This week Stuart Bailey (PDE MSc tutor) gave an overview on services, products and human-centred design. It was a whistle-stop tour and covered a lot of ground very quickly. There were a few aspects of the talk that stood out to me. There was a lot of emphasis put on how designing a service, in relation to designing a product, is just as important in this day and age as designing a physical thing.
Stuart pointed out that the apps within our phones are all services, and the phone itself is just an interface for the user to access these services. There is nearly always a physical element to a service which is the point of interaction. This is important for me to keep in mind as I head forward in my Future of Food project. At this stage I am not sure how my concept will lead forward to a physical thing, but even if it is a service that is produced, there must be an interface of some description that the user can interact with whatever the service may be.
Cars of the future is an interesting changing topic that is related to the difference between a product and service. In current times the need to reduce carbon emissions is leading to car technology booming, and we are seeing an increase in the number of electric cars and alternative fuel sources to petrol and diesel. In the future, cars may be seen as a service rather than a product that people own. Similar to a taxi service like Uber or the Next Bike service in Glasgow for example, if the purpose is to get from A to B, why not have a service where you rent a car for a period of time or a journey rather than own one outright? This would reduce the number of cars on the road and potentially be more financially viable, whilst also being environmentally responsible.
tom scotcher 