Learning from other disciplines

Research Associate, School of Design, Glasgow School of Art, UK

1. In your view, how is your research/work related to Service Design?

I work within a small team of researchers based at Glasgow School of Art (GSA) who are exploring how design can work together with other disciplines to solve problems with ageing populations and health.  This involves a holistic approach to the design of health services, using participative methodologies to identify problems/opportunities and exploit latent knowledge and ideas for service redesign.

My background is in product design engineering but I have been interested in service design since my final year of study in 2004 when I developed a service to simplify the flow of passengers through an airport.  I observed that the really interesting problems are rarely solved with a stand alone product.  This led me to a variety of interesting roles in innovations, human factors and design for a science and technology company and to my current role here at the GSA.

2. In your view, what is the most/less interesting aspect of Service Design?

Most interesting for me is the potential for service designers to work with experts from traditional disciplines and bring a new perspective to research which explores some of society’s difficult problems. The research outputs of a people-centred design approach extend beyond identifying the problems and making recommendations, to provide policy makers with practical, holistic and evidence based solutions.  This in part relies on the abilities of designers to imagine a ‘better way’ and engage others including users in this process.

As this involves engaging non-designers in the design process I have realised how off-putting service design terminology can be.  Perhaps designers would have less difficulty explaining what we do if we avoided this.

3. Can you tell us about a Service Design research project(s) you did or read about?

Here at the GSA we are part of a multidisciplinary research project called mappmal http://www.newdynamics.group.shef.ac.uk/mappmal.html which aims to develop a new system prototype for food provision to older hospital patients to prevent malnutrition.

We work with sociologists, food scientists, nutritionists, medical professionals and the service users to develop a new service prototype which includes: new products, environments and interactions.

Following early work to map the existing service, major opportunities for service redesign were identified and developed by working closely with service providers, users and stakeholders at a series of participatory design workshops. The new service prototype is developing into a total nutrition provision system that facilitates increased engagement of all types and grades of staff in the process of providing adequate nutrition to older people in hospital thereby raising the profile of food provision as part of total patient care. The project is now in its final year and the new service prototype will be launched in Autumn 2011.

This project is led by Newcastle University and is funded by the cross research council New Dynamics of Ageing Programme.

4. Are there area(s) that you would like to do or see research on?

I think the mappmal research model is highly transferrable and could be adapted to explore and develop solutions for a wide range of social issues. I enjoy collaborating with other disciplines therefore I would be keen to continue working in this way.  In particular I see the potential for collaboration with health economists to understand and evidence the financial implications and potential savings of service redesign alongside benefits to the patient/staff experience.

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Your suggestions for the blog:

Who would you like to invite in this conversation about Service Design Research?

Gayle Rice, who is exploring how design and innovation can improve Social Services through her role as Project Officer at IRISS and in her PhD studies here at GSA.

What is the question do you have about Service Design?

I have learnt a great deal from the sociologists in the mappmal team, in particular the need to reflect on the influence they have on the way research participants behave and respond to observation, activities and design solutions. What can designers learn from sociologists about how we account for our influence in a co-design process to create better, evidence based solutions?