Determining the process and added value of visual thinking by designing a service blueprint for visual design consultants

Determining the process and added value of visual thinking by designing a service blueprint for visual design consultants

Van 't Eind, Q.S.

Hultink, H.J. (mentor)
Calabretta, G. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Product Innovation Management

Master of Science Strategic Product Design

2014-06-06

Our ancestors in prehistory already used visuals for communication. Their rock paintings were durable and therefore lasted longer than the regular oral stories that were passed on from generation to generation. Throughout history visuals have been used to communicate stories and knowledge. INK follows our ancestors in using visuals for communication between different groups. INK is a start-up company that makes business issues visual and interactive. INK offers a facilitating service characterized by the use of interactive creative sessions and visual thinking methods to makes its client’s vision and strategy less complex, more understandable and more engaging, with a tangible visual output as final result. The visual thinking market is unexplored. There are just a few competitors. Yet, the market is attractive and will lure new companies. If INK wants to grow and stay ahead of the competition, it is essential to know the exact added value of visual thinking, the process of the service and if there are possibilities to optimize the service. The aim of this research is to understand the process and the added value of the visual thinking service of INK and to determine areas of improvement to lift the service to a higher level, in which the needs and expectations of the clients are better matched. To reach this aim, extensive literature research, observations and case studies focused on three elements; 1. Analyse INK; what does the company look like? 2. Research the visual thinking service of INK; what does the process of the service and the output look like? What is the added value of the different elements? 3. Derive possible improvements for INK; how can the service be evaluated and where lie opportunities to optimize the service? Literature research and case studies revealed that visual thinking is a specific way of design thinking that influences the understanding of the essence, improves the dialogue, helps to explore new ideas, improves communication, creates a fun experience and improves the reputation of the issue that is visualized. Combining the theory on visual thinking with the theory on boundary objects, it seems that visual thinking can function as a boundary object. The case studies confirm that visual thinking can translate, transfer and transform knowledge across syntactic, semantic and pragmatic boundaries. The service of INK is best described by a service blueprint. This blueprint shows the different steps and the connections between all elements. Adding the emotional experience of the client to the service blueprint makes it more valuable. The service blueprint, together with the emotional experience and the findings of the case studies make it possible to evaluate INK’s service. INK has the desire to work on more projects. Literature research reveals that customer loyalty is an important factor when clients select a service provider. Customer loyalty is determined by service quality, satisfaction, trust, commitment and emotional experience. This research shows that the overall emotional experience and customer loyalty will increase if INK improves its service with the following six recommended solutions; 1. Creation of an acquisition example 2. Improvement of commercial skills 3. Increase of efficiency in the preparation 4. Management of expectations of the process 5. Increase of feedback efficiency 6. Create a follow-up The implementation plan will help INK to execute all improvements and give the managing partners a handhold that prioritizes the steps to be taken.

visual thinking
service blueprint

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:992d3585-b4f8-490f-bdfc-832f27cfd088

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2014 Van 't Eind, Q.S.