Design for People, Design with People: The Complexities and Breakouts of Public Service Design in Practice

Abstract

AbstractPublic service innovation for the underprivileged minority is challenging for meeting users’ needs while avoiding compromising the rights of non-users. It also suffers from limited resources under considerations of proportionality and efficiency of public welfare. Commonly, to quickly respond to social needs, public sectors often take technology-oriented solutions instead of clarifying the underlying complexity. Lacking user-centered design, public services are often criticized for low usability and result in unsatisfaction and even more significant problems. Can service design, as a strategic method to counter issues with poorly defined parameters, non-binary solutions, help drive better public innovation?Through a case study of EyeBus, the research purpose is to explore how service design enhanced the bus-riding experience for the visually impaired. The research objectives are (1) to clarify the complexities in the process of accessible public service design (2) to analyze how service design resolved the difficulties (3) to study how stakeholders’ cooperation accelerated the practice of public services. The results of the research are (1) providing a case and principles of applying service design to public service innovation (2) promoting action plans for public sectors to encouraging more demand-oriented public service innovations. We hope that better practices of service design will drive more public good.KeywordsPublic service innovationService designVisually impairment