Good Services: Decoding the Mystery of What Makes a Good Service
- Downloads：7631
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-05-26 11:58:43
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Lou Downe
- ISBN：9063695438
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
Service design is a rapidly growing area of interest in design and business management。 There are a lot of books on how to get started， but this is the first book that describes what a ‘good’ service is， what makes a good service and why。
This book lays out the essential principles for building services that work well for users。 Demystifying what we mean by a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ service and describing the common elements within all services that mean that it either works for users or doesn’t。 A practical book for non-practitioners interested in better service delivery， a book to guide their decision making without the need to first learn how to design a service themselves。
This book lays out the essential principles for building services that work well for users。 Demystifying what we mean by a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ service and describing the common elements within all services that mean that it either works for users or doesn’t。 A practical book for non-practitioners interested in better service delivery， a book to guide their decision making without the need to first learn how to design a service themselves。
Reviews
Kristina
，
Concise and well explained principles。 Good content and relatable examples。But publication contains a lot of mistakes （who did the proof reading？） and colours of the text are hard to read sometimes because of the contrast （neon orange and pale teal）。 Also I found it quite hard to read with this choice of bold font （Helvetica was designed to be a display font， not a long text reading font）。 Unfortunately， book designers went for eye-catchy posters style rather than the pleasure of reading。Content Concise and well explained principles。 Good content and relatable examples。But publication contains a lot of mistakes （who did the proof reading？） and colours of the text are hard to read sometimes because of the contrast （neon orange and pale teal）。 Also I found it quite hard to read with this choice of bold font （Helvetica was designed to be a display font， not a long text reading font）。 Unfortunately， book designers went for eye-catchy posters style rather than the pleasure of reading。Content: 5/5Book design: 2/5 。。。more
Ruth Alisa V
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When I finished this colourful book， I thought that it's a good 4-star book。 Then I sat for a while staring into nothing， digesting it， working to see how much I have retained。 It felt a bit blurry。 I had an impression that I just read something very interesting， but it is in one untidy pile in my mind。 So I decided to go through the chapter structure again， noting down the summaries and intentionally checking them against my current projects。After I did that， I realised that it's not a four-sta When I finished this colourful book， I thought that it's a good 4-star book。 Then I sat for a while staring into nothing， digesting it， working to see how much I have retained。 It felt a bit blurry。 I had an impression that I just read something very interesting， but it is in one untidy pile in my mind。 So I decided to go through the chapter structure again， noting down the summaries and intentionally checking them against my current projects。After I did that， I realised that it's not a four-star book but a solid five-star since so much of it is applicable and usable so many insights I can take back to my work straight away。The book gives a great overview of what services are， the problems， and where to look for pitfalls。 It elevates your Design/Planning perspective above the Product so you can see more 'of the land' and how it all strategically comes together - users， service providers， over time and cross channels。The example cases in the book are great， sometimes I couldn’t connect them in a clear cut-way with the principle， maybe it was me not following the logic trail very tightly。 Going back through chapter headings， being familiar with the content already， solved it for me， and everything fell into place。 The examples are all interesting taken from many different sectors; they are great examples of our Design History and how things can go very wrong despite the best of our intentions。 About the format of the book。 At the beginning， I wasn't sure about the colours and the bold font， but as I read it， I noticed how much I am enjoying the bold colour splashes breaks of whole pages。 How nice it feels to hold this small chunky book made of very thick， good quality paper。 The light orange on white in certain places was harder to read， but I got over myself。Quotes that really got me thinking:"A service is still a service even if you don’t provide all of it。" "Don’t just design the steps of your service， design the space between them。" "Good services are only as good as their weakest link。" "How you check if something has changed is as important as how you respond to that change。" "How you make a decision is as important as the decision you make" - This quote comes from principle 14， one I enjoyed and reflected on the most。 "Use computers and humans for what they are good at。" 。。。more
Philippe Demougin
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Interesting book。 Very helpful for people working in service design。 Not very well written， unfortunately。 In particular， unusual amounts of errors。
shikha
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One of the best books I've read。 Concepts are explained using great examples。 I love how the book is designed as well。 One of the best books I've read。 Concepts are explained using great examples。 I love how the book is designed as well。 。。。more
Virgita Atigriv
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Insightful book about what matters the most and how to design a good service。 The book is a very easy read， gives you some food for thought as well as provides an absolute basis where to start when building services。 Though I expected less softish content， I would still evalute it as a recommended read。
Nathan
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Some really great advice and illustrative case studies。 But the design of the book made it difficult to read， and I had to take breaks to give my eyes a rest。 Also riddled with typos。 This is a criticism of the editor and publisher rather than the author， but it does unfortunately impact the reading experience。
David
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Very inspiring。 Every Service Provider should get a copy。
John Wade
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An easy read。 Makes clear points well。 As others have said， the bold text and coloured fonts can get in the way。 The biggest issue was the dreadful proofreading。 I've never seen so many typos。 But still highly recommended for the content。。。especially if you have even a passing influence on service design。 An easy read。 Makes clear points well。 As others have said， the bold text and coloured fonts can get in the way。 The biggest issue was the dreadful proofreading。 I've never seen so many typos。 But still highly recommended for the content。。。especially if you have even a passing influence on service design。 。。。more
Kakau
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Terrible typography。 Awesome content！
Celina
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For anyone providing or working with a service - read this book！ Lou Downe lays out 15 principles of good services that are seemingly obvious but are so well described and detailed。 I give this 5 stars because of the actionable tips at the end of each principle to help you design better services where many other similar books can lay out why design is bad whilst not giving you the tools to better it。 Will probably always have this book on hand from now on。
Marco Neves
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I got this book thinking it was about building good webservices。 It is not！This is a book about how to build a good service， in the business sense of the word。 Yes， a lot of what Lou talks about applies （or is directly related with） the digital services that we build and use， but not all of it。It is， all of it， worth reading。 Hell， if you design， manage or implement services， the tradicional version or the digital fashion， this is a book you can't miss。Lou takes us trough 15 obvious points about I got this book thinking it was about building good webservices。 It is not！This is a book about how to build a good service， in the business sense of the word。 Yes， a lot of what Lou talks about applies （or is directly related with） the digital services that we build and use， but not all of it。It is， all of it， worth reading。 Hell， if you design， manage or implement services， the tradicional version or the digital fashion， this is a book you can't miss。Lou takes us trough 15 obvious points about what a good service is， explains each of those points and gets us thinking about the quality of what we are doing， of the services we help build， of the service we provide。If you have any possible impact in a service， this is the next book you should read！ 。。。more
Jennifer
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Many thoughtful and well organized ideas in this book。 Wish some of the font weight， kerning and colour use was more accessible for folks with vision issues and generally easier to read。
Aly Blenkin - now on the StoryGraph
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I thought the book was very insightful！ However， I found the text hard to read， specifically the bright colours and bold font。
Andrea Hill
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In the past year， I've been introduced to Service Design as I worked within the Canadian federal government。 Sure， I'd previously read Lance Bettencourt's book on Service Innovation， but I recognized that public services are 。。 slightly different。 I eagerly ordered this book （paying far too much for shipping from the Netherlands！） in late 2019。 I hate to admit it， but the tight kerning and bright font in the book was a distraction。 I found it hard to sit down and read - but at the same time， I c In the past year， I've been introduced to Service Design as I worked within the Canadian federal government。 Sure， I'd previously read Lance Bettencourt's book on Service Innovation， but I recognized that public services are 。。 slightly different。 I eagerly ordered this book （paying far too much for shipping from the Netherlands！） in late 2019。 I hate to admit it， but the tight kerning and bright font in the book was a distraction。 I found it hard to sit down and read - but at the same time， I couldn't quite approach this book as something intellectual， to study/take notes on。 I did attend a Quarantine Book Club online event with the author in late March， which helped get me motivated again。 I really liked the anecdotes in the book， but really found the format tough to really get into。 I hate to complain about that， but it really did hamper my ability to enjoy this book。 I did appreciate some of the tidbits and principles themselves， but the sheer fact it took me three months to read a book of this size says something。。 :-/ 。。。more
Eleanor
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It’s a good introduction to service design principles。 But if you’re looking for something more ground breaking， this isn’t it。 I think it would have benefited from more time being developed， and advice about actually putting the principles into practice （and a more thorough proof-read！）。A respectable addition to the literature on the topic， but I expected a bit more。
Diego R-V
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REC - JAZZ
Benjamin Heap
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Excellent book。 Full of great thought provoking case studies。 Must read for those working in and designing services
Neil
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There are lots of good ideas in this book， and I know it's going to help us at work。 It's let down in a number of ways， though。It feels like it's missing one or two chapters at the end; after going through all the principles， it would be helpful to pull them together in a "here's how you might incorporate the principles when designing a new service"， and "here's how to approach an existing service"。 Having read it， I'm going to sketch out my missing chapter， to help think about how to best apply There are lots of good ideas in this book， and I know it's going to help us at work。 It's let down in a number of ways， though。It feels like it's missing one or two chapters at the end; after going through all the principles， it would be helpful to pull them together in a "here's how you might incorporate the principles when designing a new service"， and "here's how to approach an existing service"。 Having read it， I'm going to sketch out my missing chapter， to help think about how to best apply this at work。It's also let down by the presentation: many pages are just walls of dark text， not helped by the choice of typeface / weight。 Many sections would benefit from a bit of structure。 I found pink paragraphs of text on a white background hard to read （that's old person's eyes for you， I guess）。 There were too many typos as well。 Some of the anecdotes would be improved by a trim。All told， it felt like a book that was released too soon。 A shame because I think it has the potential for a 5， but I ended up trying to decide between 3 or 4。 I'd probably give it 7/10。All that said， it's still worth a read， as they are so many good ideas in it。 。。。more
Luis Alt
，
For a long time now， Service Designers have preached that there are no formulas for good services， that each service is unique and it is required to do a complete project that goes through user research， co-creation and prototypes to finally formalize the strategy and operation in a service blueprint to discover what exactly an organization needs to do。 However， the experienced and talented Lou Downe shows us in this book that there are some good practices that might be applied to any situation。 For a long time now， Service Designers have preached that there are no formulas for good services， that each service is unique and it is required to do a complete project that goes through user research， co-creation and prototypes to finally formalize the strategy and operation in a service blueprint to discover what exactly an organization needs to do。 However， the experienced and talented Lou Downe shows us in this book that there are some good practices that might be applied to any situation。 Not only this is a great book about good services， but it is a milestone for the discipline。 Definitely a required reading for everyone that works with service （and） design。 If I could choose only one book in my area of work （Service Design） to have written myself， this would be it。 It is insightful， easy to read and the perfect starting point for any good service。 Thank you， Lou， for this incredible piece of work！ 。。。more
Maike Klip
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