This is probably the most iconic tool from the service design field.
The Service Blueprint summarizes how a service works both for the user and the organization. It mixes what service designers call the frontstage of a service, what is visible to the user, and the backstage of the service, what is invisible to the user but needed to make the service happen.
A service blueprint maps out all the steps that a user usually goes through when interacting with a service. These moments of interactions, also called touchpoints in the service design language, are often categorized in the following categories:
Aware: the moment when the user learns about a service
Join: the moment when a user starts to interact with a service
Use and Develop: the moments when the user is really into the service, learns how to use it, and is able to achieve their goals within the service
Leave: the moment the user leaves the services or finishes their interaction with the service
As you see, with these categories, the service blueprint doesn’t only take care of making sure that people are happy when they use the service, but looks also at the steps before and after the same.
A service blueprint is used by service designers to ensure that there are no broken transitions between one moment and the other, so that all interactions between the first moment the user hears about a service up to the moment they leave it are smooth and pleasant.
Going further
This article is part of my free course "What is Service Design?" which helps you to discover what Service Design is and why it is powerful to enhance the customer experience.