Service design is the very moment you are facing me.
normalstory_Chanwoo Byun
Service design is the very moment you are facing me... ?
It is a very attractive phrase. But unfortunately, the definition needs to change.
Service design is not simply a point in time or a touch point, nor a specific place,
but rather, starting from that past moment when our ties with you began, (at least in the heart — emotion) across the various places we share,
it encompasses the fluid virtual and physical forms that include the attitude and the movement of values of me (the service provider) toward the other person —
that whole ambiguous space put together.
Right. What on earth am I talking about? It is too vague. Let me try to organize my thoughts with an example.
Was our encounter a coincidence?
Did you come here through some internet surfing? By following a link? Or did you receive a business card I handed out somewhere?
Or have you worked with me on a project before? Or did I apply to you for a job?
Was our encounter fate?
Was our fateful meeting a coincidence? Was it the result of all the efforts I made to bring you — an unspecified stranger — here?
Or did we simply meet as a friend of a friend?
Or could it be that you were once a regular at the cafe I used to run, someone who drank coffee or had clothes fitted,
and so we ended up meeting here like this?
In our daily lives, we produce and consume countless services.
(Bus drivers, cafes, drinking milk at a convenience store, giving an allowance to our father, and so on.)
First, let me take as an example the job interview that almost everyone goes through.
In fact, a job interview in everyday life is also a situation where the applicant and the recruiter treat each other as customers and provide services to one another.
Do you agree?
How are they serving each other?
Touch point A)
Not this moment, but for some day down the road
(1) Hong Gil-dong barely has time to sleep with just his company work.
Even so, on top of that stress and the regular workload, he keeps
searching for the ideal projects he dreams of and for people who chase
similar ideals, and builds small dreams with them one by one.
(2) Team lead Oolala does not need anyone right now, but he is already thinking
about the project that comes after this busy one. In between a tight schedule,
he searches Job Korea and Incruit, attends various conferences, and keeps his
antenna up for young, ambitious talent.
Touch point B)
Taking a little time this morning, or staying up late last night, each prepares a service for the other in advance.
(1) Team lead Oolala reads Hong Gil-dong's resume in advance and carefully checks his blog and portfolio.
(2) Hong Gil-dong looks up information about the company from a few days earlier and lays out the clothes he will wear for the interview.
Touch point C)
Hong Gil-dong is in the middle of the interview. He keeps a careful, steady voice as he speaks to the other person.
(1) Hong Gil-dong calls in advance in the morning and goes to meet him.
(2) Team lead Oolala, for Hong Gil-dong who came from afar, serves iced coffee-mix with some ice cubes.
(... some time later, or much later,)
Touch point D) Hong Gil-dong was rejected from this interview.
The reason: they thought he was a job hopper. They said he lacked sincerity.
Should I be pessimistic about it? Should I regret it?
No. Absolutely not. I do not have to bend myself to the hasty perspective of people who judge solely by their own yardstick and outcome, who read a few lines and reduce countless possibilities to a single risk factor. Perhaps, unconsciously, I have been syncing myself with their viewpoint, and because of that I kept making the wrong choices. I will try to be more careful, to keep my own independent thinking, yet remain humble.
Also, sincerity does not come out in a single instant. More importantly, that sincerity should be for myself, independent of whether others judge it or not. It is enough if I am continuously not ashamed before myself. Chewing over thoughts like these, I tell myself again that today, too, was a precious experience.
And with a sincere word of thanks, I walk out.
(Daily life = bus drivers, cafes, drinking milk at a convenience store, giving an allowance to our father, and so on.)
Moment by moment, we create and consume services like this, feeling dissatisfaction and sometimes satisfaction.
The difference is only in how much of these many little events are the result of my intention and thought.
In a way, it could be described as "paying more attention" — that kind of thing.
Meticulous in every matter. Considerate toward others. Warm and caring. And so on.
In the end, the impression the other person gets is the same as that person's traits or style (brand concept).
So what? It means we have to redraw the range of what we consider.
Service is woven into every moment of daily life, and the key to improving those many diverse services and creating mutual satisfaction
is, in the end, relationship. It is drawing out empathy not only through the product itself, but through the entire sequence of the process.
Just as "pass or fail" is not the main point of an interview, "I took the bus and went there" is not the main point of the trip,
"I drank coffee at a cafe" is not the main point of the visit, "I bought milk at a convenience store" is not the main point either,
"I gave my father 300,000 won" is not the main point either —
in other words, the touch point with the customer is not the moment the other person pays for the service I provided,
nor the sequence of experiences they have with the product, nor even the moment afterward when they feel satisfied or dissatisfied.
The reference point is not some zone perceived by the consumer, but rather the attitude and scope of consideration of the service provider — that is where the territory begins.
To take another example,
The one-dimensional zone (touch points B, C): the stage of worrying about the cafe's interior, the taste of the coffee, or the price, and
The multi-dimensional zone (touch points A, D): Mr. Na Dwen-jang heading to the cafe, following the rhythm of the rain tapping the umbrella on his way home from work,
Mr. Oolala, with a fluttering heart as he waits for his girlfriend at the cafe,
Hong Gil-dong, who came out early before his interview to gather his thoughts at the cafe,
Ms. Na Hyang-gi, who came to the cafe to meet her friends after a long time,
Mr. Na Cho-sik, who devotes himself to self-improvement even on weekends, day and night,
and so on — because of the service provider's attitude and range of consideration, the service takes on its own positioning
and its distinctive character.
That is the reason service design cannot help but be interdisciplinary.
Once more. For example, even just looking at the interview case from daily life,
from just the touch point C zone alone, there is fashion, general knowledge, psychology, color, traffic conditions, weather, and so on —
we are simultaneously considering countless different fields.
(Still writing...)
Therefore, rather than the concept of a "touch point," it is closer to the concept of a space or a zone.
Also, the (somewhat ambiguous) scope of a service is built on the foundation of the attitude,
experience, and values of the person or group providing that service. (Touch points A, D)
