Facilitating the design of human-centered and memorable travel experiences
Kostamo Deschamps, Nina (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020122129832
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020122129832
Tiivistelmä
In the fast-changing world with increasingly empowered customers, human-centricity and designing meaningful experiences have become crucial topics amongst businesses to stay relevant, attract customers and differentiate from others. The approach of putting customers at the centre, applying human-centered design and creating superior experiences are dominating the strategic discussions. However, studies show that a majority of businesses are struggling to operate in a customer-centric way. In small businesses, lack of resources and competences are often preventing to understand the needs and keep up with ever-changing aspirations and trends, and as a result, designing great customer experiences becomes challenging.
The objective of this thesis is to explore how design thinking, service design and experience design can help small travel entrepreneurs to design more memorable experiences. The theoretical framework draws from the customer-dominant logic, design thinking and experience design. The methodological approach is qualitative, applying instrumental case study approach, and benefiting from the field of design thinking and service design. To understand the needs, challenges and opportunities of new travel entrepreneurs to design experiences, research data was gathered through desk research, content analysis, thematic interviews, observations and feedback collection during an on-site experience testing event, followed by a co-creation workshop and concepting.
Three objectives were achieved in this design project. Firstly, new travel entrepreneurs gained knowledge on human-centric design from the travellers’ perspectives and built an understanding on the concept of defining moments and journeys and the significance of emotions to create memorable experiences. Secondly, this project showed the value of experience testing and co-creation to gain valuable feedback and customer insights to learn and iterate. Thirdly, it could be jointly concluded that for entrepreneurs it is a change journey to improve experiences by applying human-centric design. It requires a mindset shift and continuous learning to acquire relevant knowledge, skills and tools.
The objective of this thesis is to explore how design thinking, service design and experience design can help small travel entrepreneurs to design more memorable experiences. The theoretical framework draws from the customer-dominant logic, design thinking and experience design. The methodological approach is qualitative, applying instrumental case study approach, and benefiting from the field of design thinking and service design. To understand the needs, challenges and opportunities of new travel entrepreneurs to design experiences, research data was gathered through desk research, content analysis, thematic interviews, observations and feedback collection during an on-site experience testing event, followed by a co-creation workshop and concepting.
Three objectives were achieved in this design project. Firstly, new travel entrepreneurs gained knowledge on human-centric design from the travellers’ perspectives and built an understanding on the concept of defining moments and journeys and the significance of emotions to create memorable experiences. Secondly, this project showed the value of experience testing and co-creation to gain valuable feedback and customer insights to learn and iterate. Thirdly, it could be jointly concluded that for entrepreneurs it is a change journey to improve experiences by applying human-centric design. It requires a mindset shift and continuous learning to acquire relevant knowledge, skills and tools.