Service Design and Product-Service Systems

Product designers have been the main design competence to be employed in product oriented businesses. When it comes to the design of Product-Service Systems, employing product design competences would be a conservative approach. Design theorist Buchanan identifies design orders spanning from graphic, over product and interaction, to systemic design, explaining important differences in perspctives. Contemporary studies on design disciplines show that differences are significant, and it becomes important to know how to select and direct adequate design work. Methods and tools service designers use are typically serviceblueprints, customer journeys, prototypes etc, all focused on processes and value-in-use, where product desigerns focus on form and function. In this paper we show how service designers relate to industrial design in the context of PSS. We review the profile of service designer and compare design disciplines. We conclude that service designers are well suited to deal with PSS design, with their focus on value in use, together with product designers. We also highlight that busineess need to develop competent judgement and design management to get the appropriate design competence.