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

My research centres on the use of aesthetic design as an element of service innovation with a focus on technology-based enterprises. My focus is on the subset of service design which has to do with appealing to the human senses and creating symbolic, emotional and experiential value. My empirical context of technology-based firms is an interesting one, and also a somewhat unlikely one. Technology-based enterprises tend to focus mostly on technological innovation while neglecting opportunities for gaining competitive advantage through aesthetic design.

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

As discussed above, I find the issue of how services can be designed to appeal to the human senses and create symbolic, emotional and experiential value particularly interesting. It is becoming increasingly true that functionality and technological performance are baseline requirements for new products, while not constituting a basis for competitive advantage. Likewise, new services must compete based on more than well-designed service processes or service blueprints. Service processes or service blueprints can be regarded in a similar fashion as the engineering design that goes into developing a new product; absolutely vital, but not sufficient for competitive advantage.

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

I have been involved in a longitudinal panel study among new and young technology-based firms in Iceland – the predominant majority of which are service firms – for the past five years. The research is being conducted by the Reykjavik University Centre for Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CRIE). This longitudinal study provides a unique opportunity to follow new and young technology-based firms as they develop their first services, launch them on the market – successfully or not so successfully – and continue to refine these services. The use of aesthetic design seems to increase as services mature and as the use of aesthetic design becomes more prevalent in a firm’s sector. This suggests that aesthetic design may itself eventually become a baseline requirement for competition in such sectors.

I have also conduced in-depth case research in young technology-based firms to gain a deeper understanding on how and why they use aesthetic design.

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

Aesthetic design of services can be viewed as consisting of two dimensions. The first dimension is concerned with appealing to the human senses and this has strong similarities with the aesthetic design of products, which focuses on appearance, sounds, textures, smells and tastes. I would like to delve into the second dimension, which is the experiential dimension. How can firms that don’t belong to entertainment sectors stage experiences through their services? What benefits can be reaped from deliberate experience staging in non-entertainment firms and how?

I find collaborative research, especially across more than one country, particularly fruitful and enjoyable, and would welcome interesting opportunities for such collaboration.