Abstract
This paper explores the theme of the service desig¬ner as a cultural intermediary and presents a service design method, termed Trendslation, that assists in the translation of cultural phenomena into new service offerings and details. Taking a research through design approach, the method uses a triple-staged semantic transformation to support service designers in the design of more culturally sensitive services. The method is described and exemplified using the author’s explorative design work with major Norwegian service providers within the food and fashion sectors. The method’s utility is discussed, and shows that the method has relevance and can be a useful approach for service designers in utilizing cultural material as part of the design process. Further, the paper introduces the idea that cultural trends can be a source material for designing meaningful services. This supports the emerging view that service design can take a stronger cultural role in the future, that of a cultural intermediary.
Keywords
service innovation, cultural intermediary, semantic transformation, Trendslation method
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/servdes2018.23
Citation
Dennington, C.(2018) Trendslation – an experiential method for semantic translation in service design, in Anna Meroni, Ana María Ospina Medina, Beatrice Villari (eds.), ServDes 2018: Service Design Proof of Concept, 18–20 June, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/servdes2018.23
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Papers
Trendslation – an experiential method for semantic translation in service design
This paper explores the theme of the service desig¬ner as a cultural intermediary and presents a service design method, termed Trendslation, that assists in the translation of cultural phenomena into new service offerings and details. Taking a research through design approach, the method uses a triple-staged semantic transformation to support service designers in the design of more culturally sensitive services. The method is described and exemplified using the author’s explorative design work with major Norwegian service providers within the food and fashion sectors. The method’s utility is discussed, and shows that the method has relevance and can be a useful approach for service designers in utilizing cultural material as part of the design process. Further, the paper introduces the idea that cultural trends can be a source material for designing meaningful services. This supports the emerging view that service design can take a stronger cultural role in the future, that of a cultural intermediary.