On 16 June at the Q Festival, organised by the Association of Qualitative Research (AQR), Geke van Dijk will present a talk, together with Marianne Guldbrandsen from the Design Council, and Kat Gough from Nokia. The tilte of the talk is ‘Design Research: The most creative in the industry?’

The Q Festival is advertised as the ‘Glastonbury of Qual…’, a festival of thought, surprise, provocation and illumination, so that is very promising.

See this link for more information on the Q Festival and on AQR

1. Customer Talk article on Service Design One of the editors of the online community for customer-focused...
2. FD picking up on Service Design One of the major Dutch newspapers, Het Financieele Dagblad (translated...

1. Customer Talk article on Service Design One of the editors of the online community for customer-focused...
2. FD picking up on Service Design One of the major Dutch newspapers, Het Financieele Dagblad (translated...
3. Design Research for Service Innovation Our creative research projects connect service providers with the lives...

STBY’s latest project involved working with partners from the Reach Network to compile a report detailing the benefits a cross-cultural research programme could bring to Cisco. Though aware of cross-cultural research in a general sense, Cisco wanted to know the specific business advantages designing for cultural differences could potentially bring. They asked STBY therefore to work with the Reach reports in compiling a report that would detail exactly what they stood to gain, as well as serving as a general introduction to how cultural differences can influence seemingly ‘universal’ products.

This report consisted of a number of compelling case studies that detailed the problems and opportunities encountered by companies already conducting cross-cultural research. Each of these were in turn related to a specific area of Cisco’s business operations. It drew on the personal experience of several Reach partners, providing in-depth analysis of programs undertaken by HP, Philips, General Electric, and Nokia, in territories from North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

By liaising with members of Cisco’s User Experience Team in San Francisco, STBY were able to tailor the report around their needs. This meant that their final submission was not just a compelling presentation, but also a standalone document that could be circulated internally, allowing the case for cross-cultural research to be made to almost anyone working at Cisco.

If you’d like to hear more about this report, or even learn about how STBY could produce something similar for your own company, then drop Bas a line at bas@stby.eu.

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Pioneers in the service design community

Founded in 2003, STBY was one of the first agencies to conduct design research projects based on the service design philosophy. Our involvement with the user-centered design community dates back even earlier, as our founders have been active in this field since its gradual emergence at the end of the last century. 

Service design isn’t ‘owned’ by any one individual or company; it’s an approach that’s founded on the notion of sharing information and developing approaches collaboratively. The projects that STBY conduct are based around this multi-disciplinary field that we’re helping to co-define. We’re constantly adapting new theories and techniques into our fieldwork, and providing feedback as to what works and what doesn’t via publications and conference presentations.

World class connectors

Collaboration and knowledge sharing is the principle underpinning the Service Design Network Netherlands, which STBY initiated and co-founded in 2008. The network allows companies, students, and individuals interested in service design to connect with each other, share ideas, and help define and refine the processes and tools which the approach employs. We’re also long-standing members of the international Service Design Network. We’re regular contributors to their quarterly magazine, Touchpoint, and we’ve given keynote presentations at conferences in various countries. Through our global design research network REACH we have been engaged in presentations on for service providers as far abroad as Japan and Brazil.

To be at the forefront of service design, we feel that it’s essential to be active members of the community that surrounds it. This means we don’t just apply service design principles – we also help develop and refine them, and thus have an intimate understanding of this rapidly developing field.

Looking to the future: helping companies adopt the service design philosophy

As we work towards our first decade of experience in designing and conducting service design projects, we’re beginning to build up long-term relationships with several companies attempting to re-orientate their research programs around service design principles. With several years of experience in running collaborative workshops with companies eager to learn more about how to use the evocative and engaging research materials we produce, we’re ideally placed to assist those organisations looking to implement their own service design programs.

1. STBY magazine – Service Innovation Inspired by People Motivated by the limited amount of literature on design research...

‘Creatie van Waarde’ (Creation of Value) is an initiative of the Dutch Creative Industries to develop a stronger joint vision on innovation and to be a more organised partner to other sectors, such as big industry, government and science. The initiative was prompted by a challenging call from the Ministery of Economic Affairs and the Ministery of Education, Culture & Science, stating that the creative industries in The Netherlands should be able to play a stronger role in innovation if they can manage to offer a more structured process and identity. This challenge has brought together many people from very diverse creative consultancies. In a series of meetings a joint document to answer to the call is currently being created.

STBY is one of the parties contributing to this programme and document. Based on our experience with service innovation projects and our knowledge of international methods and theories in this area, we have drafted the chapter that explains Creative Thinking and its added value to innovation.

1. Collaboration with Network Partners In the spirit of a true network company, we are...

More information on this event can be found on the Facebook group and the Linkedin events pages.

More information on the Service Design Netwerk Nederland can be found on on the website of the network.

1. Service Design Thinks Amsterdam On March 30th a new Service Design Thinks event will...

1. Design Research for Service Innovation Our creative research projects connect service providers with the lives...

We started the session with  brief presentations by Arne van Oosterom (DesignThinkers), Joost Holthuis (EdenSpiekermann), Marcel Zwiers (31Volts), Bas Raijmakers (STBY) and Dick van Dijk (Waag Society). They talked about issues they encounter in their current practice as a service designer. Some of these issues touched on methodology, others on client relationships or the evolution of the role of a service designer in subsequent stages of service design projects. The discussions after each presentation and at the end of the session were very lively.

It is clear that these kind of sessions are very welcome. We discussed the option that more people in the network can take the initiative to organise Service Design Thinks sessions. It would be great to have one every two months. The location can vary according to who is organising it. It does not have to be in Amsterdam. Rotterdam and Amersfoort were mentioned as well. Great!

1. Service Design Thinks Amsterdam On March 30th a new Service Design Thinks event will...

Bas Raijmakers (STBY) and Andreas Sommerwerk (Deutsche Telekom AG) jointly presented a paper at the second international Service Design Network conference in Madeira on 26 October 2009. The title of the paper is “How sticky research drives service design”. It was also co-authored with Indri Tulusan of Spur, Julia Leihener, co-director with Andreas of the Creation Center in Berlin, and Geke van Dijk. The paper tells the story of how we used little movies throughout a design process for new concepts that enhance community interaction on mobile phones. The paper can be downloaded from our Publications section.

The full agenda of the conference (including presentations and workshop notes from Adaptive Path, live|work, UsCreates, Nokia Design, IDEO, and Engine) is still available from the conference website.

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