Exemplars in Service Design

Exemplars play an important role in applied service design but are largely overlooked in academic literature. So far, most design research in other fields has concerned how surface properties of exemplars are incorporated in the current design, but services are different from most other design disciplines in regard to material. To expand the understanding of how exemplars matter to service design, material from recordings and observations of design meetings have been analysed. We observed a pattern that exemplars, in this case, were introduced in communication in the format of micro-narratives that express emotional impact of service elements. This study shows that exemplars in the form of micro-narratives are retrieved in design discourse primarily from gathered data, common reference points, and personal experiences. They contribute to the collective understanding of the service concept and support the alignment of the service offering with customer expectations.