Designing formal attributes and user experience in public services

Abstract

This paper is about service design: the focus is on formal attributes of services view as interactive events involving users and a service supplier; we mainly refer to traditional and innovative services provided by private and public institutions, such as health care centers and public transportation services. In this paper the authors present a conceptual representation of structural factors shared by all services, that has been employed as theoretical framework in projects and didactical activities during the last few years; the proposed model supports the design of services both from the functional and formal points of view, outlining the complex correlation between organization and aesthetic factors in services, highlighting some significant elements that influence the emotional experience of users, and investigating the role of the different contribution provided by the different discipline that concur in service design processes. User experience is mainly analyzed in terms of emotional and cognitive processes and it is related to perception studies. Furthermore, the paper presents a methodological approach to the project of formal attributes of services and some results obtained applying the presented theoretical principles to practical contexts, significantly in the field of public health care; the project activities were mainly performed in cooperation with the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori of Milan. Following the authors, the core element of user experience relies in the perspective adopted by a patient toward himself and toward the physical and mental challenges posed by the course of illness and the corresponding service fruition; to this purpose, aesthetic design interventions should be designed to support patients in the adoption of a positive and convenient attitude toward their temporary or chronic state of life, reducing feeling of discouragement, danger, uncertainty often associated to physical diseases.