| 1. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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Communication through Boundary Objects in Distributed Agile Teams
- 2015
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Personal communication between User-Centered Design (UCD) specialists and developers is important for communicating user needs and design solutions in agile development. In distributed projects where opportunities for personal communication are limited, the design documentation is an important surrogate. This study has investigated the perceived effectiveness of boundary objects in a distributed agile team, and their role in communicating target user needs. Six in-depth interviews with UCD specialists showed that the boundary objects rarely communicate underlying needs of the users but rather focus on interaction with the system that is being developed. The used boundary objects also do not work as stand-alone deliverables; they need to be explained and elaborated. Making the boundary objects comprehensive enough to be stand-alone is seen as too time consuming and not worth the effort. For agile projects with distributed teams, this creates hand-over and follow-up problems.
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| 2. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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Formative Evaluation of IT-based Services : A Case Study of a Meal Planning Service
- 2014
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In: Interacting with computers. - : Oxford University Press. - 0953-5438 .- 1873-7951. ; 26:6, s. 540-556
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To evaluate and develop a service supported by an IT (information technology) system the intentionto use the future service should be in focus. The technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theoryof planned behaviour (TPB) can both provide knowledge about users’ intention to use a service,making them good models to base formative decisions on. Unlike TAM, TPB is concerned withspecific information related to the service context, and provide knowledge about what makes ITuseable.We used an adapted version of the TPB as the foundation for a formative service evaluationtechnique called F-SET.We applied the F-SET to a case where two subsequent versions of a serviceprototype were evaluated. The first prototype was a description of the service supported by Hi-Fidesign sketches showing what a web-based meal planning tool could look like. The second prototypeconsisted of both service processes and the web-based meal planning tool.To find relevant factors thatinfluence future use of such a service, a survey of 28 informants was conducted with the first prototype.The second prototype involved five families who used the service for two weeks.The feedback providedby the families, based on the factors identified in the pre-test, influenced the future direction of theservice development. Feedback from the informants was distributed between the service and the ITsystem, and the most common factors that influence the intention to use the service were time, price,usefulness and availability. Feedback included both positive and negative comments, as well as bugsand suggestions for improvements.We discuss potential improvements and what kind of informationto expect from the different constructs of the TPB.
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| 3. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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Barrier analysis as a design tool in complex safety critical systems
- 2010
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In: Design and Complexity. - : Design Research Society. ; , s. 140-150
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- When constructing or improving large complex systems, design activities help establish the needs and goals of users, deepen the understanding of the system and facilitate ideation of new solutions. When service systems are large, dynamic and complex, the need for thorough design work is especially evident. However, design methods usually strive to describe and design best case scenarios and we argue they lack the perspective of safety needed when working in safety critical systems. In order to gain knowledge on how a perspective of risk and safety can benefit design in a safety critical domain, two different perspectives were adopted through the use of two different methods. The methods were service blueprinting and barrier analysis, adopted from service design and cognitive systems engineering respectively. The methods were implemented during the research phase of a service design project in a home healthcare system in Sweden. Service blueprinting is a method used by service designers to visualise services. Barrier analysis is aimed at identifying and categorizing artefacts and functions that prevent unwanted events from taking place, or that lessen the impact of their consequences. A comparative analysis of the two methods was performed, concluding that barrier analysis has the potential to benefit design work performed in complex and safety critical systems. The potential for barrier analysis to be more tightly integrated into current service design methods is discussed, but more research is needed in order to clarify this matter.
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| 4. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-
(author)
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Benefits of Service Level Prototyping
- 2016
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In: The Design Journal. - Abingdon, UK : Informa UK Limited. - 1460-6925 .- 1756-3062. ; 19:4, s. 545-564
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper discusses the impact ofservice design by zooming in on the case of serviceprototyping. It is suggested that prototyping servicesis different from prototyping in other disciplinesand shows how by discussing prototyping ondifferent levels. On the service level of prototyping,a technique called ‘service walkthrough’ can be away to understand whole service experiences. Theservice walkthrough was used in three cases. On anabstract level, what the service walkthrough addsis a technique for service design that allows explorationof the relationship between touchpoints suchas composition, continuity, and consistency. In thecases studied, the walkthroughs increased empathyfor different roles in the services while generating insightsabout e.g. technical requirements, transitionsbetween touchpoints, and expectations at variousmoments of the service. The paper ends with a discussionabout the relationship between touchpointsand the potential scope of the service walkthroughtechnique.
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| 5. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-
(author)
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Conceptualisations of Service Prototyping : Service Sketches, Walkthroughs and Live Service Prototypes
- 2012
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In: Service Design with Theory. - Vantaa, Finland : Lapland university press. - 9789524845519 ; , s. 175-186
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This chapter addresses the area of serviceprototyping, which is considered by service designersto be one of the most important aspects oftheir work (Blomkvist & Holmlid, 2010). However, littleis known about what a service specific prototypingapproach is and how to best represent services in sucha way that makes it possible to understand whole serviceexperiences. Consequently, one way of conceptualisingservice prototypes is suggested here.By prototyping, an activity surrounding a prototypeis implied. It can be the activity of creating prototypes, oractivities made possible by or with the prototype. Theseactivities are ways to suggest changes to, and gain understandingabout how an existing situation can betransformed into a new one. Here, any representationof such a future state is referred to as a prototype. Differentprototyping approaches have been used withinvarious design disciplines for a long time. This chaptersuggests that service prototyping is a specific activitywith similarities to other prototyping approaches.Service prototyping is described as an activity that involvesthe representation of multiple service momentswhere customers interact with service providers.How such a service specific prototyping approachmight be utilised, to assist service development atvarious stages of the development process, will beaddressed. Representations that can be used at threedifferent stages of the design process will be used asexamples. These are: service sketches, service walkthroughs,and live service prototypes. The examplesillustrate how services can be understood as wholecoherent compositions, and how an embodied andsituated understanding of services can be achieved.
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| 6. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-
(author)
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Conceptualising Prototypes in Service Design
- 2010
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- To date, service prototyping has been discussed academically as an unproblematic add-on to existing prototyping techniques, or as methods for prototyping social interaction. In fact, most of the knowledge on how services are prototyped comes from organisations and practicing design consultants. Some attempts to define service prototyping have been made but generally without concern about how complete service experiences should or could be represented. Building on existing knowledge about prototyping, a draft of a service prototyping conceptualisation is generated. Based on the draft, the question of how to prototype holistic service experiences is raised and in total, 5 studies have been conducted that contribute knowledge to that overarching question. In addition, each study has its own research question. Study 1 conceptualises prototypes and prototyping in a framework while study 2 and 3 looks at what practicing service designers say they do to prototype services and how they involve different stakeholders in the process. Study 4 examines aspects of design communication and how service experiences are communicated and used during design meetings, and study 5 finally, attempts to generate a process that can be used to evaluate the impact of location oriented service prototypes in e.g. healthcare settings. A number of challenges for service prototyping are identified in the studies, along with the issue of who authors prototypes. The conceptualisation of prototyping is adjusted based on the studies and a framework is constructed that support the conceptualisation. Little evidence for holistic approaches to prototyping services is found in the interviews and service designers involve their clients primarily when prototyping. Service experiences are introduced in communication using a format termed micro-narratives. This format and the purpose of using references to previous experiences are discussed. The thesis is concluded with a suggestion of a process for service prototyping. This process is specific for service design and attempts to support service designers in making holistic service representations when prototyping. Service prototyping requires further research.
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| 7. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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External Representations in Service Design : A Distributed Cognition Perspective
- 2013
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In: EAD 2013. - Gothenburg, Sweden. - 9789197954150
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A defining characteristic of service design is the use of external representations which support the design process at various stages. Representations support designers in making intangible aspects of services accessible and shareable, making external representations especially important in service design. External representations are used both to represent current and future states, for the purposes of articulating insights, learning, communicating, collaborating, and maintaining empathy for customers. Many techniques are available that support designers in making representations of services. A comparison was made between the purposes for, and techniques used, in making external representations for service design with theories from cognitive science about benefits of using external representations to think. A pattern emerged during the analysis, indicating that the service design techniques could be divided into two groups, one of interactive techniques and one group of static techniques. Interactive techniques allow designers to interact with a dynamically changing representation, while static representations are unaffected by actions. The analysis also revealed that none of the included techniques explicitly support designers in making multiple simultaneous representations of services. The research contributes knowledge about how purposes for visualising and prototyping are related to general benefits of making external representations. It also provides insights about how to choose and use different service design techniques based on theories of distributed and situated cognition.
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| 8. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-
(author)
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Representing Future Situations of Service : Prototyping in Service Design
- 2014
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis describes prototyping in service design through the theoretical lens of situated cognition. The research questions are what a service prototype is, what the benefits of service prototyping are, and how prototypes aid in the process of designing services. Four papers are included. Paper one suggests that service prototyping should be considered from the perspectives of purpose, fidelity, audience, position in the process, technique, representation, validity and author. The second paper compares research about how humans use external representations to think, with reasons for using prototypes in service design and service design techniques. The third paper compares two versions of a service prototyping technique called service walkthrough; showing that walkthroughs with pauses provided both more comments in total and more detailed feedback. The fourth paper also contributes to our understanding of how prototypes aid in designing services, by connecting the surrogate situation with the future situation of service. The paper shows how the formative service evaluation technique (F-SET) uses the theory of planned behaviour to add knowledge to service prototype evaluations about the intention to use a service in the future. Taken together the research provides a deeper understanding of what prototypes are, and their roles in service prototyping. This understanding is further deepened by a discussion about service as a design material, suggesting that from a design perspective, a service consists of service concept, process and system. The service prototype acts as a surrogate for the future situation of service. The thesis describes what the benefits of using surrogates are, and shows how prototypes enhance the ability to gain knowledge about future situations. This leads to an understanding of prototyping as a way of thinking in design.
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| 9. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-, et al.
(author)
-
Robots in Service Design: Consideringuncertainty in social interaction withrobots
- 2020
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In: ServDes.2020 Tensions, Paradoxes and Plurality Conference Proceedings. - : Linköping University Electronic Press. - 9789179297794 ; , s. 56-57
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- As robots become more prevalent in society, they will also become part of service systems, and will be among the materials that designers work with. The body of literature on robots in service systems is scarce, in service research as well as in service design research, especially regarding how to understand robots in service, and how design for service is impacted. In this conceptual paper we aim to shed light on how social robots will affect service. We take a look at the current state of robots’ ability to interact socially with people and highlight some of the issues that need to be considered when including social robots as part of service.In navigating the social world, people exhibit an intentional stance, in which they rely on assumptions that social behaviour is governed by underlying mental states, such as beliefs and desires. Due to fundamental differences between humans and robots, people’s attribution of the mental state of robots, such as what a particular robot knows and believes, is often precarious and leads to uncertainty in interactions, partly relating to issues with common ground. Additionally, people might hesitate to initiate interactions with robots, based on considerations of privacy and trust, or due to negative attitudes towards them. Designing for service systems where e.g. a robot is being introduced, requires knowledge and understanding of these issues from a design perspective. Service designers therefore need to consider not only the technical aspects of robots, but the specific issues that arise in interactions because of them.
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| 10. |
- Blomkvist, Johan, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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Service Design Research : Yesterday, today and tomorrow
- 2010. - 1
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In: This is Service Design Thinking. - Amsterdam : BIS Publishers. - 9789063692568 ; , s. 308-315
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- How to design and market services to create outstanding customer experiencesService design thinking is the designing and marketing of services that improve the customer experience, and the interactions between the service providers and the customers. If you have two coffee shops right next to each other, and each sell the exact same coffee at the exact same price, service design is what makes you walk into one and not the other. Maybe one plays music and the other doesn't. Maybe one takes credit cards and the other is cash only. Maybe you like the layout of one over the other, or one has more comfortable seating. Maybe the staff at one is friendlier, or draws fun shapes on the top of their lattes. All of these nuances relate to service design."This Is Service Design Thinking" combines the knowledge of twenty-three international authors and even more online contributors from the global service design community and is divided into three sections: Basics: outlines service design thinking along five basic principlesTools: describing a variety of tools and methods used in Service Design ThinkingCases: vivid examples for the introduced fundamentals with real-life case studies from 5 companies that did inspiring projects within the field of Service DesignAt the end, a one-page "Customer Journey Canvas" is included, which can be used to quickly sketch any service on a single sheet of paper--capturing different stakeholder concerns: e.g. customers, front-line staff and management.
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