Service Design & Prototyping
Understand the
problem before you
build the solution.
Digital projects often start with a solution in mind, whether that’s a new website, a platform rebuild or a mobile app. But before deciding on the technology, it’s important to understand the challenges and what needs to be achieved.
That’s where service design comes in. By understanding your business, your users and their needs, we can identify the right approach and make sure we’re creating something that delivers real value.
The discipline
Service design is about understanding your users, their needs and the problem you’re trying to solve before deciding what to build. It sounds obvious, but it’s a step that’s surprisingly easy to skip.
Get the question right and everything downstream gets clearer, faster and less expensive. UX is part of that process, not a separate discipline added at the end.
Build from evidence, not assumptions. Find problems early, while they’re still quick and inexpensive to fix.
Get the requirements right before development starts, reducing changes and expensive rework later.
Give everyone the same evidence and a shared understanding of what needs to be solved.
Build something people can actually use, solving the right problem rather than simply delivering the original brief.
Public sector
Our approach puts users at the centre throughout and maps naturally to GDS Discovery, Alpha, Beta and Live phases.
our approach
We don’t jump straight to solutions. We work through five clear phases, building evidence, testing assumptions and making decisions before unnecessary time or budget is committed.
Listen first. Assume nothing.
We start by listening. Workshops, user research and journey audits help us understand the problem from every angle and build a service blueprint everyone can rally around.
Turn evidence into direction.
We turn what we’ve learned into clear priorities, requirements and measures of success. Prototypes and technical spikes help us test the difficult bits early.
Prototype. Test. Improve.
We turn ideas into something people can see, use and challenge. Test with real users, learn quickly and iterate before committing to the build.
Build what we’ve proved works.
Design and engineering stay together through delivery, turning validated ideas into accessible, robust digital products and services.
Launch isn’t the finish line.
We measure what happens in the real world, learn from users and keep improving based on evidence.
Selected work
See how we’ve used service design to understand complex problems, shape the right solutions and deliver better outcomes.
Forest Holidays
A behavioural-science-led website redesign that grew bookings by 48%
Wesleyan
Around 14 years as an extension of Wesleyan's digital team.
Loqate
ABM, content marketing and social selling that grew sales from Loqate's key accounts by 42%
Tell us about your challenge
If you’re planning a digital project and want to make sure you’re solving the right problem, let’s talk. No pitch decks. Just a conversation.
