My code stories

Chunk it up! Designing complex services requires that you fill in all the blanks in the service journey. Dividing the your design into a preface, main face and post face helps you focus on what happens before, during and after the user have interacted with the service. The preface is where the user encounters your service for the first time. You need to ask questions like; how will the user become aware of the service? What parts of the service does the user interface with and how are they presented? Does the service solve the right problems? What is the impression the user is left with after leaving the service and how likely is it that the user will return? Let us assume that we have interviewed our stakeholders. Sally from accounting have a need for registering correct hours before billing the company’s clients. Her need is to get the system implemented as soon as possible and getting the users to hand in their hours using the new system instead of handing it i...

Focusing on the user Our design focus when designing a service is the user, and how the service journey will affect the user. Not only must we be able to tell how the service will work and how the user will interact with it. We also need to think about what happens before and after the user has interacted with it, what knowledge is required even to use it, etc. To answer these questions we need to understand the user needs, and how the user will experience the service. The methods used to acquire these answers might vary from interviewing the users, observing the user, or experience the service yourself. The chosen method will differ from time to time. It depends on how complex the service will be. The main point is that you as a designer create a way to communicate with the user and map their wishes, desires, requirements etc. Remember that as little as one extra click or unnecessary text box might make your design quite cumbersome and difficult to use. I would claim tha...

The methodology behind designing service journeys provides you with great analytical tools that will fit almost any kind of experience. Working in the areas of design, development and project management this approach have been amongst my favorites for many years, but I’ve never taken the time to really document the way I use it. Years ago, I attended a session demonstrating AT-ONEs Touch-point cards, and how simple images and text can be used to design a service or a service journey. I have kept my stack of cards and used them in every project I have worked on since. The last few years I have dived into different methodologies and dragged more concepts into my work as I saw them fit. Now, time is overdue to tie some threads together and document my work. My next few blog posts are dedicated to this subject, and I hope that they can be helpful. My context is based on designing web and intranet experiences, so naturally I will try to tie up this in my examples. Designing a ...