Examining Designer's Ability to Predict New Service Success
DS 81: Proceedings of NordDesign 2014, Espoo, Finland 27-29th August 2014
Year: 2014
Editor: Miko Laakso, Kalevi Ekman
Author: Candi (1), Marina; Gemser (2), Gerda
Series: NordDESIGN
Institution: 1: Reykjavik University, Iceland 2: RMIT University, Australia
Section: Design theory and practices
Page(s): 530-539
ISBN: 978-1-904670-58-2
Abstract
We examine designers’ ability to predict new service success. To do so, we compare customer and designer evaluations of new services. Our findings suggest that while designers are not good predictors of customers’ satisfaction with new services in general, their ability to predict customer satisfaction improves when services are hedonic in nature –rather than utilitarian- or when they can be characterized as innovative. Designing services is a relatively new practice for designers, which may explain why they have difficulty predicting customers’ satisfaction with new services. This in turn suggests, among other things, a need for design educators to enha nce designers’ capabilities in assessing market acceptance of new services.
Keywords: Designers, service design, customer satisfaction, predicting success