This presentation was part of the SDT2012 - the 1st international conference on service design and tourism, Innsbruck/Austria, August 23-24, 2012. For more info on the conference and other presentations visit: www.sdt2012.com. All rights reserved by the author:
Kipum Lee, USA
Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University
Kip is a Ph.D. candidate in the Design, Management and Information Systems program at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. He has worked as an interaction designer at IDEO, frog, and current does strategy work at Marriott International while teaching MBA students at the Weatherhead.
Service as Science and Art: Service Design from 100 Years Ago
While it is tempting to think that service design is fairly new, the activities within grand luxury hotels during the second industrial revolution (1870-1930) reveal a fascinating narrative of service design that predates the formal discipline. In the United States, the activities of eating, sleeping and playing were shaped under the guiding principle of ‘Service as Science’. In Europe, these activities were shaped by a different principle of ‘Service as Art’. Significantly, this distinction calls attention to the same contemporary issue within the discipline today. The purpose of this presentation is twofold: to foster an appreciation for a rich legacy of service production, as well as to challenge the discipline by presenting at least two ways to move forward. The presentation will highlight some interesting images and/or visuals of service delivery (science) and guest experience (art) by going back in time to the late 1800s. Several key themes will be articulated along with engaging stories. Finally, thoughts on how this bears on current directions for service design will be shared.