This book has been entitled ‘Service design: Insights from nine case studies’. Each of the nine case studies has been described. If we were to stand back from these nine projects and look at them through eyes half closed, what would we see? What insights would we draw from them? What are the recurrent themes? And what plays only a minor role, though we may have expected it to be more important? Each project described in this book was preceded by a lengthy preliminary phase. This was despite the diversity of clients and design agencies. This generates the following question: is such a preliminary phase a fundamental part of the service design process? The agencies remark that the project only really starts when the official go-ahead is given. But this is not a starting point for any process; it is always preceded by a long period of probing, fine tuning, adaptation and decision-making. The events in the preliminary phase turn out to have a major influence on the course of the project and on the results.
�A welcome in Service Design One outcome of this diversity of clients is that not all of them are equally familiar with the term service design. Although the awareness of service design is increasing, many clients do require some explanation in order to fully understand its significance. This is all the more relevant when the clients go to explain the project to their own colleagues and managers. So an almost inevitable part of the process is that the design agencies need to introduce the stakeholders to the service design approach and their own method in the service design context. Why is it relevant? What can we contribute? Why and how is our way of thinking and working different? What results can we produce?
Some agencies make this a gradual process, organizing various network meetings and seminars over the years. Others are faced with a client who has to be convinced of the worth of service design within a very short time frame. This acquisition process incorporates the fostering of a joint vision on service design and the right approach to the project. As this joint vision was lacking at the start of a number of the projects, there was a period of preliminary probing that lead to some serious project delays.
�A urgency Find or stir it up The success of a service design process is dependent on the commitment of the 43