Human-Centered Service Design

Design the moments that matter
Preview Course
 

Service design is the craft of tying together human, digital, and physical interactions over time to create a truly differentiated experience for your customers. Delivering great service can be challenging, but you can use design thinking to understand people's needs, look holistically at customer interactions, and constantly iterate your way forward. Service is where your organization meets the world. Learn to design moments that people will remember.

Course Outcomes
  • Build differentiation, loyalty, and long-term business value by meeting your customers’ needs and exceeding their expectations.
  • Better understand the interactions people have with your company and surface problem areas and opportunities through a customer journey map.
  • Focus your efforts by choosing the most impactful moments to design.
  • Enable others to understand and execute your vision with a service blueprint.
Part of Certificate Programs
Skills You’ll Gain
Empathy Experience Design Journey Mapping
Format Online Cohort Course
Start Date
Quantity
Duration 5 Weeks
Time 4 Hours/Week
Price
$799
$799
Download Syllabus Download Syllabus
Download Syllabus

Go Deeper with Certificate Programs

Human-Centered Service Design is part of a certificate program:

View Certificate Programs

What You'll Learn

Week 1: Introduction

Get an introduction to the ways service is thought about today and the qualities that define good service.
Watch a sneak peek
  • Human-Centered Service Design—A sneak peek of the course
     
3 Video Lessons
  • Service Surrounds Us—It’s all service—and we can design it
     
  • Four Qualities of Great Service Organizations—Balanced, intentional, and human-centered moments that matter
     
  • A Mentor Moment with Ilya—Getting started on service projects
     
1 Assignment

  • Project Challenges: We’ve crafted a series of project challenges for you to choose from, all designed to be the right size and scope for this course. You'll practice your selected challenge during the course and later you can bring your learning into your own work.

3 Discussions

  • Think of some of your best and worst service moments. What effect they have on you in the moment?

  • What can you learn from an organization that you personally believe offers great service? What qualities do they possess?

  • What do you think will be difficult about the design process? What do you think will be easier?

Week 2: Expand the Journey

Learn how to see service as a customer journey that unfolds over time and pick moments that matter for your organization.
3 Video Lessons
  • Understanding the Journey—An introduction to journey maps
  • A Mentor Moment with Coe Leta—Gathering insights for your service
  • Tips to Pick What Matters—The moments to design
1 Assignment

  • Build Your Journey Map: Research your service, gather insights about it, and apply those to create a journey map.

3 Discussions

  • In a service you recently experienced, what did the before and after moments look like for you? What were your emotions before and after?

  • What tips or stories do you have when it comes to observing, interviewing, or gathering insights?

  • Think about a customer service moment that you've had recently. Was there a specific moment that really impacted you? How did the moment make you feel?

Week 3: Make Moments Real

Brainstorm ways to bring your service moments to life and build a prototype to learn more about a particular moment.
6 Video Lessons
  • A Mentor Moment with Melanie—Bringing others in
  • Generating New Ideas—Sacrificial concepts
  • Generating New Ideas—Extreme prompts
  • Generating New Ideas—Constraints
  • Make it Tangible—Prototyping and measuring services
  • A Mentor Moment with Susan—Prototyping service
1 Assignment

  • Prototype Your Service: Prototype a moment of your service, get feedback, and iterate if necessary.

1 Discussion

  • What do you find is the hardest part of getting others to participate in service brainstorms and prototypes?

Week 4: Share the Vision

Learn how to organize the components of a service into a service blueprint and share the vision of your service with other stakeholders.
3 Video Lessons
  • A Mentor Moment with Melanie and Ilya—Staying the course
  • Designing the Visible and Invisible—Creating a blueprint for your service
  • Communicating the Vision—Beautiful ways to tell the story
1 Assignment

  • From Journey Map to Blueprint: Expand your journey map into a service blueprint by considering the components required to bring your moments to life.

3 Discussions

  • Did you receive any feedback during the prototyping phase that helped you move forward or that stymied you?

  • How might you involve others into the design process at this stage?

  • What are some examples of compelling ways that an organization has communicated a vision to you?

Week 5: Conclusion

Learn why constant iteration is a fundamental element of service design, and create a service design project plan summarizing your key takeaways and highlighting your plans for the future.
2 Video Lessons
  • A Mentor Moment with Melanie and Ilya—Parting thoughts
  • Stay Flexible—Service is a tool, a prototype, a journey
1 Assignment
  • Service Design Project Plan: Synthesize what you've learned and plan your next steps.
2 Discussions

  • What is one learning or mindset you're most excited to bring into your daily projects? How do you think it will affect your work?

  • What are some ways in which this course has changed your view on Service Design? How will you use your new perspective, or how have you already started using it?

Meet Your Instructors

Ilya Prokopoff

Partner at IDEO & Managing Director of IDEO San Francisco

Ilya launched IDEO’s Organizational Design group to help leaders drive lasting change in their organizations. He has worked with Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, the Gannett Corporation, and Intercorp. Illya holds a degree in product design from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

More About Ilya
More From Ilya Prokopoff
IDEO U Blog
6 Tips for How to Prototype a Service
Forbes
How To Capture An Audience With Your Service's Prototype

Ilya Prokopoff

Partner at IDEO & Managing Director of IDEO San Francisco

More than a decade ago, Ilya noticed an emerging pattern about IDEO's clients. While many were still looking for innovative product, service, and experience designs, more and more were coming to IDEO looking for something intangible but essential: to build creative cultures from within their organizations. In response to this need, Ilya launched Organizational Design, a discrete group within IDEO dedicated to helping leaders drive lasting change in their organizations.

Ilya's work includes helping Kaiser Permanente and Mayo Clinic build the capability for continuous innovation; working with the Gannett Corporation create new products and services that redefine media corporation offerings; and building a joint design studio in Lima, Peru with Intercorp (one of the largest conglomerates in the country) to design world-class services for the rapidly growing middle class.

He holds a Bachelor's of Science in product design from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he is now a member of the Board of Advisors.

Melanie Bell-Mayeda

Former Partner and Managing Director, IDEO San Francisco

Melanie helped lead IDEO’s design for change work, guiding organizations and leaders to realize their creative potential and bring value to new and emerging markets. She has worked with the North Face, Citibank, T-Mobile, and more. Melanie holds degrees from Harvard University.

More About Melanie
More From Melanie Bell-Mayeda
IDEO U Blog
Melanie on Three Ways to Design Better Service Experiences

Melanie Bell-Mayeda

Former Partner and Managing Director, IDEO San Francisco

Melanie helped lead IDEO’s design for change work, which focuses on helping organizations and leaders realize their creative potential. In over a decade at IDEO, she played several roles leading different areas of the business, including those where design is bringing value to new and emerging markets. Her client portfolio includes the North Face, Gaiam, Citibank, Chase, and T-Mobile. She previously led a one-year initiative focused on bringing design and innovation to the aging space resulting in a project with the Scan Foundation.

Melanie is a Harvard College and Harvard Business School alumna, on the Board of Directors of The Steve Fund, and on the Board of Regents at Samuel Merritt University where she is focused on helping the institution meet its goal of advancing the future of patient care.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a typical course schedule and structure?

Cohort courses run on a set calendar, with fixed start and end dates. Course learning is self-paced within those dates and requires approximately 4-5 hours per week over 5 weeks. Courses consist of videos, activities, assignments, access to course teaching teams, and feedback from a global community of learners.

Cohort courses also provide optional 1-hour video Community Conversations, held weekly by the teaching team. They occur during set times, which are released during the first week of the course, and set to accommodate as many time zones as possible.

Does my time zone matter?

All of our courses are fully online and self-paced, so you can take them from any time zone, anywhere in the world.

During 5-week cohort courses, your course teaching team will host scheduled virtual community conversations which are optional. Timing will be announced during the first week of the course and is set to accommodate as many time zones as possible. Don’t worry if you aren’t able to make it, as these are purely optional.

Can I enroll my team?

Absolutely! We have had many teams go through our courses together with great success. For those taking our courses as a team, we provide a couple of additional benefits:

1. A Team Learning Guide, developed to provide your team with resources to facilitate offline discussion to complement the in-course experience.

2. A Manage Learners function, which provides visibility into your team's progress within the course.

3. The ability to create a private Learning Circle, which is a closed space for discussion on the learning platform specifically for your team.

For more information, visit our Team Learning page.

How do I purchase my course?

You can purchase your course by clicking Enroll on this page. This will take you to our checkout process where we accept various credit cards, PayPal, or Shop Pay. 

We also offer installment plans which you can select at checkout if you use the Shop Pay method of payment. Available for U.S. learners at the moment.

Collaborate with a Global Community

Work with Expert Coaches

Our teaching team has extensive applied industry knowledge. They'll help deepen your understanding and application of the course content by facilitating written discussions, live video moments, and assignment feedback.

Expand Your Network

Join virtual live discussion groups for deeper conversation, reflection, and connection led by teaching team members and available multiple times a week across time zones.

Receive Feedback

Gain tips, techniques, and a downloadable feedback guide; and share and receive feedback on assignments from peers.

Learn more about the IDEO U Learning Experience

What Others Are Saying

Chris McCarthy
Chris Vice President Strategy & Design Hopelab
Colin Raney
Colin CMO PillPack
Emily Jacoby
Emily Service Design Manager Widen Enterprises / Marketing Technology
Michael Rankin
Michael Manager, Technical Services & Service Delivery Mercury Insurance Group
Human-Centered Service Design
Cohort Course

“Thinking differently is simply not natural and teams have such a hard time breaking out of old patterns. The folks at IDEO are best-in-class at inspiring new thinking, coaching through ambiguity, and leading the way in birthing new ideas that make a real difference in people's lives.”

Chris San Francisco, CA
Human-Centered Service Design
Cohort Course

“Almost every consumer experience has some element of service design—from navigating an airport to ordering books online. This powerful process fuses design and strategy to help you see the world differently and create new, compelling experiences. And once you learn how to think like a service designer, you have a powerful toolkit that will help you tackle almost any design challenge.”

Colin Boston, MA
Human-Centered Service Design
Cohort Course

“I know a lot about this content, but the course really helped to push me through a new project I wouldn't have taken on otherwise. I gained confidence from the course and love meeting new people who are also interested in my favorite subject, Service Design!”

Emily Madison, WI
Human-Centered Service Design
Cohort Course

“The discussions, principles and the journey process is really attractive in my everyday discussions with my organization. I'm focusing more on what matters and happens in the work lives of my staff. I’m helping people journey through that experience to meet their professional goals.“

Michael Riverside, CA

Learners Also Purchased

  • Introductory
    An introduction to the foundational concepts and tools of design thinking
    Self-Paced Course start anytime
    $199
    $199
  • Starting Soon
    Learn to use insights to turn customer needs into human-centered solutions
    Cohort Course 5 Weeks
    $699
    $699
  • Starting Soon
    Craft a narrative to motivate and inspire
    Cohort Course 5 Weeks
    $799
    $799

Enroll As a Team

The practice and application of design thinking, innovation, and creativity is highly collaborative and team based—which is why we believe that learning is better together. Take a course as a team and develop new skills and mindsets, have deeper discussion during course kickoff and debrief sessions, and build a shared understanding.

How to Enroll as a Team