Master in Service Design

The number of ways for consumers to interact with businesses and services is constantly increasing and, as a result, services and interactions are becoming increasingly complex.

Service design simplifies this complexity and enables companies to see the world through the eyes of their customers, understand their needs and visualise all those moments when the company comes into contact with the user.

With tools such as the customer journey or blueprints we are able to see the entire path that the customer takes, what they need, and how they feel at any given moment. This enables the detection of opportunities for improvement and the visualisation of who the actors involved in the process are.

The Master’s Degree in Service Design provides the tools to improve an existing service or to simply create a new one. It will begin by contextualising design as a transformative tool and by considering products as services that satisfy needs. It will delve into branding and the omnichannel experience of customers before finally guiding students through all the stages of designing a service: initial research, ideation, prototyping, implementation and, ultimately, evaluation. The course, in addition to laying the theoretical foundations, will focus closely on the practical reality of the professional world.

Module 1 - Design as a strategic element

Module 2 - Service logic

Module 3 - Interaction

Module 4 - Disruptive innovation and ideation

Module 5 - Branding and customer experience (CX)

Module 6 - Design research

Module 7 - Prototyping

Module 8 - Organisational transformation

Module 9 - Master’s Degree Final Project

Module 1 - Design as a strategic element

Understanding how design can contribute value to the organisation from a variety of perspectives and learning how to establish a link between corporate strategy and design appraisal.

• Customer-centric approach
• Human-centred design (HCD)
• Design thinking
• Economic and extra-economic indicators in design appraisal

Module 2 - Service logic

Tangible and intangible goods produce a service as a benefit for the users and actors involved. We will examine the characteristics of products and compare them with those of services. We will also work on service logic in marketing, which unites products and services within a common paradigm.

• Service-dominant logic
• IHIP Paradigm
• Origins and definition of service design
• Industry servitisation
• Value co-creation
• Service thinking

Module 3 - Interaction

Interaction will be addressed from a holistic perspective, rather than Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) alone, allowing students to learn to consider the system and how different interactions are generated.

• Usability
• Accessibility
• Information architecture
• User experience (UX)

Module 4 - Disruptive innovation and ideation

This module will take an introspective approach to creativity. We will analyse the way we think, evaluate the mechanisms of thought and help foster creative thinking.

• Divergent thinking
• Human-centred innovation
• Hybridisation
• Developing and stimulating personal creativity
• Problem-solving creativity

Module 5 - Branding and customer experience (CX)

Service design can be an invaluable tool to create a shared framework for the communication tone and strategy of a brand so it can be implemented across all channels and with all relevant teams. We will develop an understanding of how a brand is built, what defines it and how it forms part of the customer experience, in addition to gaining an appreciation of the omnichannel dimension of brands.

• Fundamentals of branding and brand strategy
• How to build a brand: positioning, values, verbal and visual tone
• Brand storytelling and user experience
• Managing the customer experience (CX)
• Omnichannelisation: phygital experience

Module 6 - Design research

The goal is to develop fundamental skills in specialised service research, with the aim of understanding current offers, existing resources, and points for improvement and latent opportunities.

• Research tools (encounter map, touchpoint map, stakeholder map, interviews, etc.)
• User research (user persona, journey mapping, archetypes, etc.)
• Technology and market research (service blueprint, ecosystem mapping, etc.)
• Detection of trends and macro-trends
• Synthesis and insights of the acquired results
• Learning to reframe insights as challenges
• Data representation (data visualisation and infographics)         

Module 7 - Prototyping

Building the skills and acquiring the techniques to prototype experiences and services, with the aim of reducing uncertainty and enabling experimentation with ideas that are in development.

• Defining the key attributes of the value proposition (business canvas, value proposition, etc.)
• Materialising concepts (service package, augmented services, etc.)
• Learning to transform a concept into a tangible prototype (storyboarding, bodystorming, mock-ups, etc.)

Module 8 - Organisational transformation

When implementing changes and new ways of operating within organisations, it is important to understand the corporate culture and to be equipped with tools that enable change management.

• Cultural mapping
• Design narratives and design legacies. How to identify and work on them
• Assessment of work processes
• Stakeholder mapping
• Identifying forces and levers of change
• Participatory design

Module 9 - Master's Degree Final Project

The Master's Degree Final Project presents a case (real or fictional) whose resolution will require the application of all the areas worked on during the course.