For our first project in Designing for Service, our groups were asked to create a service that will foster flow at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security screening stations at the airport. The two biggest restrictions we had were little experience in designing a service and having only one week to complete the project.
Our team started with five, but whittled down to three after two dropped the course. No worries, as through the luck of the draw the remaining team members were excellent to work with—Kipum Lee, a fellow second year interaction design peer who spent his summer working at IDEO in Chicago, and Kara Tennant, a first year CPID graduate student coming from the world of graphic design.
Since we didn’t have much time to do research, we started with our experiences using directed storytelling on each other. But we itched for something with more juice and headed out to Pittsburgh International Airport for a morning of observation.
It’s amazing how much you can learn just by watching. We stayed for two hours, taking notes and photos. We diagrammed our findings and called it a day.
A few days later we reconvened and determined our design principles: Communicate to Passengers; Feel in Control; Say Goodbye. We came up with the latter principle after noticing all the awkward goodbyes that were taking place at the security checkpoint.
We then created several concept ideas for each design principle, which were captured on card stock so they could be shared with TSA and be something that TSA could share with each other to start having meaningful conversations about the experience. So our service was directed at engaging TSA in a conversation about design opportunities that they might want to explore further.
Each card contains a concept with a sketch and a description and is color coded to correspond to each design principle.
Our work was displayed this past weekend at the Design Research Conference during Shelley Evenson’s presentation on Designing Services.
I should note that this was a project invented by Shelley Evenson, and was not in collaboration with TSA.
Even if you have little time, doing some research is better than none. And a little observation goes a long way to discovering opportunities hidden in plain sight.
Presentation
Another successful aspect of this project was our presentation. We decided to tell the story using the photos we took at the airport coupled with a key point that each revealed to us or a question that begged asking. From that we were able to make the case for our design principles, and from those, the concepts and cards as a final deliverable.
Download the presentation (10 MB)
Comments
12 responses to “Service Design Applied to Airport Security”
The glass window idea is an interesting solution to the “good-bye” section of the presentation. Great thinking.
Overall, I am impressed that this all came together in a week… knowing how much other work you all have makes it even more impressive.
I am a bit curious about the various closed off sections, for example the “prep room.” I agree, the need for prep space is a big one, but assuming the curtain is there to provide a bit of privacy I can see two potential problems. First, I doubt that TSA would allow for a private space without cameras or a guard, seeing it as a security issue. Second, I think that allowing everyone to witness the interactions between the security folks and the passengers helps keep everyone on their best behaviour… and by everyone, I am really just talking about the people with power and the potential to abuse it.
Finally, I like the idea that the glass wall provides a space for a goodbye, but it sort of reminds me of prison… not that I’ve ever been on the wrong side of the glass. I suppose it even serves many of the same purposes, as it allows for verbal and visual interaction, but limits the possibility of passing restricted items.
That said, flying is a stressful and annoying experience, a far cry from the joyful experience it once was… remember when we used to eat on planes? I see this as a great improvement on one of the most painfully awful aspects of the flying experience.
Spiff work amigo.
I agree, the prep room with a curtain would likely have problems. We talked about just having an open arc that you could walk through that would grant some privacy from the entire airport but allow for the idea of having your own space while letting TSA agents and other nearby passengers see what you’re doing. In our haste, we rendered curtains.
The glass wall reminded us of prison as well. So it’s not the best solution, but perhaps a better solution to the current situation. Also, like all of the concepts, they were designed to engage TSA to get them thinking about the problems and potential solutions. Ideally, it would spark inspiration from them. “Hmm…this glass reminds me of prison…and it’s just impractical anyway…but what we could do is…”
Thanks for the feedback.
Jamin, nice work… I just saw Shelley present it at the Design Research Conference in Chicago. I wonder if you could say more about the research process.
Was there any structure or intent that drove how you went about it and what you captured, or did you just show up, observe, and think? You seemed to have reached good insights from minimal time in research, so I wonder what aspects of it you feel are repeatable?
Thanks for sharing.
Brandon,
Basically, yes, we just showed up, observed, and then synthesized. But that’s an oversimplification, as each member of the team brought a particular viewpoint to what he or she saw. The best insights seemed to come from viewing the human behavior aspects of the process. While we could have looked directly at signage, layout, and timing, it was how the people going through the system and those running the system behaved within it that led to the real insights.
We did not talk to anyone, which is a change from the process I’m used to. But by not talking to anyone we were able to discover latent needs, things that if we had talked to people probably would not have come up. But knowing what you’re looking for when you don’t know what you’re looking for is not something that can be easily replicated.
I think some good practices within our process for this project were meeting immediately after the airport research to start collecting our thoughts (on stickies). We also printed a lot of the photos we took and posted them with the stickies so that the experience stayed concrete and there were things we could point to and tag.
The insights that come out of research, however, are only partially about the process. So repeating the same process for a different design team would likely yield different results. Maybe better, maybe not. One component to good design research insights is the ability and experience of the designers themselves.
Jamin,
Just to clarify, the person I spoke to was not from the TSA and the project was not sponsored or endorsed by them. I was just looking for a service process project that anyone could relate to.
The comment you referred to came from a service operations management professor.
I also think the directed storytelling exercise provided you and your team with a “lens” for seeing the activity on site in a new way.
Shelley,
Thanks for the correction. I removed the comment because it no longer fit.
I didn’t mean to dilute the impact of the directed storytelling. It may be true that the exercise provided us with a different viewpoint when on site. We were less focused on our experience because we already covered it in the directed storytelling, and instead looked for new insights.
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Hey Jamin,
we have conducted a service review for a german non-profit org called DocStop. As a result we have created cards very similar to yours in the airport project. We call them opportunity cards, cause they serve as a basis for discussion and as a showcase for redesign options. We think of them as a good start for a co-creation process…
Have a look at http://www.psuw.de/docstop. There is an english version as well.
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