Service Design: Thinking Experiences for Playing an Active Role in Society

Abstract

Reflecting on a safe and autonomous home life for the elderly does not necessarily and exclusively apply to building products and the technology of specific products such as independent life support strategies, but also to service design. The core of service design is understanding the needs and motivations of consumer behaviour in order to provide simple and functional experiences that go beyond the use of products but lead to the psycho-physical well-being of the users. The focus is on that range of people, constantly on the rise thanks to the advancement of medicine, who enter old age without any particular illness, but are affected by loneliness and sense of uselessness for society. This paper intends to draw a mapping of services oriented towards co-design processes that include weak users in social dynamics and focus on their role as essential, active citizen still able to play an important role in society.