Service Design: How to Design Integrated Service Experiences
How This Course Will Help Your Career
What You Will Learn
What Service Design is, where it came from and how it compares to User Experience (UX) design and Customer Experience (CX) design
What a Service Design process looks like and how to use it to create great service experiences
How the scope of Service Design encompasses customer interactions as well as behind-the-scenes business operations, and multiple delivery channels
What the most useful Service Design methods and approaches are, how to do them and how to avoid the most common mistakes, all with the help of examples, explanatory videos, templates and step-by-step guides
How to transition your career from UX Design to Service Design
How to build a Service Design team and then increase its skills and maturity in your organization
How to tackle Service Design in an agile or lean organization
Services are everywhere! When you get a new passport, order a pizza or make a reservation on AirBnB, you're engaging with services. How those services are designed is crucial to whether they provide a pleasant experience or an exasperating one. The experience of a service is essential to its success or failure no matter if your goal is to gain and retain customers for your app or to design an efficient waiting system for a doctor’s office.
In a service design process, you use an in-depth understanding of the business and its customers to ensure that all the touchpoints of your service are perfect and, just as importantly, that your organization can deliver a great service experience every time. It’s not just about designing the customer interactions; you also need to design the entire ecosystem surrounding those interactions.
In this course, you’ll learn how to go through a robust service design process and which methods to use at each step along the way. You’ll also learn how to create a service design culture in your organization and set up a service design team. We’ll provide you with lots of case studies to learn from as well as interviews with top designers in the field. For each practical method, you’ll get downloadable templates that guide you on how to use the methods in your own work.
This course contains a series of practical exercises that build on one another to create a complete service design project. The exercises are optional, but you’ll get invaluable hands-on experience with the methods you encounter in this course if you complete them, because they will teach you to take your first steps as a service designer. What’s equally important is that you can use your work as a case study for your portfolio to showcase your abilities to future employers! A portfolio is essential if you want to step into or move ahead in a career in service design.
Your primary instructor in the course is Frank Spillers. Frank is CXO of award-winning design agency Experience Dynamics and a service design expert who has consulted with companies all over the world. Much of the written learning material also comes from John Zimmerman and Jodi Forlizzi, both Professors in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University and highly influential in establishing design research as we know it today.
You’ll earn a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you complete the course. You can highlight it on your resume, CV, LinkedIn profile or on your website.
Gain an Industry-Recognized UX Course Certificate
Use your industry-recognized Course Certificate on your resume, CV, LinkedIn profile or your website.
Our courses and Course Certificates are trusted by these industry leaders:
Is this course right for you?
This is an intermediate-level course for anyone who wants to learn to design services.
- UX designers, product designers and UX researchers who want to transition into the Service Design field or expand their toolbox with methods from Service Design.
- Product managers and project managers who want to enable their team to excel at service design.
- Entrepreneurs interested in offering great service experiences.
- CEOs, CTOs, COOs and CMOs who want to better position their organization within the market by putting more focus on how they design services.
- Anyone considering making the switch to a career in service design or interested in working with services in a more structured way.
Learn and work with a global community of designers
When you take part in this course, you’ll join a global community and work together to improve your skills and career opportunities. Connect with helpful peers and make friends with like-minded individuals as you push deeper into the exciting and booming industry of creativity and design. You will have the opportunity to share ideas, learn from your fellow course participants and enjoy the social aspects afforded by our open and friendly forum.
Lessons in This Course
- Each week, one lesson becomes available.
- There’s no time limit to finish a course. Lessons have no deadlines.
- Estimated learning time: 20 hours 58 mins spread over 6 weeks .
Lesson 0: Welcome and Introduction
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 1 hour 13 mins.
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0.1: Welcome and Introduction (15 mins)
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0.2: Build Your Portfolio: Service Design Project (6 mins)
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0.3: Let our community help you (1 min)
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0.4: How to Earn Your Course Certificate (16 mins)
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0.5: Expand your network and grow your skills in our online forums (5 mins)
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0.6: Meet and learn from design professionals in your area (1 min)
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0.7: Gain Timeless Knowledge Through Courses From the Interaction Design Foundation (21 mins)
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0.8: Mandatory vs. Optional Lesson Items (7 mins)
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0.9: A Mix Between Video-Based and Text-Based Lesson Content (6 mins)
Lesson 1: What is Service Design?
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 4 hours 32 mins.
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1.1: Welcome and Introduction (6 mins)
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1.2: What Service Design Is and Isn't (1 hour 7 mins)
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1.3: The History of Service Design (22 mins)
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1.4: Learn the Language of Service Design (31 mins)
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1.5: Keep These Goals in Mind to Create Successful Service Designs (23 mins)
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1.6: Understand the Service Design Process (21 mins)
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1.7: Comparing Service Design and UX Design (28 mins)
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1.8: How to Leverage Your UX Skills in Service Design (27 mins)
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1.9: The Business case for Service Design (27 mins)
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1.10: Discussion: Which Transferable Skills Do You Have? (7 mins)
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1.11: Congratulations and Recap (17 mins)
Lesson 2: How to Prepare Your Service Design Team
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 4 hours 8 mins.
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2.1: Welcome and Introduction (6 mins)
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2.2: How to Use the Business Model Canvas (48 mins)
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2.3: The 5 Whys: How to Identify Your Customers’ Pain Points (50 mins)
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2.4: Map the Value Proposition of Your Service Designs (28 mins)
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2.5: Exercise: Fill in Your Own Value Proposition Canvas (7 mins)
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2.6: Co-Creation and Company Culture are Important to Service Design (37 mins)
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2.7: How to Create and Facilitate Workshop Sessions for Service Design (35 mins)
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2.8: Learn How to Use the Best Ideation Methods: Brainstorming, Braindumping, Brainwriting, and Brainwalking (33 mins)
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2.9: Congratulations and Recap (9 mins)
Lesson 3: How to Build a Research Foundation for Your Service Design
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 3 hours 12 mins.
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3.1: Welcome and Introduction (6 mins)
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3.2: Essential Research Methods for Service Design (33 mins)
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3.3: Essential Research Methods for Service Design (42 mins)
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3.4: How to Create User Journeys for Services (19 mins)
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3.5: How to Use Role-Based Personas (25 mins)
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3.6: Plan a Service Safari to Improve Your Service Design (25 mins)
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3.7: Exercise: Supermarket Ethnography (11 mins)
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3.8: Build your Portfolio Project: Carry out User Research and Fill in the Value Proposition Canvas (15 mins)
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3.9: Congratulations and Recap (19 mins)
Lesson 4: How to Prototype for Service Design
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 4 hours 21 mins.
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4.1: Welcome and Introduction (6 mins)
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4.2: What Do You Prototype for Service Design? (29 mins)
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4.3: How to Create Customer Lifecycle Maps for Your Service Designs (25 mins)
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4.4: What Are Ecosystem Maps and How Can You Use Them in Your Service Designs? (22 mins)
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4.5: Optimize Your Service Design with Service Blueprints (44 mins)
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4.6: Make Your Service Design Tangible (1 hour 1 min)
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4.7: Test your Service Design with Service Staging (19 mins)
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4.8: Exercise: Fill in your own service blueprint (26 mins)
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4.9: Build your Portfolio Project: Map, Prototype and Test Your Service Design (19 mins)
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4.10: Congratulations and Recap (15 mins)
Lesson 5: How to Build Service Design Maturity
To be scheduled. Estimated time to complete: 3 hours 33 mins.
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5.1: Welcome and Introduction (6 mins)
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5.2: How to Build Service Design Maturity in Your Organization (31 mins)
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5.3: How to Evaluate Your Service Design (21 mins)
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5.4: How to Build an Organizational Culture That Supports Service Design (31 mins)
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5.5: How to Do Lean Service Design (58 mins)
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5.6: How to Engage Stakeholders in Your Service Design (27 mins)
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5.7: How to Measure the Performance of Your Service Design (29 mins)
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5.8: Discussion (7 mins)
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5.9: Congratulations and Recap (7 mins)
Lesson 6: Course Certificate, Final Networking, and Course Wrap-up
To be scheduled.
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6.1: Get Your Course Certificate (1 min)
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6.2: Course Evaluation (1 min)
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6.3: Continue Your Professional Growth (1 min)
How Others Have Benefited
Christine Were, Kenya
“The course gave real-world examples and on-the-job experience. It also explained how to use the templates. This was really amazing.”
Sandra Labastie, France
“I liked the technical aspect of that course. Also, the honesty of the teacher about how complex it is. It's clearer to me the differences between UX design and service design. Great course!”
Thamyres Mitidieri, United Kingdom
“I really liked the course. I feel more confident talking and working with service design. It was a great experience to consolidate our knowledge about service design and methods to use in our work life. The templates are useful and help us create a system to develop a project in service design. Thanks a lot, IxDF!”
How It Works
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Control your learning.
Lessons are self-paced so you’ll never be late for class or miss a deadline. Learning and life, hand in hand.
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Earn Course Certificates.
Your answers are graded by experts, not machines. Get an industry-recognized Course Certificate to show you’ve put in the work.
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Advance your career.
Grow your professional knowledge by watching Master Classes, networking within our UX community, and more.
Start Advancing Your Career Now
Join us to take “Service Design: How to Design Integrated Service Experiences”. Take other courses at no additional cost. Make a concrete step forward in your career path today.
Advance my career nowFrequently Asked Questions
When I finish a course, do I have to pay extra to get my certificate?
Can I take more than one course at a time?
With a Student membership, you can take a maximum of two courses at the same time. You can still take as many courses as you would like – free of extra charges – just as long as you finish or drop them so that you don’t have more than two ongoing courses.
I missed the enrollment, and now the course is closed. What can I do?
Don't worry if you missed the course. We will re-run it shortly. One of the reasons we continually open and close courses is in order to control the classroom size.
Networking is a large part of our value proposition, so we want just the right number of people inside the courses. That is also why we display the "XX % percent booked" on our course icons.
Do I have to be online at an exact time to study?
No. You can set your own study schedule. There are no "live sessions" since we have members from all timezones around the world. We are a truly global community.
Thus, once you are enrolled, you can take all the time to complete a given course. Every "classroom" in each course will never close, so you’ll have permanent access to your classmates and your course material (as well as your own answers).
Will I receive a Course Certificate?
Yes. You will get a digital industry-recognized course certificate every time you complete a course. Certificates never expire and can be saved as a .jpg file, so it's easy to be shared. Also, there is no limit to how many certificates you can earn during your membership.
You can see an example of a Course Certificate at the bottom of the Course Catalogue.
I have answered questions in a lesson; when will they be marked/graded?
I have updated my name, but my course certificate is not updated — how can I change it?
Don't worry; once you change your name, your certificate will be updated automatically in the next 48 hours.
I have started my course later than the specified date, are my answers still going to be marked?
Sure! We will be marking all your answers for as long as you are an active member.
How are courses graded?
For how long will I have access to the course materials?
You will have access to the course materials for the entire duration of your membership. So, if you pay for a one-year membership, you will have access for one year. Renewing your membership for a second year means you will have access to one more year, and so on.
New lessons are starting before I have completed the previous lesson(s). Am I going to be locked out of these unfinished lessons?
No, you will not be locked out of any lesson or course. You will have access to all course materials throughout your membership, so there is no pressure to keep at the same pace as the specified lesson release dates.
All we recommend is that you try to stick to the same schedule as other participants. The reason is they may have moved on to other lessons, thereby meaning you could miss out on the social aspects of the course(s).
Do I have a specific date to award my certificates?
No, you can generate your certificate as soon as you score at least 70% of the total course points.
When will I receive my Course Certificate?
Course certificates will be given to participants when they have scored more than 70% or more of the total course points. For example, if a course contains ten lessons each with ten questions, you will receive a course certificate when the instructor has awarded you at least 70 points (70% of the total course points).
There is no specified time that certificates will be awarded — instead, they are given to participants as and when they have answered all questions, even if this is long after the official end date.
How do I add my Certificate to my LinkedIn profile?
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to add your Interaction Design Foundation course(s) to your LinkedIn profile:
Log in to your LinkedIn account, then go to your profile.
Below your profile description, click on the button Add profile section, choose Recommended and then select Add license or certification.
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3. In the following fields add:
Name – Course name
Issuing organization – The Interaction Design Foundation
Check the field “This credential does not expire”
Issue date - Input the date written on your certificate (e.g., May 2021)
Credential ID – Your membership ID number – it's written on your certificate. (For non-members, you can leave this field blank or, if you prefer, insert the certificate ID, which can be extracted from the certificate link. This ID will begin with "mcc_" and be followed by a string of numbers and letters.")
Credential URL: Input the certificate URL provided on your course page
4. Click the Save button.
Congratulate yourself! Earning the certificate is a great accomplishment and now you can share it with the world!
How do I add the Interaction Design Foundation Membership Certificate to my LinkedIn Profile?
Below is a step-by-step guide on how to add your Interaction Design Foundation course(s) to your LinkedIn profile:
Log in to your LinkedIn account, then go to your profile.
Below your profile description, click on the button Add profile section, choose Recommended and then select Add license or certification.
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3. In the following fields add:
Name – Membership Certificate
Issuing organization – The Interaction Design Foundation
Check the field “This credential does not expire”
Issue date - Input the date when you joined our community (e.g., May 2019)
Credential ID – Your membership ID number (it's written on your certificate)
Credential URL: Input the certificate URL provided on your profile page
4. Click the Save button.
It is as simple as that. Now, anyone who visits your profile can see your certificate!
How much will I have to pay for the courses?
After you pay for your membership, you can take as many courses as you want with no additional costs. There are no further charges on top of the membership fee.
Do you provide mostly beginners' or more advanced courses?
How long does it take to complete a course?
You will need approximately 5-8 hours to complete one lesson. Each course has between 3 and 16 lessons.
Once enrolled in a course, you will gain access to a new lesson each week, which you are free to complete without any deadlines and no end date, either.
I scored less than 70% in a course, so I didn't qualify for a certificate. Can I try again?
Yes! Everyone's learning journey looks different, and we'd never stop our members from trying again. To retake a course, just follow these steps:
1. Go to your profile and click on the relevant course you'd like to retake.
2. Underneath your progress bar, you'll see a phrase "UX Courses" with an arrow (>) pointing to a clickable landing page of that course. Click on that link.
3. Once on the landing page, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. You'll see a red button, which you can simply click to drop the course.
4. Head back to our main list of UX Courses, and re-enroll yourself in the course. You'll all set to try again!
Please note that when you drop a course, you will lose any answers and progress you submitted. We advise that you screenshot or save any answers you'd like to reuse.
In some cases, we can open up lessons for members who are retaking a course, so that they don't have to wait for familiar lessons to unlock each week. If you'd like us to do this for you, please get in touch with our support team at hello@interaction-design.org, and we can help you out.
How do I drop a course?
To drop a course, the following should be done:
1. Visit your profile page and click the 'continue lesson...' button for the course you want to drop.
2. Click the course name link breadcrumb near the top of the page that opens (this only appears in unlocked lessons, not upcoming lessons)
3. Click the red 'drop my course now' button at the bottom of the page that opens
