Frugal service design: Simple things can have a big impact

Hey beautiful human, 👋

In this week’s service design newsletter, I want to share with you:

• a story that proves that small things can have a big impact 💥
• a changelog of all the new service design content with the cover of my next book 📗👇, 5 new Q&A and 3 new backstage blog articles (busy week!) 📝

Greetings from Switzerland, and merry Christmas in advance,

Daniele 🧔🏻‍♂️🎄

💥 It’s Time to Make Service Design Frugal

I feel that often in today’s world, when we try to fix a problem, we have a bias towards solutions that are smart, and technological and make us look good.
We want that people feel we are the local Steve Jobs or Elon Musk with a great vision. We want our boss or client to see why they pay us that much money. So we often end up creating solutions that are quite complex, take a good amount of money to put in place and need some complex technology.
But what if there was another way? What if we could have a simple and straightforward approach that brings a big impact with fewer resources, less time, and less complexity? To discover it together, here’s my little plan of attack:

1. We need to realise that service design can suck
2. We need to look where the grass is greener: meet frugal innovation
3. We need to have examples that prove that it’s okay to be frugal
4. We need to be able to show why a frugal approach is smart
5. It’s start with you giving it a try

Okay, let’s explore the first idea:

We need to realise that service design can suck

Service design can be a complex process involving multiple stakeholders, heavy research and testing. And because services deal with something intangible we tend to create solutions that are often more complex than what is really needed.
All of this hard work can make projects take a shit load of time and a shit load of money and sometimes the results aren’t even that great at the end.

We need to look where the grass is greener: meet frugal innovation

Hey, it’s not time yet to be depressed yet! Because we can steal inspiration from other innovation fields that can teach us a lot. And one of these approaches that I find especially inspiring is what some call “Frugal Innovation”.

Frugal innovation, also known as “jugaad” or “frugal engineering,” basically wants to make a big impact with as few resources as possible. So frugal innovation wants to use less money, less technology, less time and fewer people to make the work happen. This idea of frugal innovation is often linked to developing countries with limited resources but high demand.

This reminds me of the proverb, “Necessity is the mother of invention”.

By the way, this idea isn’t so new, according to the lovely contributors of Wikipedia:

“One of the earliest recorded instances of the proverb is in one of Aesop’s Fables, “The Crow and the Pitcher” from the mid 6th century BCE. Plato’s Republic says “our need will be the real creator”, which Jowett’s 1894 translation rendered loosely as “The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention.”

We need to have examples that prove that it’s okay to be frugal.

Complexity looks smart. When you show a complex plan that uses a lot of technology and money, people think: wow, these people really know what they are doing. But when you are paid a shit load of money, and you come up with a stupid simple plan or a solution made just of a scrap of paper, people might think you’re crazy. That’s why we need to have proof that simple stuff works!
Over the years, I’ve collected more examples of such a frugal approach that shows it’s possible to create a big impact for the people we serve with a frugal approach:

When less does more

The examples that follow show that it is possible to create smart solutions that have an impact with fewer resources, by doing less, and without compromising on quality.

1. Cities without lights are safer (source)
2. Less choice leads to more conversion (source)
3. Less content also leads to more conversion (source)
4. Less work days lead to better productivity (source)

When simple things create a big difference

The examples that follow show that simple things that might even feel too simple can have a big impact.

1. It’s possible to create a centrifuge with about 20 cents, and it’s called the Paperfuge (source)
2. You can even create a microscope with paper; this one is called Foldscope (source)
3. You can prevent crime with mood lighting like the city of Tokyo does (source)
4. Stupid stickers can reduce the number of thefts (source)
5. People keep tigers from attacking them by wearing simple masks backward (source)
6. Putting a few plants in your office can make you more productive (source)

When small nudges have a big impact

These examples are what is called nudges. A nudge is an often subtle suggestion or reminder that encourages people to take the desired action or adjust their behaviour in a positive way.

1. A little bit of social proof makes people pay taxes (source)
2. Setting the right default option helps countries to have more people donate their organs (source)
3. A simple message that shows that a majority of guests reuse their towel reduces the use of water for unnecessary cleaning in hotels (source)
4. A simple fly sticker in a urinal reduces the cleaning costs by about 8% (source)
5. Floating zebra crossings help to make cars slow down (source)
6. Putting harder-to-reach to reach shelves increases fruit and salad sales (source)
7. Having fewer holes in salt shakers reduce the salt intake, which is a pretty healthy thing (source)

Frugal innovation, nudges and other approaches where we look for simplicity can be inspiring and effective for organisations and individuals of all kinds who want to deliver a great user experience and impact with a small budget. Such an approach encourages you to use creativity, try things out and start with what you already have.

We need to be able to show why a frugal approach is smart.

Frugal innovation is inspiring for organisations and individuals of all kinds because it shows with real examples and data that it is possible to have a shit load of impact with limited resources. I believe such an approach can be particularly useful for organisations that want to create a great user experience but have a small budget, as it allows them to focus on creating value for their users rather than spending large amounts of money on unnecessary features or resources. And frankly, these days, with all the inflation going on, a focus on a smaller budget might be attractive to most of us.

But even with that, we still need to be able to translate the value of a frugal approach into a language that is understandable by our bosses, clients and in the corporate world. So here are four fancy reasons why a frugal approach makes sense, explained in a more corporate lingo that you can use to convince your team whenever you come up with a simple, frugal solution instead of the usual complex shit:

1. Launch new ideas quicker. a frugal approach to Service Design requires fewer resources, less time, and simpler processes, resulting in shorter development cycles and faster launches.
2. Reduce cost. a frugal approach leverages existing tools and resources, resulting in fewer costs.
3. Push creativity and innovation: a frugal approach to Service Design forces teams to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions.
4. Create more satisfaction: a frugal approach to Service Design pushes teams to focus on what matters most — solving customer problems — resulting in greater customer satisfaction and a less overwhelming workplace.

It starts with you giving it a try.

If you are looking for a service design approach that is simple and cost-effective, then a frugal approach to Service Design is the right choice for you.
We know an approach we can reference that’s helpful and makes us look smart. We have good examples and stories to tell that inspire and convince. That’s helpful. And we know how to translate all this into corporate jargon. But one piece is missing: experiencing it! Feeling it.
Give it a try to show yourself and your team it works.

I’m a big believer in this approach. My work with the Service Design Principles book series is about creating a library of tips, ideas and examples on using a frugal mindset to better serve the people around you.

I highly recommend you try one of the ideas you discovered in this newsletter or from the Service Design Principles Quickstart Guide for a spin.

📝 The changelog of new and updated service design content

Next book: the last mile

I’ve promised myself that at the end of the year, I’ll bring the book Service Design Principles 201–300 out and this, even if the last few months have been pretty bumpy with death in my family, sickness and a usual workload. But all of this has been a good reminder of what’s important, being there for the people who are living with us, taking care of our health to take care of others and finding new ways to simplify things to reach my promises. But enough personal blah, blah. Here is a little update about the book:

What’s done:

• Book cover: I’ve designed a new book cover and feel it’s pretty near where I want it to be for the final book version.
• Proofreading: I’ve received the final proofreading of the book done by professionals, and now I have to do the last reading to review all the changes.

The newest iteration of the book cover

What I’m still working on:

• Illustrations: I’m playing with a more abstract illustration style for each principle and still have to create a unique one for each principle. In order to simplify things, I have asked an offer to an illustrator to create 100 illustrations like the ones I did for my first two books in the series. The offer I got taught me something nice. My illustration work has a value of 10'000$. Obviously, I haven’t the money to illustrate that book, so I’m going to continue to make the illustrations myself. But it’s always interesting to realise the real value of things.
• Updates of the maker package: I need to adapt the maker package that includes a workshop card format of the principles for Miro and Print, but this might be something that can wait for the new year.

An example of the illustration style I used in the two first books applied to this one. Each illustration is more like a little comic strip.

An example of the abstract illustration style I’m exploring for this new book.

Service Blueprint resources

I made a little page where I’ve linked to all the Service Blueprint resources I’ve created over the years.

You’ll find there:

• Courses
• Notion templates
• Questions and answers

All of the resources there are free, so have fun 🎁

Service Design Questions

I’m slowly building a library of answers to the most common questions about Service Design. Here are the new ones:

New questions

1. What’s the definition of a Service Blueprint?
2. Why should I create a service blueprint?
3. What are good structures for a prototype?
4. What are good tools to create a service blueprint?
5. What are the different types of Service Blueprints?

Backstage blog articles

I love to explain how I’m building educational content. I’m trying to be as transparent as possible so that it might motivate others to create such content too. These are the latest blog posts I’ve written:

1. A first experiment using AI to write educational content
2. Why I’m taking my newsletter more seriously
3. How I write and prepare my newsletters