Service design and the Mario complex

At the Service Design in Government conference, I discovered that service designers see themselves as Mario. But that is an unrealistic model for what service design should be.

A presentation version of this blog post:
https://duncanstephen.net/service-design-and-the-mario-complex/

Presented at UX Glasgow's service design special on 3 March 2021:
https://uxglasgow.co.uk/events/service-design-special

Transcript

1. Duncan Stephen Service design and the Mario complex User Experience Manager The University of Edinburgh ⟶ duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS UX Glasgow — 3 March 2021
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5. User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services and its products.” Don Norman www.nngroup.com/articles/definition-user-experience “ duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
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7. Contradictory themes duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
8. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Fix the plumbing? Change the world?
9. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Be humble? Be a saviour?
10. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Be an expert? Be a facilitator?
11. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Ditch the journey maps? Trust the process?
12. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Unattainable utopias? Flawed futures?
13. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS User-centred for today? Planet-centred for tomorrow?
14. Actors Planet Non-humans Society Other people Individual users Now Months Years Decades Time User- centred design Adapted from Cennydd Bowles — Building Better Worlds nownext.studio/ building-better-worlds duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
15. Products ⟶ Services ⟶ Systems ⟶ Society Shanti Mathew — Reflections on, at least, three Ps 2020.govservicedesign.net/programme/reflections-least-three-ps duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
16. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Adapted from Shanti Mathew — Reflections on, at least, three Ps 2020. govservicedesign. net/programme/ reflections-least- three-ps
17. Problem definition escalation Sophie Dennis — Let’s talk about strategy… — UX Scotland 2018 www.slideshare.net/sophiedennis/lets-talk-about-strategy-extended-workshop-what-it-is- why-it-matters-and-how-to-do-it-well-sophie-dennis-90089444 Michael Beirut — You’re so intelligent designobserver.com/feature/youre-so-intelligent/5917 duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
18. Can you design my new business card? The problem isn’t your business card, it’s your logo! duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
19. Can you design my new logo? The problem isn’t your logo, it’s your brand identity! duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
20. Can you design my brand identity? The problem isn’t your brand identity, it’s your business plan! duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
21. ? The real problem is world hunger! duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
22. But someone still needs to design my business cards! ? duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Adapted from Michael Beirut — You’re so intelligent designobserver.com/feature/youre-so-intelligent/5917
23. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Charles Eames and Ray Eames — Powers of Ten https://youtu.be/0fK BhvDjuy0 Nicola Dobiecka – Understanding design better by looking from different levels of magnification https://blogs.ed.ac. uk/website- communications/ understanding- design-better-by- looking-from- different-levels-of- magnification/
24. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Service design? Scope creep? Adapted from Sally Halls, Schumoné Groener and Alex Sykes — How to keep traffic moving across Greater London — twitter.com/stradella/status/1235579502794858497
25. Who can fix climate change? ⟶ Scientists ⟶ Politicians ⟶ Diplomats ⟶ Economists ⟶ Social scientists ⟶ Designers? duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
26. Design is a political act.” Shanti Mathew — Reflections on, at least, three Ps 2020.govservicedesign.net/programme/reflections-least-three-ps Everything is political. The contradictory themes represent different political stances. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS “
27. duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS Plumbers Saviours
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29. Be a lumper, not a splitter Marc Stickdorn, Adam Lawrence, Markus Hormess, Jakob Schneider — This is Service Design Doing — page 20 duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
30. User experience) Service design) Design) Human-centred approaches ( ( ( duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
31. What do you think? Should we be more like plumbers, or saviours? duncanstephen.net — @DuncanBSS
32. Duncan Stephen Read more in my blog post Service design and the Mario complex duncanstephen.net/service-design-and-the-mario-complex/ @DuncanBSS ⟶