Service design vs Service Development

Understanding the differences between service design and service development

There is a difference between service design and service development. Although we commonly use this concept interchangeably, the main difference between the two areas is where you need to focus.

First, in the case of service development, which is similar to product development, we focus on generating results for the purpose of generating ideas based on a standardized process. Therefore, the ultimate goal is to solve the problems and improve services. However, the purpose of service design starts with the bigger picture. This is because the main goal of service design is to visualize invisible problems, not the process of finding solutions to solvable problems. Therefore, it has a broader purpose than service development, and there are many cases where it is used to solve social problems rather than product and service development.

Considering these characteristics, the service methodology of service development for the purpose of developing ideas can be used as an appropriate educational method for beginners who are new to the service design field. Afterwards, it can be more effective if you focus on user analysis and train professional service design for the purpose of finding problems.

Service development

  • Similar to product design
  • We need a solution to the problem. The results are better services.
  • For beginner, we look into touchpoint and fixing pain points.

Service Design

  • Similar to Experience Design
  • For advanced service design, we look into a bigger picture.
  • The result could be diagnosis of the problem, rather than solutions.