This week UPA Sydney asked me to talk about service design and sustainability at their World Usability Day event. I decided to talk about how user-centred design can create services that enhance quality of life, improve efficiency and promote sustainability – both environmental and social sustainability. I based the talk around eight of my favourite examples of service design for the greater good.
Low Carb Lane
When the team from Live|Work in the UK were asked to develop a bunch of new services to help residents to reduce their energy use they took a service design approach. The key design problem for Low Carb Lane was “how might energy efficiency be accessible, desirable and affordable for all – rich or poor, home owners and renters alike?” The key outcomes from their research was a home energy dashboard to provide real-time energy consumption information via a ‘energy dashboard’ on the resident’s televisions, computers and mobile phones. SaverBox scheme which allows households to install energy-saving products (such as insultation) then pay it off using the savings they make in their energy bill. For example if they saved £40, they pay off £30 and keep the £10 left over. It’s a win:win situation. (image by Gunna)
Green Homes Concierge
When a team from Participle was asked to design services which would help homeowners reduce their enery use they decided to move into a terrace in South London to explore energy saving from a homeowner’s point of view. The team also conducted research with 12 householders across London to gain insight and generate ideas about how to reduce energy use. From their research and insights, they developed Green Home Concierge – a service which offers expert, practical support for homeowners who want to make their homes more energy efficient and cheaper to run – while also reducing their C02 emissions and their impact on the environment.
Streetcar
In 2004 Live|Work helped Streetcar improve their service by taking a service design approach. They started by going through all the service touchpoints. They found 3 key barriers within the exisiting service:
- A small PIN code device that customers had to use to start the car was a huge problem. It was so difficult to use that everytime Streetcar got a new customer they had to go out and meet the customer and show them how to use the PIN code device.
- They also found that the £100 joining fee was a really big barrier for people – customers wanted to try the service before committing.
- And understanding was a big issue. Because Streetcar was such a new service in the UK, customers didn’t have any previous experience with similar services – so they had a lot of really detailed questions about how the service worked.
In the end the service was simpliefied into 4 steps: book, unlock, enter pin, then drive. This helped give the customer a concept of the service before they committed anything. They also removed £100 joining fee and the number of people who registered skyrocketed. (image by Gavin Luhrs)
Haringey Housing Services
Live|Work partnered with Haringey Council to develop new ideas for housing services and mentor council staff so they could then adopt a service design approach to their own work. The team included a wide range of people and specialists including housing staff, managers and policy officers. Workshops were facilitated with the team to give them a solid method and process for engaging residents and applying the insights they gained to create, test and define solutions to housing issues.
Twelve months on Haringey are on schedule in their task of reducing the number of people in temporary accommodation saving them significant costs. They also found the project brought about a cultural change within housing teams who are now much more prepared to listen to, consider and act on the issues faced by their residents.
Southwark Circle
In the UK service design has been used to create a new social enterprise called Southwark Circle which is delivering vastly improved aged care services for less money designed by elderly people for elderly people using local social networks to bring real improvements to people’s lives. Participle developed this service by using a service design methodology. They started off with two months of user research with older people and their families. They found that older people value a life based on participation and relationships that sustain their sense of dignity and control. Without this they are more likely to become depressed and unwell and ultimately in need of more care, perpetuating a vicious cycle of dependence.
Enter Southwark Circle, a membership organisation that helps people take care of household tasks, forge social connections and find new directions in life. It’s open to all, regardless of levels of need or income. Southwark Circle is made up of members (people over 50) and helpers. Members can get help from other members or helpers on things like DIY projects, gardening, cleaning jobs, and even things like getting a DVD to work or social activities like dinners together. Helpers have the opportunity to give something back to the community like teaching an older person how to use a computer, cleaning windows or picking up the shopping.
Southwark Circle was launched as a social enterprise earlier this year and it’s getting a lot of positive coverage. There are already plans with other local councils to develop a national model.
A promotional video for members and one for neighbourhood helpers is available on You Tube. (image by K’s GLIMPSES).
You Can Kingston
UK service design consultancy Thinkpublic worked with NHS Kingston on You Can Kingston, an initiative exploring future healthy living and wellbeing initiatives for the Cambridge Road estates.
Thinkpublic started by setting up a text message feedback line to gather ideas and input from residents. They then asked more than 60 residents on the Estate what makes them feel happy and healthy. These conversations were a way of starting a dialogue with residents and clearly understanding the challenges they face, in their own words. Three of these interviews are available on Vimeo (here, here and here).
These insights were then used as the starting point for a co-design to further develop ideas.
Local residents responded positively to the consultation process and this was the first time residents were engaged in this kind of collaborative and creative way. (image by thinkpublic)
Alzheimer 100
Still with Thinkpublic, they were asked to investigate ways to improve the everyday lives of people with dementia, their carers and service providers.
Thinkpublic started by conducting interviews with people affected by dementia. They then trained people with dementia in film-making and interviewing skills and asked them to interview those around them (which sounds like a very interesting contextual enquiry/cultural probe hybrid technique). The resulting insights and ideas fed into a full-day co-design workshop where participants voted on the ideas they felt would be most beneficial.
The whole process resulted in a number of recommendations for improvement, including a Dementia Signposting Service, a Mentoring Programme for Carers and the design of a safe “Wandering Garden”. The Dementia Signposting Service is now aiming for national implementation in the UK.
Migrant Workers Health
Mid Essex in the UK had high levels of migrant workers who were not accessing or using local health services. This was impacting on the health of individuals from these communities and adding strain on local health resources. But there was limited information on the health and lifestyle behaviours of this group due to cultural and language barriers and difficulties in locating and accessing communities.
NHS Mid Essex asked Uscreates to help. They took a collaborative approach conducting focus groups, in-depth interviews, co-design workshops and a Touring Café. Over the course of a week the Touring Cafe visited 12 workplaces (ranging from factories to care homes) and involved over 100 migrant workers. The Touring Café, I think, is a great idea. Many of the people who talked to Uscreates in the Touring Cafe said they would not have attended a formal style of consultation.
A co-design event was then conducted with migrant workers, NHS Mid Essex and Council employees, community development leaders and designers. Together they explored four of the key findings from the research:
- Lack of trust and belief in GPs and Dentists
- Language barrier to accessing and using GPs/Dentists/Hospitals
- Lack on knowledge about the NHS system and entitlements
- Health apathy/de-prioritisation of health
All up over 150 migrant workers were involved in the project and already changes in the language translation procedure have been introduced as a result of the research. Findings and recommendations were presented a couple of weeks ago and you can follow further progress at their blog.
Surprise for all you Aussies out there – the 
…and back to the UK just one more time. 
