Information on individual educational components (ECTS-Course descriptions) per semester

Service Design

Degree programme InterMedia
Subject area Design
Type of degree Bachelor
Full-time
Summer Semester 2025
Course unit title Service Design
Course unit code 025218046013
Language of instruction English
Type of course unit (compulsory, optional) Elective
Teaching hours per week 4
Year of study 2025
Level of the course / module according to the curriculum
Number of ECTS credits allocated 7
Name of lecturer(s) Natasha DOSHI, Isabelle GOLLER, Gregor KREUZER
Requirements and Prerequisites

None

Course content

During the course, the students deal with the development of innovative services and new business models.

  • Systemic thinking and design: strategic design
  • Interactions between economy, information technology, society and design.
  • Methods of strategy development, planning and design of services as holistic brand experiences (touchpoint analysis, etc.)
  • Phases of the service design process in the context of innovation development (problem diagnosis, ideation, rapid prototyping, testing & validation, communication, rollout planning, extrapolation)
  • Characteristics of successful services
  • Methods and instruments of market and trend analysis as well as future visioning
  • Survey of customer needs and customer experience research
  • Instruments for business model development (Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, etc.) and start-up concepts
Learning outcomes
  • The students can name the opportunities and risks of digital transformation.
  • They know the methods and processes of the strategic development of brand experiences, which include physical and digital contact points.
  • They understand the interactions between economy, information technology, society and design. You know how agile structures can be set up that support innovation development.
  • They are familiar with the relevant instruments for business model development (Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, etc.) and are familiar with start-up concepts.
  • They are familiar with the phases of the service design process in the context of innovation development (problem diagnosis, ideation, rapid prototyping, testing & validation, communication, rollout planning, extrapolation).
  • They can name a large number of possible touchpoints (physical and digital) and know the respective opportunities and risks with regard to the development of coherent brand experiences.
  • The students are familiar with various methods and instruments of market and trend analysis as well as future visioning.
  • They will be able to develop services and interactive applications and to implement them as prototypes and to communicate them.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Lecture with presentations, exercises, teamwork, individual and team coaching

Assessment methods and criteria

Project in a team, reflection work (individual)

Comment

None

Recommended or required reading
  • Morelli, Nicola; Amalia De Götzen; Luca Simeone (2020): Service Design Capabilities. Cham: Springer International AG, Springer Ser. in Design and Innovation.
  • Mager, Birgit; Gais, Michael (2009): Service Design. Paderborn: UTB 3113: Design Studieren.
  • Penin, Lara (2018): Designing the Invisible. An Introduction to Service Design. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
  • Christensen, Clayton M. (2016): The Innovator’s Dilemma. When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change). Harvard: Harvard Business Review Press.
  •  Maurya, Ash (2012): Running Lean. Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works (Lean Series). Sebastopol: O'Reilly and Associates.
  • Downe, Luise (2020): Good Services. How to Design Services that Work. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers.
  • Stickdorn, Marc; Schneider Jakob (2011): This Is Service Design Thinking. Basics - Tools - Cases. Amsterdam: Paperback ed. Amsterdam.
  • Sangiorgi, Daniela; Prendiville, Alison (2017): Designing for Service. Key Issues and New Directions. London, Oxford, New York, New Delhi, Sydney: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
  • Tromp, Nynke; Hekkert, Paul (2019): Designing for Society. Products and Services for a Better World. London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
  • Nixon, Natalie W. (2016): Strategic Design Thinking. Innovation in Products, Services, Experiences and beyond. New York: Fairchild Books.
  • Baars, Jan-Erik (2018): Leading Design: Design strategisch einsetzen. Wie Unternehmen das volle Potenzial entfalten! München: Vahlen.
  • Spies, Marco; Wenger, Katja (2018): Branded Interactions. Lebendige Markenerlebnisse für eine neue Zeit. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face, distance learning)

Face-to-face instruction with mandatory attendance