A Human Centered Design Framework to Support Product-service Systems

Abstract

The synchronized development of products and services become crucial to the success of product-service systems (PSSs). Nevertheless, the number of service-specific approaches has been scarce. A human centered design (HCD) approach can provide designers with a feasible design methodology that is integrated into the development of PSSs by understanding about human needs and emerging cultural social trends. In this paper, we propose a human-centered design framework to support the development of PSSs by integrating the international standards with HCD selection and product/service design methods. The proposed framework can be a starting point to guide the development of PSSs for improving user acceptance and satisfaction. In addition, the proposed framework can assist existing businesses with product-oriented PSSs by identifying areas of service improvement and strengthening the long-term relationship with their customers. Furthermore, to investigate the significance of HCD in PSSs, we use an exploratory case study involving a wearable activity tracker, Fitbit.