Strategic, Product, and Service Design misreadings

Design encompasses various disciplines, each with its difficulties and challenges. While some design crafts have clear definitions and expectations, others, like strategic design, can be more elusive.

As a freelance strategic design consultant with a background in visual design, I often find it challenging to communicate that the essence of my work lies beyond the domain of visual outcomes. In this article, I aim to illuminate the nuances of strategic design, product design, and service design, debunk misconceptions, and explore the complexities of each field.

Strategic Design

According to Wikipedia, strategic design entails applying future-oriented design principles to enhance an organization’s innovative capacity and competence. This definition, which I prominently feature on my webpage, emphasizes that strategic design does not revolve around visual outputs.

Nevertheless, it is disappointing that many people are unaware of this definition, leading to misinterpreting strategic design’s true essence.

Neither service design nor product design should be reduced to mere visual solutions. Instead, both disciplines are rooted in design methodologies and require open-ended outcomes tailored to resolving complex problems that lack straightforward technical solutions.

Product Design

Job openings for product design often perpetuate the misunderstanding that UX or visual design alone suffices as the primary requirement for the role. Moreover, for experienced designers, this field has historically been closely aligned with Industrial Design.

However, in today’s landscape, product design is increasingly intertwined with service design, particularly in the digital or SAAS field, where most offerings are technically categorised as services.

This misconception arises from HR recycling generic job descriptions. Product design encompasses more than aesthetics; it necessitates a comprehensive understanding of user needs, functionality, and problem-solving. The visual aspect is vital but should not overshadow the research, knowledge, and definition of a product’s purpose.

Service Design

Service design encounters challenges similar to those in perception and differentiation from product design. The lines between services and products have blurred in the digital age, making it challenging to establish clear distinctions. Both service and product design suffer from the “visible design” trap, where people tend to reduce design to its visual aspects.

However, it is crucial to emphasize that effective service design entails thorough research, knowledge gathering, and thoughtful meaning definition before visual aspects come into play.

To wrap this up:

• It remains challenging to explain the complexities of design disciplines such as strategic design, product design, and service design.

• With time, companies and HR departments will gain a deeper understanding of these nuances, sparing designers the need to justify and explain their work from the ground up constantly.

• The design extends beyond aesthetics, encompassing research, problem-solving, and creating meaningful experiences.

• By embracing the multifaceted nature of design, we can cultivate a greater appreciation for the complexities inherent in these disciplines and foster more informed and productive collaborations.