What does Shreya Kale do?
Shreya is a Service Designer.
Service designer?? What is it!?
Simple!! She designs services we use in day to day life. She helps businesses solve their users’ problems.
Okay! But she studied fashion in NIFT, right? Then how does she solve business problems?
Well, to be clear, she studied Design for Society at NIFT. Let us break it down step by step.
This is how I’d like to simplify the concept of design — ‘to create a system intended to provide solutions.’ This might sound similar to engineering. However, ‘design’ emphasizes people’s needs (user desirability); while technical feasibility is at the core of engineering. Also, design is an iterative process — meaning that it undergoes continuous evaluation (yes, even after it is launched!)
Finding out what people need, think, feel and say helps designers to hunt for solutions that perfectly align with their requirements — Let it be an outfit (fashion design), a car (automobile design) or even an invitation card (graphic design).
Socially responsible designers look at a problem from the lenses (or an eye for detail) of ergonomics, environmental impact and economic sustainability.
Design for Society embraces the collective needs of humans as a society, thereby finding inclusive and equitable solutions.
Let us now understand how Service Designers solve business problems :)
Service design is a holistic approach by studying the user’s physical & emotional journey — while they try to accomplish any particular goal (let’s say maintaining a healthy lifestyle) and building solutions that help them do it! Sounds simple? On paper, definitely yes. But, imagine yourself as a university student, trying to eat timely & nutritious meals, while not burning a hole in your pocket. Now multiply this by millions of students trying to achieve the same goal. If the existing models provide timely & nutritious meals, they will file bankruptcy if they start offering heavy discounts to these students. This is where Service Designers get in the picture — to find win-win solutions that fit around people’s needs and close the loop!
And let me tell you a secret!
