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Thibault Dubois

Why service design?

Because Service design helps companies to create a strong competitive advantage and thus stay successful.

In a rapidly changing world, companies are forced to constantly adapt if they don't want to be disrupted. Here are the 3 main challenges that companies need to overcome:

  1. First, customers are more demanding than ever.

  2. Second, continuous innovation has gone from being a luxury to a necessity.

  3. And third, companies don't have the right organizational structure to support omnichannel customer journeys.

Read more

Why service design?

Because Service design helps companies to create a strong competitive advantage and thus stay successful.

In a rapidly changing world, companies are forced to constantly adapt if they don't want to be disrupted. Here are the 3 main challenges that companies need to overcome:

  1. First, customers are more demanding than ever.

  2. Second, continuous innovation has gone from being a luxury to a necessity.

  3. And third, companies don't have the right organizational structure to support omnichannel customer journeys.

Applying service Service Design Fundamentals and Techniques, will enable companies to address each of these challenges. Here's how:

  • By building a strong competitive advantage that’s hard to copy.

  • By focusing on solving the right problem and is very research based.

  • By improving collaboration and breaking down silos within organizations.

  • By offering a toolbox filled with techniques which facilitate quick, affordable and low risk innovations.

  • By taking a holistic approach and reviewing the entire customer experience.

  • And finally, by being flexible and offering a broad spectrum of applications.

This course is an introduction to service design and doesn't require any prior knowledge.

Who is this course for?

  • Recent graduates looking to start a position as a service designer, a business analyst, business consultant, product manager, product owner or even a UX designer.

  • Junior service designers wanting to strengthen their knowledge.

  • Senior service designers looking to brush up their skills.

  • All professionals who are actively doing service design in their field of expertise and wanting to formalize their way of working.

What else can I offer you?

You will have access to:

  • The slides of the course which you can use at your own convenience.

  • Fun assignments to make things more tangible.

  • Handouts and templates to help you in your day-to-day service design activities.

  • Access to an industry expert. In case you have questions feel free to contact me and I will do my absolute best to guide you.

What did others think?

“Content is authoritative, rigorous, comprehensive and accessible. The delivery is professional, well-paced and easy to listen too. The presentation is personable, learning is scaffolded with no cognitive overload.” – Will

“Interesting no nonsense course, well given. Fully meets expectations.” – Eva

Now it's your turn.

Do you want to improve the customer experience in a fail-safe way? Then this course has everything you need and more.  

Enroll now

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • 1. service design introduction - understand why service design is needed and how it helps businesses to survive and even thrive.
  • 2. service design core activities - get a holistic view on the 6 core activities that make up the service design methodology
  • 3. service design mindset - learn to think like a service designer by applying the 6 service design patterns
  • 4. personas - get a complete guide on how to create service design personas to represent your target customers
  • 5. prototypes - learn how to create high- and low fidelity user prototypes to validate your design assumptions.
  • 6. customer journey maps - learn how to improve the user experience of products and services through customer journey maps
  • 7. service blueprints - become a user experience architect using service design blueprints
  • 8. business design models - define a winning strategy for your product using business design modeling
  • 9. stakeholder management plan - define a stakeholder management plan to engage more efficiently with your stakeholders during service design engagements
  • 10. projects - apply your knowledge and skills in practical projects

Syllabus

In this section, you will have a good understanding of what service design is and why it is needed. Please find the course material in the resources of the first lecture.
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In this lecture, you will acquire a good understanding of what service design is through an illustration around the opening of a current account.

After this lecture, you will acquire an understanding of how market trends are forcing companies to review their current business models.

After this lecture, you will understand how service design can help companies in facing those challenges.

After this lecture, you will have a good idea of what service design is and what service design isn't.

After this lecture you will have a complete overview of the design lifecycle and how service design is positioned within that lifecycle.

In this lecture we will briefly summarize our learnings with some key takeaways.

After this lecture you will have a high-level overview of what the six service design patterns are.

After this lecture, you will have a strong knowledge base on the "diverge & converge" pattern.

After this lecture, you will have a strong knowledge base on the "solving the right problem" pattern.

After this lecture, you will have a strong knowledge base on the "adapt & iterate frequently" pattern.

After this lecture, you will have a strong knowledge base on the "quick & dirty methods" pattern.

After this lecture, you will have a strong knowledge base on the "collaboration is key" pattern.

After this lecture, you will have a strong knowledge base on the "practice over theory" pattern.

After this lecture, you will have a high-level overview of some of the most powerful tools in service design.

After this lecture, you will know what personas are and why there is a need for them.

After this lecture, you will know what the building blocks are of a persona.

After this lecture, you will know the four types of personas and their respective characteristics.

After this lecture, you will know how to create and deploy a persona in six easy to follow steps.

After this lecture, you will know what a prototype is and why they are needed.

After this lecture, you will know what the building blocks are of a prototype.

After this lecture, you will know what the characteristics are of a prototype.

After this lecture, you will know the pros and cons of high- and low fidelity level prototypes.

After this lecture, you will know what customer journey maps are and why they are needed.

After this lecture, you will know what the building blocks are of the customer journey map.

After this lecture, you will know what the main characteristics are of a customer journey map.

After this lecture, you will know what story mapping is and how it can contribute to creating realistic customer journey maps while following an agile framework.

After this lecture, you will know how to create your own story map step by step.

After this lecture, you will have a good idea of what service blueprints are and when to use them.

After this lecture, you will know what the 5 benefits are of using service blueprints in a product development context.

After this lecture, you will have a deep understanding of the building blocks that shape service blueprints.

After this lecture, you will have a good understanding on how to use BPMN in the context of service design blueprints.

After this lecture, you will have a good understanding of how to create your ow service blueprint in 6 easy to follow steps.

Congratulations on making it to the end of the course! Let's do a small wrap-up of the course. After that it's time for you to relax!

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Activities

Coming soon We're preparing activities for Service Design Masterclass - Key fundamentals & techniques. These are activities you can do either before, during, or after a course.

Career center

Learners who complete Service Design Masterclass - Key fundamentals & techniques will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Service Designer
As a Service Designer, you focus on creating coherent and seamless experiences across all touchpoints between a company and its customers. This involves understanding user needs, mapping complex processes, and envisioning future states that lead to satisfaction and competitive advantage. The Service Design Masterclass is tailored precisely for this career, helping you build a strong foundation in core activities like user research, prototyping, and customer journey mapping. By applying service design fundamentals and techniques, you learn to take a holistic approach to reviewing the entire customer experience, fostering collaboration, and breaking down organizational silos, which are crucial for success in this role.
Customer Experience Manager
A Customer Experience Manager oversees all interactions customers have with a company, aiming to optimize satisfaction and loyalty. This involves mapping customer journeys, identifying pain points, and implementing improvements across various touchpoints. The Service Design Masterclass is exceptionally relevant for a Customer Experience Manager, as its primary goal is to "improve the customer experience in a fail-safe way." You learn to take a holistic approach and review the entire customer experience, using tools like customer journey maps and service blueprints to strategically enhance interactions and build a strong competitive advantage that's hard to copy.
Product Manager
A Product Manager is responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition for a product or product line. This role demands a deep understanding of customer needs, market trends, and business objectives to drive innovation and deliver successful products. The Service Design Masterclass helps you define a winning strategy for your product using Business Design Modeling, a critical skill for any Product Manager. You learn to validate design assumptions through prototypes and improve user experience with customer journey maps, ensuring that your product development is research-based and focused on solving the right problems from the customer's perspective. An advanced degree, such as an MBA, is often beneficial for this role.
User Experience Designer
As a User Experience Designer, you focus on making products and services intuitive, enjoyable, and accessible for users. This involves extensive user research, creating wireframes and prototypes, and ensuring a smooth user flow. The Service Design Masterclass is highly aligned with the skills required for a User Experience Designer, teaching you how to create personas to represent target customers and how to craft high and low fidelity user prototypes. You also learn to improve the user experience through customer journey maps and to become a user experience architect using service design blueprints, providing a comprehensive toolkit for designing compelling user experiences.
Business Consultant
As a Business Consultant, you advise organizations on how to improve efficiency, solve problems, and achieve their strategic goals. This often includes recommending innovative solutions and guiding companies through significant changes. The Service Design Masterclass helps a Business Consultant by providing a comprehensive understanding of why service design is needed and how it helps businesses thrive in a rapidly changing world. You learn to take a holistic approach, define winning strategies through business design models, and implement effective stakeholder management plans, equipping you with the tools to guide companies in building a strong competitive advantage. A Master of Business Administration or related advanced degree is often expected for this profession.
Product Owner
A Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the development team. This involves clearly articulating product backlog items and prioritizing them based on customer and business needs. The Service Design Masterclass supports a Product Owner by emphasizing how to improve the user experience of products and services through customer journey maps and by teaching the creation of user prototypes to validate design assumptions. The course also includes an introduction to story mapping within an agile framework, which directly relates to a product owner's responsibilities in defining and delivering value.
Digital Product Designer
A Digital Product Designer focuses on the user interface and overall user experience of digital goods and services, ensuring they are both functional and visually appealing. This role blends creativity with an understanding of user psychology and technology. The Service Design Masterclass helps a Digital Product Designer by teaching how to create high and low fidelity user prototypes to validate design assumptions, a core part of digital product development. It also helps improve the user experience of products and services through customer journey maps and enables becoming a user experience architect using service design blueprints, providing a comprehensive view of service delivery for digital platforms.
Business Analyst
A Business Analyst works to improve processes, products, and services by identifying business needs and recommending solutions. This often involves gathering requirements, analyzing data, and facilitating communication between stakeholders. The Service Design Masterclass can help a Business Analyst in understanding how service design addresses challenges like demanding customers and the need for continuous innovation. The course teaches a research-based approach to problem-solving and the ability to define a winning strategy with Business Design Modeling, along with detailed stakeholder management planning. These skills are invaluable for analyzing existing systems and proposing customer-centric improvements.
User Researcher
A User Researcher investigates the behaviors, needs, and motivations of users to inform the design process. This role involves designing and conducting various research methods to gather insights and ensure products and services are user-centered. The Service Design Masterclass places a strong emphasis on user research as a core activity in the service design methodology. It trains you in creating service design personas to represent your target customers, ensuring that solutions are based on solving the right problem through a very research-based approach. This course helps you develop the foundational mindset and tools essential for a successful career as a User Researcher. A master's degree in Human Computer Interaction, Psychology, or related fields is common for this role.
Strategy Consultant
As a Strategy Consultant, you guide senior leadership on critical business issues, including market entry, competitive positioning, and long-term organizational growth. This role demands sharp analytical skills and the ability to craft compelling strategic recommendations. The Service Design Masterclass can significantly benefit a Strategy Consultant by helping to define a winning strategy for products using Business Design Modeling. It teaches how to understand market trends, tackle challenges like continuous innovation, and build a strong competitive advantage, alongside developing a stakeholder management plan. This holistic perspective and strategic toolkit are essential for formulating impactful business strategies. An MBA or master's in a related field is typically expected for this role.
Process Improvement Specialist
A Process Improvement Specialist analyzes existing workflows and systems to identify inefficiencies and implements changes to enhance productivity, quality, and effectiveness. This often involves mapping processes, identifying bottlenecks, and designing optimized solutions. The Service Design Masterclass can help a Process Improvement Specialist by offering a toolbox filled with techniques which facilitate quick, affordable, and low-risk innovations. Learning to use service blueprints provides a systematic way to map and analyze existing processes, allowing for improved collaboration and breaking down silos within organizations. This approach ensures a holistic review of the entire customer experience, leading to more impactful and customer-centric process improvements.
Innovation Manager
An Innovation Manager drives the development and implementation of new ideas, products, and processes within an organization to maintain competitiveness. This role requires a forward-thinking approach and the ability to facilitate creative problem-solving. The Service Design Masterclass directly supports an Innovation Manager by offering a toolbox filled with techniques which facilitate quick, affordable, and low-risk innovations. You learn service design patterns such as 'adapt and iterate frequently' and 'quick and dirty methods,' which are central to fostering continuous innovation. The course's focus on building a strong competitive advantage and solving the right problems is highly relevant for leading successful innovation initiatives. An MBA or related master's can be very advantageous.
Marketing Manager
A Marketing Manager develops and implements strategies to promote products or services, connecting with target audiences and driving customer engagement. This role requires understanding consumer behavior, market trends, and competitive landscapes. The Service Design Masterclass helps a Marketing Manager understand customer segments and value propositions through its Business Design Modeling section. It also teaches the creation of personas to represent target customers and the use of customer journey maps to understand customer experiences. These insights are instrumental in crafting effective marketing campaigns that resonate with customer demands and build a strong competitive advantage, thereby improving overall customer experience.
Operations Manager
An Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day functions of a business, ensuring efficiency, productivity, and smooth service delivery. This involves optimizing processes, managing resources, and improving internal collaboration. A Service Design Masterclass may be useful for an Operations Manager by providing a structured approach to addressing organizational challenges, such as adapting to demanding customers and supporting omnichannel customer journeys. The course helps in improving collaboration and breaking down silos within organizations, particularly through applying service blueprints which detail service processes. Understanding service design can lead to more efficient operations and enhanced competitive advantage. An MBA or master's in operations management is frequently sought.
Customer Success Manager
As a Customer Success Manager, you build and nurture relationships with customers to ensure they achieve their desired outcomes, fostering satisfaction, retention, and loyalty. This proactive role requires a deep understanding of customer needs and their journey with a product or service. A Service Design Masterclass may be helpful for a Customer Success Manager by teaching how to create personas to represent target customers, offering a clear understanding of who the customers are and what drives them. Additionally, learning how to improve the user experience of products and services through customer journey maps provides invaluable insight into customer touchpoints and potential pain points, enabling more effective support and engagement.

Reading list

We haven't picked any books for this reading list yet.
Practical guide to service design thinking, a human-centered approach to designing and improving services. It is written by two of the leading experts in the field and is packed with practical tips and exercises.
Practical guide to service design, covering everything from understanding user needs to designing and implementing new services. It is written by four experienced service designers and is packed with case studies and examples.
Beginner's guide to service design. It covers the basics of service design, including user research, service prototyping, and service implementation.
Provides a basic introduction to service design, covering the key concepts and methods. It is written by a leading service designer and is packed with practical advice and case studies.
Introduces the emerging field of service science, which seeks to develop a scientific understanding of services. It covers a wide range of topics, from service design to service measurement.
Introduces the concept of service design, arguing that it new approach to designing services that is more user-centered and holistic.
Provides a practical guide to customer experience design. It covers topics such as customer journey mapping, customer persona development, and customer experience measurement.
Provides a comprehensive guide to measuring, managing, and improving the customer experience. It covers topics such as customer journey mapping, customer feedback analysis, and customer experience metrics.
Provides a practical guide to building a customer-centric culture. It covers topics such as creating a customer-centric vision, empowering employees, and measuring customer satisfaction.
Focuses on the importance of making it easy for customers to do business with you. It provides practical advice on how to reduce customer effort and improve satisfaction.
Comprehensive guide to creating awesome customer experiences that drive loyalty and growth. It covers the entire customer journey, from first contact to post-purchase care.
Provides a framework for integrating strategy, process, and technology to improve the customer experience. It covers topics such as customer journey mapping, customer segmentation, and customer experience measurement.
Provides a guide to measuring and improving the customer experience. It covers topics such as customer lifetime value, customer churn, and customer satisfaction.
Provides a practical framework for mapping the customer journey. It helps you to identify and understand the key touchpoints in the customer journey and to develop strategies for improving the experience at each touchpoint.
Explores the role of emotions in UX design and provides practical advice on how to design for emotional connection and engagement. It covers topics such as understanding user emotions, creating emotional experiences, and measuring emotional impact.
This comprehensive guide to UX design covers the entire UX process, from research and planning to evaluation and iteration. It provides detailed guidelines and best practices for each stage of the process, making it a valuable resource for professionals at all levels.
This classic book by Steve Krug is considered a foundational text in UX design. It focuses on the importance of usability and provides practical guidance on how to create intuitive and user-friendly websites and applications.
Provides a broad overview of the field of user experience design, making it relevant for those new to UX or seeking a comprehensive understanding. It covers the fundamentals of UX, including research methods, prototyping, and usability testing, and is written in an accessible style that makes it suitable for non-technical audiences.

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