What will the future bring? This project offers just one out of infinite possibilities. Throughout the semester, my group and I applied various principles and methods of service design to come up with innovative services for future versions of the world. 

For the final poster, I chose one of these ideas and refined some of the details. In this probable future, autonomous vehicles play a key role in society. Beyond simply transporting people, these driverless cars serve as platforms for a wide range of new and innovative services.

The World in the Near, Probable Future

Before TinderZone: How to Find and Develop a Service Idea

Step 1: Horizon Scanning

Weak signals indicate that autonomous vehicles will have a moment, at least for some time in the near future. Businesses will adapt to utilize such vehicles not only for transporting people and goods from A to B, but also to provide unique, new services.

As the technology for autonomous vehicles improves and becomes reliable (more reliable than human drivers), social acceptance will increase and some will see the potential for such vehicles to provide a variety of services with less environmental impact than current individual car use.

Step 2: User Observation

Really, everyone is a potential user of the innumerable services made possible by reliable autonomous vehicle technology. It's also no question that traffic in cities could benefit from the more organized trajectories of autonomous vehicles, as well as the reduced number of cars on the road.

Step 3: Personas and Brainstorming

Erica is a persona developed specifically for a service based on autonomous vehicles. Her lifestyle lead to the idea to provide a safe, convenient and barrier-free service for dates and sexual encounters between consenting adults.

Step 4: Develop an Inital Service Blueprint

Below is one version of a service blueprint for the TinderMobile that focuses more on the dating aspects of the service.

Step 5: Generate More Ideas!

Service design doesn't stop with the launch of a product.

Final Thoughts

This project illustrates the dynamic relationship between service design and everyday life, each continuously influencing the other. Exploring a possible future scenario highlights not only the fascinating potential of what lies ahead, but also the significant role designers play in shaping that future. This class provided useful tools to help us.

It's also simply a lot of fun to think about the future in this way!