The aim of the course is to train students in the advanced and executive design of a product-service system: from the identification of design opportunities to the generation of ideas, from development to prototyping in the field. The Final Synthesis Design Studio provides useful tools to interpret in a critical and personal manner the themes of the project in the wider context of the ongoing cultural, social and technological transformations. Students are asked to elaborate an original project working in teams, with particular attention to semantic, functional, typological and technical aspects, as well as to define the elements of economic feasibility.

Students:
- know and understand the theory and tools of the product-service system project interepreting the dynamics of multicultural and multidisciplinary interaction;
- know how to grasp the implications of one's own design choices in relation to business, market, society and environment; make design synthesis; visualize product-service systems through elaborate narratives; organize a prototyping;
- are able to develop and interpret, independently and in groups, project issues, sharing and communicating the design choices, developing aptitudes to negotiation, teambuilding, leadership and conflict management;
- know how to manage problems that are not strictly inherent to the issues addressed in the teaching by transferring what has been learnt.

Transforming Cities.
Designing services for sustainable, inclusive and smart contexts.

It is estimated that in 2050 66% of the world population will live in urban contexts. Currently, 80% of greenhouse gas emissions and 50% of global waste are generated in cities, therefore cities become a crucial context to accompany a sustainable, inclusive, and technologically advanced development. These issues are, indeed, at the center of the SDGs objectives such as objective 11 "Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable" and 12 "Ensuring sustainable consumption and growth patterns". In recent years, various models of urban development have been theorized, they speak of circular cities, eco-cities, and resilient cities that become complementary to the more technological model of smart-cities. In this framework, the European Community has played an important role in supporting a sustainable development model that puts citizens at the center of the process, considering local communities and local actors as co-creators of urban development. In this scenario, the principles of participation, co-design, and co-creation become important to promote forms of growth capable of combining local needs with the stimuli or threats on the global scale.

On these premises the Final Studio develops, imagining that service designers can play an active role in this transition. And so, what are the challenges that service designers can face to shape services in, for, and with cities? It can refer to open innovation paradigms, technological improvements, stronger social cohesion, new forms of democracy, as well as new proximity models. In this rapidly changing scenario, service designers can define directions in which to imagine concrete changes through innovative service solutions.

In particular, the field of experimentation will start from the urban development initiatives of the NOLO district in Milan and from the activities promoted by Campus OFF Nolo living lab. The challenge is to develop city-based solutions that are related to the emerging needs and behavior of citizens and visitors. The idea is to share a common scenario in which service design can support public and private organizations as well as policymakers to promote innovation at the urban level reflecting on how service design can contribute to this great journey.

Students will work on different areas such as Young and Teen Entertainment, Wellbeing / Care, Inclusive and Slow Mobility, Food and Food poverty, Multicultural integration, Job and Education.

Objectives

To design services that are sustainable (in a wider perspective), reliable, innovative, and related to a vision of a city development. The idea is to design service solutions that can be integrated in a systemic view to create value for a wider community of stakeholders. 

Structure and organization

The design process will be structured as follows:

            •          Framing the context: exploring design scenarios and case studies

            •          Understanding the contexts (Design ethnography/field research)

            •          Generating service ideas

            •          Prototyping and validating ideas

            •          Identifying business models

            •          Defining and developing service ideas

            •          Finalizing service solutions

The different phases will involve different learning modules such as lectures, hands-on workshops, and project reviews.

In particular, the activities will be focused on:

1. Framing the context: exploring scenarios and existing experiences

The initial stage of the Final Studio will be dedicated to building a common framework about possible design directions through scenarios creation and case studies research. This preliminary research will help students in defining an innovation area in which to develop new service ideas.

2. Understanding the users (Design ethnography/field research)

The Scenario will be validated through field research. It is aimed at generating insights that will support the idea generation.

3. Generating service ideas

Students will work on a generative phase in order to find promising ideas and service areas to be further developed in the future steps of the Studio.

4. Prototyping and evaluating ideas

Concepts will be validated and tested through different prototyping stages. In particular, a dedicated workshop will be structured to co-design ideas, a second iteration will be dedicated to validate the service ideas and reflect on strong and weak points, the final stage will be focused on testing the idea with the real users and stakeholders.

Ideas will also be refined through different user tests and other loops of applied ethnography.

5. Defining and developing service ideas

Service ideas will be described and developed in all their components. Front stage and backstage activities will be considered as well as digital and physical touchpoints. Further, ideas will be developed to also describe the value created for the users and for the stakeholders involved in the system.

6. Developing business models and Assessing economic feasibility

The service ideas will be also described and designed around a business model that will be explored, identified, and detailed throughout the Final Studio journey. The economic feasibility of the project will be evaluated.

7. Finalizing service ideas

As the last step, the ideas will be prototyped and visualized in order to describe the solutions as a complex system that includes back-office activities (related to the organizational level), and the front-office area (system of interactions and touchpoints).

Solutions can be physical or digital or combine both of these aspects. All the solutions will be simulated in the main components.

Suggested books and articles

On city transformation and community approaches
Dell’Era C and Landoni P (2014). Living Lab: A Methodology between User-Centred Design and Participatory Design. Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 23, No. 2, Pp. 137-154

Fassi, D. (2021). Project-based communities: lessons learned from collaborative city-making experiences, Codesign, (18)1, 4-15.

Fassi, D., Vergani, F. (2020). “Designing solutions for the commons” in T. Issa, T. Issa, T. B. Issa, P. Isaias (a cura di), Sustainability Awareness and Green Information Technologies,  Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2020. ISBN 978-3-030-47974-9. pp.463-477

Fassi, D., Galluzzo, L., De Rosa, A. (2018).  “Service+Spatial design: Introducing the fundamentals of a transdisciplinary approach”. pp.847-862. In Service Design Proof of Concept Proceedings of the ServDes.2018 Conference. 2018. ISBN:978-91-7685-237-8 vol. 150

Camocini, B., Fassi, D. (a cura di) In the neighbourhood, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2017

Fassi, D., De Rosa, A., Vergani, F. (2021). “Multiple narratives for multiple visions: engaging citizens in building future scenarios for their city through participatory design and storytelling.” In Design Culture(s). Cumulus Conference Proceedings Roma 2021, Volume 2, edited by DI LUCCHIO Loredana, IMBESI Lorenzo, GIAMBATTISTA Angela, and MALAKUCZI Viktor, 2942–54. Roma, 2021.

Fry, T. (2011). Design as Politics, Berg Publishers. Oxford & New York.

Fry, T. (2009). Design Futuring, Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice University of New South Wales Press Ltd, Sydney Australia.
Manzini, E. (2022). Livable Proximity: Ideas for the City that Cares, Milan: Egea

Villari, B., (2013), A community centred approach for neighbourhood-based services. Connecting design education and research practices for social innovation. 5th IASDR, Tokyo

Links
Villari, B. (2021), Community-centered Design. A Design Perspective on Innovation In and For Places, The International Journal of Design in Society, (16)1, 47-58.

On services, service design and transformative approaches

Burns, C., Cottam H., Vanstone C., Winhall J. (2006). “Transformation Design”, RED paper 02, Design Council, London.
Foglieni F., Villari B, Maffei, S. (2017). Designing better services. A strategic approach from design to evaluation. Springerbriefs In Applied Sciences And Technology, Switzerland: Springer.

Jones, M., Samalionis, F. (2008). “From Small Ideas to Radical Service Innovation”, Design Management Review, Vol. 19, N.1.

Koskela-Huotari, K., Patrício, L., Zhang, J., Karpen, I. O., Sangiorgi, D., Anderson, L., & Bogicevich, V. (2021). Service system transformation through service design: Linking analytical dimensions and service design approaches. Journal of Business Research, 136, 343-355

Manzini, E. (2015). Design when everybody designs, MIT Press
Meroni, A., Sangiorgi, D. (2011), Design for Services, Farnham, UK: Grower.

Moritz, S. (2005). Service Design – Practical Access to an Evolving Field. Cologne: Köln International School of Design.
Murray, R., Caulier, G. & Mulgan, G. (2010). The Open Book of Social Innovation. The Young Foundation and NESTA.

Polaine, A., Løevli, L., & Reason, B. (2013). Service Design – From insight to implementation. New York: Rosenfeld Media.

Reason, B., Lovlie, L. and Brand Flu, M. (2015) Service Design for Business: A Practical Guide to Optimizing the Customer Experience.

Sangiorgi, D. (2019). Transformation Design. The Social Design Reader, 257.
Sangiorgi, Daniela (2011), “Transformative Services and Transformation Design,” International Journal of Design, 5 (2), 29–40.

Stickdorn, M. & Schneider, J. (2011). This is Service Design Thinking: Basics - Tools – Cases. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers
Yu, E. and Sangiorgi, D. (2018), “Service design as an approach to implement the value cocreation perspective in new service development”, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 40-58

On Design Thinking
Brown, T. (2009). Change by design: how design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. New York: HarperCollins.

Dell’Era C, Cautela C, Magistretti S, Verganti R, and Zurlo F (2020). Four Kinds of Design Thinking: From Ideating to Making, Engaging, and Criticizing. Creativity and Innovation Management, Vol. 29, No.2, Pp. 324-344

IDEO, (2009). Human Centered Design, Toolkit. Available at: http://www.ideo.com/work/featured/human-centered-design-toolkit

Lockwood, T. (2010). Design thinking: Integrating innovation, customer experience, and brand value. New York: Allworth

Sanders, E. (2009). “Co-creation through generative design thinking”. Keynote speech video at IASDR Conference 2009 – Available at: http://www.iasdr2009.com/m42.asp

Verganti R, Dell’Era C, and Swan S (2021). Design Thinking: critical analysis and future evolution. Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 38, No. 6, Pp. 603-622

On Service Design tools

Ladner, S. (2016). Practical Ethnography: A Guide to Doing Ethnography in the Private Sector, Routledge

Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., In Clark, T., & Smith, A. (2010). Business model generation: A handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers.

Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., Smith, A. and Papadakos, T. (2014) Value Proposition Canvas. Wiley, Hoboken.

Stickdorn, M., Hormess, M.E., Lawrence, A., Schneider, J. (2018). This is Service Design Doing, O’Reilly Media

• SDG3 - GOOD HEALTH AND WELLBEING
• SDG9 - INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
• SDG11 - SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES

To attend the Final Synthesis Laboratory, students must pass the 1st year laboratories.

Evaluation criteria

The final assessment and grade will be assigned to students individually and will be based on:

- results of the mid-term review

- the quality of the final project developed in the group

- the active participation of singles to every activity of the studio

- the capacity to communicate and tell the story of the project and its development

- the grade of innovation embedded in the solution proposed and the coherence with the Studio topic

During the new conditions of blended activities, the capacity to manage the teamwork will also be considered as an element to be evaluated.

Final exam

The final exam will require students to hand in:

- a synthetic presentation of the work done (ppt, pdf, video, and so on) + (if relevant) mock-ups of physical service touchpoints

- an experience prototyping of the service in the form of a video.

- a booklet describing the synthesis of the service developed.

More specific indications on each of these deliverables will be given during class.

Online tools will be available for the students in order to work collaboratively also in distributed teams.