Service design dissertation

Johan Blomkvist: “Representing Future Situations of Service: Prototyping in Service Design”

On Tuesday May 6th Johan defended his PhD Thesis at Linköping University. The opponent, Professor Youn- kyong Lim (Korea Advanced Institute of Science, Department of Industrial Design) provided a context and discussed the main contributions of the thesis. Johan then presented the content of the actual thesis. The thesis suggests that prototyping in design should be seen as a way of thinking. This way of thinking includes the use of physical manifestations that represent future situations. In service design, the manifestations can represent future services. The thesis suggests a framework of perspectives that are important to consider when prototyping services. It takes a closer look at the different types of prototypes that are used and how they are used to think about future situations. The thesis also introduces the service walkthrough method for prototyping in service design.

The thesis can be found here (opens in a separate tab)