Service Design (5 cr)

Objectives (course unit)

Purpose of Service Design studies is to provide thinking models, practical process and tools for learners to design services from a customer perspective. Service Design is based on design thinking in which individual cases and general models are applied when building understanding of customers, users and providers in service process. The purpose of this approach is to design services that balances needs of customer, user and the business in a way that creates good quality service experience. Service Design process can bee seen as repeating process of discovery, define, develop and deliver. Key concepts in Service Design studies are service, service design, service blue print, service specification from customers point-of-view, service guidelines, service event, service interface of touch points, service experience, service usefullness, service usability and service desirability.

Location and time

The studies are carried out online. The course is non-stop in style. Students' performances are evaluated approximately every month.

Exam schedules

The course has no exam

Assessment methods and criteria

Assessment is based on level of competences in different learning assignments.

Assessment scale

1-5

Teaching methods

In service design studies, you learn to define the entirety of service design, develop services through service design methods and identify different customer needs and service models. Service design is based on design thinking, where individual cases and general models are applied to build understanding and knowledge about the participation of customers, users and service providers in the service process. The purpose of this approach is to design services that balance the needs of the customer, the user, and the business in a way that creates a quality service experience. The process of service design can be seen as repeated steps of searching, defining, developing and implementing. Key contents to be learned are service, service design, customer-oriented description of service, service events, service meeting points, service experience, service usefulness, service usability and service desirability. The study course is implemented at different times online. You study completely according to your own schedule and possibilities.

Learning materials

Lean Service Creation. Open source tools for change agents. The what, the how and the why. Futurice Sarvas, R., Nevanlinna, H. and Pesonen, J. (2017). Lean Service Creation. The handbook V1.8.Futurice. Stickdorn, M., Lawrence, A., Hormess, M. and Schneider, J. (2018). This is Service Design Doing. Applying Service Design and Design Thinking in the real world. O'Reilly.

Student workload

During the course, the student is responsible for his own use of time and total workload. The performance of the course must be ready by July 31, 2025.

Completion alternatives

No optional methods

Practical training and working life cooperation

As a student, you get to choose your own project organization.

International connections

No international connections

Further information

HAMK students register for the course in Pakki during the enrolment time. Available only in Finnish at CampusOnline. HAMK’s Spark feedback system opens 7 days before the course/module ends and it stays open for 14 days after the end date. You may give course/module feedback via Pakki. A notification of the courses/modules (to whom you have registered) for which feedback can be given appears on the desktop. You will always receive a notification on the student desktop when a course/module is ready for feedback. You will receive a reminder in HAMK's e-mail on the end date of the implementation, if you have not already given feedback before. For more information on course/module feedback, see the student feedbackpage. Open University of Applied Sciences students can provide course/module feedback via a browser at https://pakki.hamk.fi/spark.