there are two different procedures for the recognition and accreditation of prior learning: a) accreditation of prior learning (competence acquired in higher education studies at another institution) and b) demonstration of competence (competence acquired in other ways). The recognition and accreditation of prior learning is initiated by the student themselves. The student is responsible for demonstrating and verifying their competence. The student is entitled to guidance for the recognition and accreditation of their competence." Further information in the student intranet.

You may also assess work-based learning as a way to acquire the competence needed. Read more in the student intranet.

Student workload

Workload of the study is measured in a way that to acquire the goal competence of the study, one credit corresponds to an average of 26.7 hours of work done by the student. The actual time needed varies e.g. according to prior competence.

Orientation task
Contact sessions
Reading the literature for the coursework
Doing the coursework and writing a report/making a video

Content scheduling

Service design process and methods study unit combines nicely the theories and practice of service design. The content is modified based on the students’ prior knowledge and skills and their feedback. During the workshop days many topics are covered, such as service design principles, service design process models, methods and tools, facilitation and how to scale service design. Students can extend their service design competences according to their learning objectives by selecting a more practical or theoretical assignment.

Evaluation scale

H-5

Further information

The study unit corresponds to the requirements of Master's level education.

The prerequisite for participation is always that the possible competence prerequisites according to the curriculum (previous study or similar competence) are fulfilled. The student is responsible for taking into account the prerequisite conditions.

The quality of the study unit implementation has been assessed and the self-evaluation report is available for example in Canvas or Teams.