Watch over my Parents, a "new service, in which customers pay for postal workers to check on their elderly relatives during morning rounds, has been hailed as a clever solution to the modern epidemic of loneliness... [It is] part of a new strategy for the French post office as it tries to find a joint... Continue Reading →
Amusing Offering: Lost Person’s Bench
Located near the entrance of the MacMillian Pier in Provincetown, MA - this bench's label provides more laughter and photo opportunities than actual functionality to passing tourists.Looking passed the comedy, however, this bench acts as a reminder to build in failsafes in preparation for common or drastic issues. Design Consideration:How might we avoid bad experiences... Continue Reading →
A New Model for the Design Thinking Process
(Note: This article's intended audience is mid-to-seasoned design practitioners. I will make a simpler post for new learners soon.) Why do we need models in the first place? As a designer, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been practicing for days or decades, it’s inevitable that you’ll be asked to explain what you do and how... Continue Reading →
Reaction: A Good Samaritan?
"Dear whomever finds this cup, may you please recycle me. Thankya so much.— a negligent neighbor" There was a recycling bin maybe 20-30 feet away, but I was so amused by the note that I took a photo and left the cup so other people could experience the same joy. While the note failed at... Continue Reading →
Amusing Offering: The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders
"All of our servers are people living with dementia. They may, or may not, get your order right. However, rest assured that even if your order is mistaken, everything on our menu is delicious and one of a kind. This, we guarantee."— from: https://kottke.org/19/08/the-restaurant-of-mistaken-orders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su34Gx-STQk "They expected mistakes, so [they] were ok with it."— Shiro... Continue Reading →
There is more to life than simply increasing its speed
(Originally published in February 2016) With today’s post, I hope to clear up a common presumption in the relationship between experiences and efficiency. In many situations, people tend to think that the ideal experience is synonymous with the most efficient experience. For instance, think about the last time you were locked out of your house,... Continue Reading →
Experiences aren’t Quantities
(Originally published in September 2015) “A fundamental problem in business is that business tools are nearly completely quantitative. . . The qualitative is almost ignored completely or nonexistent in any kind of organization’s decision-making process — but it’s always driving customer decisions.”— Nathan Shedroff, Chair of the MBA in Design Strategy at CCA To improve the depth of understanding... Continue Reading →
How do you know when you’re successful?
This blog post (originally published in April 2015) is the first of two parts about alternative metrics. “What you measure affects what you do. If you don’t measure the right thing, you don’t do the right thing.”— Nobel Prize Winning Economist, Joseph Stiglitz Part 1 — The Shortcomings of Traditional Metrics When gauging the value and success... Continue Reading →
Amusing Offering: Tesla “Dog Mode”
Service Dominant Logic (SDL) might say that Tesla now provides short-term pet watching services. Design Consideration:Using the tools, technologies, and resources already available, how might we expand our offerings by meeting additional needs?
Amusing Offering: Scapegoat Employees
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/98f5lf/til_of_professional_fired_men_that_were_used_as/ “Well, you see it’s this way, Tom happens to be the store’s professional fired man. There isn’t an hour goes by but some disgruntled customer comes in with a complaint about some error and demands that the person who is responsible for the error be reprimanded. That’s where Tom comes in. He is sent... Continue Reading →
Amusing Offering: Choose-your-own Uber Experience
Sometimes it is hard to navigate the boundaries between social norms and service culture. What is allowed? What is correct? What is repugnant? A sense of humor usually helps. Design Considerations:• How might we improve a service by providing experiential options?• How might we improve experiences by humanizing the relationship between service providers and recipients?•... Continue Reading →
Interesting Service Characteristics
(Originally published in November 2014) As stated in an earlier post, a service is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “the action of helping or doing work for someone.” By breaking this definition down, we see a service is comprised of three things: an intangible good (the outcome of the action), a provider, and a... Continue Reading →