Developing a one-line pitch
What do you do as a service designer?
Thinking of something beautiful and simple to say.
Hey, what is a service designer?
This is the most frequent question I get lately.
Hopefully, by the end of this post, I will develop a striking one-liner.
What do you do if you run into an ex-colleague?
Let’s start with role-playing
It is an ordinary weekday. Everybody is off to work. You are running to a meeting. First, you swing by a coffee shop and order a simple black coffee. No sugar, no milk. It is a take out.
You start to wait as the mesmerizing smell of the coffee spreads across the air. You take the coffee, pay for it and just when you make a move for the door, you run into an old friend. She is an ex-colleague and art director from your previous agency. You recall from the LinkedIn updates that she is a C-level marketing manager at an X company. After a warm greeting, she asks with curiosity: what do you do these days?
It is fun to create real-life scenarios.
I created an exercise to better frame my approach.
The challenge is clear. What if I really run into such a friend one day?
Role-playing is a great way to discover the challenge.
I used this scenario to better push my limits. It is called “Ex-college” challenge.
It is a failed pitch if grandma doesn’t get it
Simplicity is the friend of a pitch.
First things first. I moved to the Netherlands.
I started working at Service Science Factory where we develop service design projects applying design thinking methodology. Service innovation is priority number one.
Friends and family were curious about my job but I struggled to be at ease telling them. The conversations started to be exaggerating rather than a joyful announcement. It was a bundle of long speeches mudded with meaningless words. This was the first trigger. I had a strange hunch that most people didn’t have a clue about what service designer did. Neither did my grandma. I was trying so hard to be clear. This effort didn’t feel right. I needed a simple way to deliver the message. I am a photographer kind of simplicity.
PRACTICE
“Grandma ” exercise is simplifying the complexity. You just have 1 minute to explain your grandma about your job as service designer .
How do you say Service Designer in French?
Service Designeur***
It was a new life for me. I was moving from one hotel to another, trying to settle. Flat-hunt was overwhelming. That’s when I got a call from my friend Jaad, a talented film director from Paris.
The following flow was a random conversation I was having with friends those days.
Jaad: What are you doing in Maastricht?
Me: I came here to join service design projects, I am basically a service designer.
Jaad: What is a service designeur? (In a very French way)
And I said: what the hell Jaad, I am really excited to talk about this when we meet up. Surprisingly, he refused and gave me a clear brief: tell me what you actually do in three words. I thought for a second or two.
It truly was an epiphany. Thanks, Jaad.
Marianna Francese
PRACTICE 2
“Jaad ” exercise for a service designer: Pitch whatever you do in three words.
Have you ever taken an UBER?
Great services are in our micro-moments. Like Google calls it.
Back on our Skype call with Jaad, I thought of a simple way to explain my thing on the spot. I thought of great service providers. I know for a fact that Jaad loves music.
- Are you a Spotify user?
- Yes.
- Well, then that’s exactly what we try to do. We design Spotify-like experiences.
Ideally, a person who design Spotify-like experiences must be a service designer. Right?
I wasn’t loyal to three-word restriction however it rang a bell in his head.
It may not be the nicest thing as a professional to end up referring to companies such as Apple. However, it can be a lifesaver.
There is, of course, the other way around. The more harsh way for the audience. What I previously called meaningless words of mud.
Please check the sketches of words below.
I develop and improve services.
I am a service innovator.
I am using design thinking to develop great services and beautiful experiences.
Notions like service, innovation, experience are vague concepts for people. Not to mention they don’t sound sexy.
I think it is the best thing to have a short pitch for an idea, project or even a title. It can open up the great opportunities even when you are having a coffee on a dull morning.
Coffee-to-go is an opportunity moment
Life is about moments. Service design is about being there and designing experiences for people.
I decided to win that coffee-to-go moment. It could be an opportunity for me and also my team to at least create a workshop.
The goal: create a short pitch of your job to tell the world.
Now, it is time to think about the aim of the coffee-to-go pitch.
The coffee-to-go pitch will hopefully get her to discuss her business challenges.
Coming back to my ex-colleague who has been waiting at the coffee shop for a fulfilling answer.
This is what I am thinking of telling her after “Grandma” and “Jaad” exercises.
“We design micro-moments for people.”
The aim is to convince her for a lunch to discuss the business challenges at her company. Inspired by Google, the coffee-to-go pitch is focused on a neatly designing micro-moments for customers and users. However, another question arises. What’s in it for the business?
Here is the extended, complete version of the pitch:
“We design experiences for people and innovative services for organizations.”
KEY TAKEAWAY
It is about designing a “service designer” pitch for people who don’t know what service designer is. No different than designing a coffee-to-go moment as a service designer.
WRAP UP
You can use “Ex-College” scenario to really push yourself to come up with a challenge. Don’t forget to use Grandma and Jaad exercises to make it simple and appealing. These are only tools to go further. You can always think of other ways generate ideas. The sky is the limit.
