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Urgent Problem
UCD Inspired Service Design Framework To Revive The Economy Again

Posted On April 26, 2020

Sr. UX Design Manager, Blue Yonder

The catastrophe has hit the world hard and it’s most certainly taking a toll on the economy worldwide. While all of us are trying hard to gather every piece of courage in our souls to stand up from this tall and strong, are we actually ready to resume the regular life if and when this gets over? Are we really ready to walk down the streets without proper protection, sanitization, and without being sure that our surroundings are safe? Not really, I guess!

Will you dare to go out and get the hair trimmed if the salon and the barber look like a potential danger to you? Or are you really sure about boarding the next flight in case the services resume the next hour?

But, what if we tell you that a little tweaking in the business model can not only promise 100% safety to the customers but can also help the business owners revive their drowning business within a snap? Yes, that’s right! If the safety needs are assured, people will not only step out of their houses fearlessly but also help in reviving the economy by indulging in buying the services offered.

Let’s Dig into the Root Cause and Its Solution

According to the ‘Needs Pyramid’ by Abraham Maslow, one of the basic needs that people of all strata look for is Safety and Security. If we, the design fraternity, extend our support to model the business of every scale as per this basic need, we can not only create an impact on the economy but also help people in starting a fear-free life very soon.

Since the Needs Pyramid was created keeping an ideal situation in mind, the pyramid was slightly tweaked to bring in more perspective about the current scenario. In case of an ideal situation, the steps of this psychological pyramid would make sense automatically, but here we need to analyze the needs and then formulate the process. Keeping the pandemic in mind, the Safety Needs come first in the pyramid in order to reassure the users about their concerns. The safety need becomes most essential for every individual and so, this automatically becomes a priority while designing the solution. If the safety needs are assured, people will not only step out of their houses fearlessly but also help in reviving the economy by indulging in buying the services offered.

Current Plan VS Proposed Plan for Better Safety

For this to happen, we need a User Safety Centric Design (USCD) framework that can help businesses like the aviation industry, retail shops, essentials like salons, grocery stores, etc, run without hindrances of any sort.

Let’s Understand the USCD Framework Better

While the typical user-centric design framework follows a typical method of Discovering, Describing, Building, Testing, and then Delivering, in the case of markets being affected by COVID-19, one can follow a slightly different framework to deliver designs. This includes understanding the user demographic, their needs, challenges by carrying out the four-step process.

  • Research – We can then move on to the process of putting ourselves in the shoes of the users and understanding the common requirements of a common-man, their basic need of safety, and how can we as designers help in designing a framework that’s safe for the users. If you’re able to identify the goals that the users are chasing in terms of regaining the lost normalcy viz a viz shopping and other business-related issues.
  • Empathizing – The second step in the process is to empathize with the end-users by putting yourself in their shoes to understand the problems, challenges, and then come up with a solution. This step also includes identifying the touchpoints, service maps, and defining the user personas before chalking out the plan ahead. With the help of user-profiling, we will be able to offer tailor-made solutions to each unique user.
  • Create – This level of the process majorly constitutes of the execution plan. You need to come up with a feasible service map that fits the user profile, helps in creating a standard operating process, and aligns with the guidelines provided by the government. The execution strategy needs to benefit not only the customers but also the business owners, whether big or small.
  • Feedback – The last part of the process is to get feedback on the design model and understand the scope of improvement on all levels. This process will not just help in crafting a flaw-less model but also help in regaining the shrinking economy, one step at a time. However, there are two types of feedbacks that a user can give based on the experience. One, a user can give immediate feedback after taking the service and share their experiences in order to better the services. Otherwise, the users can submit their online feedback so that people can contribute and validate the suggestions. This can help the business owners to improve their operating process.

With a 4-step design process like the one mentioned above, one can not only create an impeccable design but also facilitate the businesses in running seamlessly. If a user-centric design like this works, it will work like a boon in restoring the business that encircles the daily livelihood of a common man across the country. A design like this promotes cross-selling and up-selling while also helping the customers to indulge in commercial activities and step out of their houses without any doubt about their security.

Role Design Community Can Play in The Process

With an eye for the problem-solving skills and perception towards the point of view, designers can contribute in a great way towards these processes. With a detailed user safety-centric design process, the designers can find solutions to the pertaining problems. With this model, one can easily identify user personas and design tailor-made solutions to cater to the problems.

The designer community can extend their help to revive the economy by contributing to the USCD model as well as by making themselves available as volunteers to educate the business owners with the strategy. If we focus on the user safety centric model, it will automatically help in creating a user-safety ecosystem and help in rebooting the economy engine again.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.

Author

Mayank Tiwari

Sr. UX Design Manager, Blue Yonder
Hyderabad, Telangana, India

About The Author

Mayank Tiwari

Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Mayank Tiwari is a Senior UX Design Manager with Blue Yonder. Blue Yonder, formerly JDA Software, is the world's leading digital fulfillment platform and supply chain solutions provider. With over 14 years of work experience in user experience design, Mayank has had the opportunity to work with some of the best minds in the design fraternity. He is also an IIT alumnus. Mayank dedicates 1 day of the weekend to assist and help small businesses with the process. As a volunteer, Mayank provides guidance to the small business owners with the correct measures to follow in order to regain their lost income. If you have any queries or suggestions, please reach out to him at [email protected].