Service Blueprint

What

A Service Blueprint can help you to simply specify a service. Additionally it can help build teams and spot problems early on. While conventional blueprints are used to map space, Service Blueprints are generally about mapping time. The participatory nature of the blueprinting process is a great way to build teams and share expertise.

A service blueprint under development

What you get

Service blueprints are living, flexible documents, normally produced collaboratively with as many stakeholders as possible. Traditional blueprints are used to help designers work with manufacturers, architects with builders - in this sense they are about realising the design, and they are produced towards the end of the creative process. Service Blueprints on the other hand are used during the design process, often very early on, to help specify the various components of a service.

A Service Blueprint we produced for NESTA

When to use it

Service Blueprints are invaluable in the development of new services. As well as helping service providers to coordinate people and resources across time, they are also useful as a participatory project planning and management tool.

Service Blueprints can form a shared focus for the various stakeholders responsible for the development and delivery of a new service, and collaboratively developing or reviewing a Service Blueprint in a workshop setting can help bring people on board.

Equally, Service Blueprints can also be used as a way to examine what is and isn’t working in an existing service.
We’ve used service blueprinting with clients such as NESTA, UCE and Nokia