Special Issue on

Designing for Services
Full Paper Due: 31 October 2010

Call for Papers

The International Journal of Design, which is devoted to the transfer of design knowledge among professionals in academia and industry, will be publishing a special issue on designing for services that emphasizes a human-centered design approach to service design.

Since the introduction of service design as a design discipline in 1991, there has been an impressive growth in both theoretical developments and practical applications. In recent years, more and more innovative processes, tools, and methods have been adopted to explore the activities involved in service design. The accelerating pace of change in technology and business practices has led to the need for more service design researchers and practitioners to be at the forefront in the development of new business services. In fact, an increasing number of service design insights that could make services more valuable and desirable have been generated, yet have often been overlooked.

In this special issue, we will aim to explore the value of service design in business and to uncover a variety of service design insights arising from academic and practitioner perspectives. The issue will include original theoretical, empirical, or methodological contributions related to innovative service design processes, tools, or methods. We also welcome high-quality case studies that can provide guidance on improving the quality of service design or illuminating some perspective of service design research.

Articles for this special issue should address one of the following four themes:

Theme One: Design of Service Encounters

This includes the design of useful, usable, and desirable encounters between the server and the customer. Specific articles might address these topics:

  • User experience design and thinking
  • Expectations, emotions, and experience of the customer with regard to service design
  • The matching of customer expectations and service design touchpoints
  • The connection between service encounter satisfaction and quality of service design
  • Technological, non-technological, or hybrid service encounter design

Theme Two: Service Design for SMEs

This includes how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can benefit from service design by using it to better understand their customers and to contribute to their bottom line. Specific articles might address these topics:

  • Case studies of service design for SMEs
  • Business impact of service design on SMEs
  • Service design processes, tools, and methods for SMEs
  • Barriers to the use of service design in SMEs
  • Service design consultancy for SMEs

Theme Three: Co-creation in Service Design

This includes the implementation of co-creation with stakeholders to effectively and efficiently enhance service design. Specific articles might address these topics:

  • Types of co-creation in service design
  • Strategies for co-creation in service design
  • The value of co-creation in service design with regard to the customer experience
  • The actual and potential roles of stakeholders in service design
  • How to successfully execute a service design project using a co-creation team

Theme Four: Service Design and Change of Systems

This includes the development of service design competence and the development of models to use for dealing with changes taking place in the complex systems of service organizations. Specific articles might address these topics:

  • The emerging role of service design in organizational change in terms of culture, structure, or process
  • New service design models for change
  • How to successfully create service design competence in an environment that is undergoing change

Schedule


  • Abstract (optional):
  • Full Paper Due:
  • Notification of Acceptance:
  • Final Version of Paper Due:
  • Special Issue Publication Date:
31 August 2010
31 October 2010
31 December 2010
31 January 2011
1 August 2011

Submission of Papers

The authors are encouraged to e-mail an abstract of no more than 800 words to the Editors (sungtj@mail.ntust.edu.tw) by August 31 to receive a quick evaluation on suitability of a proposal.

Manuscripts should be prepared with the template file and guidelines found at the AuthorGuidelines page. Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. A double-blind review process will be employed for this special issue.

Manuscripts should also be sent through the online submission page. Authors should choose "Special Issue on Designing for Services" as the Journal Section when submitting papers.

Special Issue Editors



Birgit Mager
KISD Köln International School of Design
Köln, Germany
E-mail: mager@service-design.de		 Tung-Jung David Sung
Department of Industrial and Commercial Design
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology,
Taipei, Taiwan
E-mail: sungtj@mail.ntust.edu.tw

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