developing design.
Concepts are funny little things. sometimes they comes in twos and threes. and sometimes they take a little holiday. However, I am going to elaborate on initial concept ideas, good or bad.
This idea is about visually viewing letters, notes and hand written keep sakes in an beautiful object.
The interaction, the way my product will speak to the user, is an area of intense importance. Interaction Design Master Classes helped me evolve my thinking into the realm of interactions.
This video is a prototype for a very early service concept. The user would text my service who would then create a beautiful, poetic letter, elaborating on the concept of the text.
Prototypes were created integrating the wacom tablet. This proved to spark off interesting conversations regarding the essence of Douceurs with those who used the prototype.
The user writes onto the pad and their letter appears in email form on the computer screen. The tablet functions well through a pad of paper - increasing the quality and realistic nature of physically writing with a normal pen. One particular user particularly liked the fact they could keep a physical copy of their hand written letter as well as send their email electronically. The form of the product needs further exploration.
Final concept.
The foundations of my final concept are based upon conclusions drawn from my initial research as well as intense insight into peoples lives. My service enables users to write a letter to the future, either to their future selves or friends or family. My service 'stores' the letter until the date of delivery. The product behind the service is the vehicle of communication - the envelope.
I created a service wall to document the service journey. This was an excellent way to further involve myself in my design as well as others.
The Service Design Master class taught about more about how to visualise the customers service journey.
The images below illustrate the questions I am striving to answer in the design of the service:
What is the key moment of interaction? Staring at the blank page, putting pen to paper, sealing the envelope, licking the stamp or putting the letter in the post box?
When the receiver gets the letter will it look old or new?
How can I portray to people that time has passed?
Form of the object is crucial. It is a design statement - the first impression.
I created yet another service wall - a platform for the understanding of each phase of the service. This helped me to visualise how each of the insights gained could be used to generate more ideas.
Touchpoints.
All touchpoints need to be considered in totality and crafted in order to create a clear, consistent and unified experience.The bits of my service that customers come into contact with. In order to deepen my understanding of touchpoints - what they mean to customers and how other companies design them, I have been collecting touchpoints that I associate with Douceurs.
The receipt. How can I design the receipt in such as way it will encourage the user to trust their letter will be safe with Douceurs? The font, the graphics , colours and images used all have to researched.
The sign on the post box. Would there be an extra delivery information sign - next collection 10 years?
The postman acts as a touchpoint. Will Douceurs have special postmen?
The physical stamp, as well as the printed stamp both act as crucial touchpoints. They are the first visual reference the recipient observes.
This is an example of a touchpoint adopted by Moonpig: they allow you to choose what message will appear on the envelope.
This is an example of my service blueprint.
future proofing my design.
I have to think about the ink fading over time?
Precious documents are currently stored in a various number of ways as my interview with an archivist showed:
"Documents (as in parchment, paper, etc) are stored in acid-free envelopes/files/boxes in a store – if they are very fragile then we put them in a polyester protective pouch to prevent further degradation in handling. We don’t have automatic humidity and temperature control, and rely on de-humidifiers and human common sense in how much heating control to set so that the temperature and relative humidity are kept within acceptable limits for preservation (ideally 16-19ºC, relative humidity of 45-60%), but other more modern archives have automatic temp/humidity control, and there are different ideal criteria for different media as well. We are to get a new archive, attached to the projected National Nuclear Archive, and to be built over the next 4 years, so this will be an all singing and all dancing repository. All record repositories should adhere to the recommendations in BS 5454:2000 Recommendations for the Storage and Exhibition of Archival Documents for which you will find details on-line."
Where will the user collect it from? What would their journey consist of?How will people trust that it will work?Think about the feeling of loss involved if it never arrived safely!
service image.
the product.
When designing the envelope care must be taken to ensure it does not become an object. Then it stops becoming an envelope and therefore defeats the purpose of the service....
These images are visual representations of what my product might look like and the materials I may adopt.
A brass seal engraved with my logo is currently being manufactured and will be used to seal the envelopes Douceurs receives. This will play a large role in increasing the essence of secrecy and trust.
website prototype
Critical Incident Technique.
This technique has allowed me to analyse factors that could threaten the service or things that could go wrong. By looking at the journey a client goes through when the service works, all elements are identified and listed that are critical to the service but that would damage the service experience if they didn't work.
Expert Interviews.
Talking to specialists and experts with experience from the field of service design , improve real insights and helped me in a very short time to understand essentials of new environment. The mix of outside perspective with the knowledge of experts can help to establish a new network of understanding. This will be further reinforced at the Service Design event I am attending in Newcastle at the beginning of April.
Try it Yourself.
Trying out components of the service myself was a very simple but highly effective way to test the service and vividly imagine being in the clients shoes. It allowed me to gain a new level of understanding and a new level of insights.
This document highlights the various stages of designing a service -
This image is an overview of the Service Design Process. It highlights the key stages involved in the development of the service in the near future.
service prototypes,service scenarios, mock ups, maps, role plays
service business plan, service specification,service guidelines, service blueprint....