Problem-solving design-platform model based on the methodological distinctiveness of service design

This study explores the differentiated properties of service design in the context of the final value pursued by this methodology, avoiding the interpretation of pending issues to which service design is applied. First, the following were identified as the core properties of service design, differentiated from other design methodologies: “Design Thinking”, a creative problem-solving process; “User Experience Value”, the pursued goal; “Participatory Design”, a practical research methodology; and “Interaction between Users and Providers”, the core research scope of pending issues. Second, the study proposed a six-step service design process model based on the interrelationships between these properties. The “problem recognition” step identified a decline in the quality of user experiences and forms a self-awareness of dissatisfaction. Next, the “problem understanding” step conducts multidisciplinary cooperative research on dissatisfaction. Subsequently, the “problem deduction” step determines users’ unsatisfied desires through visualization of the core pending issues, and the “problem definition” step performs creative conception activities with problem-solving approaches for the unsatisfied desires. Further, the “problem-solving” step develops service design models, and finally, the “problem-solving strategy check” step confirms the utility of the models in a real-world application.