Abstract
This paper reports on a case study where a service design approach was implemented to develop strategies for scaling-up a social enterprise, building on design as a meaning-making and framing practice. Context deconstruction methods drawn from semiotics and cultural studies were introduced during user research. These methods facilitated exploration of global and local sociocultural trends, mapping business category themes and competing offers, and identifying potential user groups’ cultural codes – i.e. expectations, aspirations and socio-symbolic aspects of consumption that influence users’ value perception. Subsequently, insights translated into strategies and guidelines for reframing the service value proposition and touchpoints to appeal to a wider potential user range. Results indicate that widening exploration from a user- to a context-centred approach enhances designers’ strategic skills, building stronger capability to observe and interpret sociocultural needs and attitudes. In turn, this highlights the central role of the service designer in leveraging the acceptance and diffusion of innovations.
Keywords
service design, scaling, meaning-making, context, cultural codes, semiotics
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/servdes2018.29
Citation
Santamaria, L., Escobar-Tello, C.,and Ross, T.(2018) Navigating the sociocultural landscape 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/servdes2018.29
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Research Papers
Navigating the sociocultural landscape in service design
This paper reports on a case study where a service design approach was implemented to develop strategies for scaling-up a social enterprise, building on design as a meaning-making and framing practice. Context deconstruction methods drawn from semiotics and cultural studies were introduced during user research. These methods facilitated exploration of global and local sociocultural trends, mapping business category themes and competing offers, and identifying potential user groups’ cultural codes – i.e. expectations, aspirations and socio-symbolic aspects of consumption that influence users’ value perception. Subsequently, insights translated into strategies and guidelines for reframing the service value proposition and touchpoints to appeal to a wider potential user range. Results indicate that widening exploration from a user- to a context-centred approach enhances designers’ strategic skills, building stronger capability to observe and interpret sociocultural needs and attitudes. In turn, this highlights the central role of the service designer in leveraging the acceptance and diffusion of innovations.