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muddy_gardener's review
5.0
Practical and straightforward, as you'd expect from a work focussed on 'utility' services, born as the result of years of applied work with the UK gov (which is actually getting good at this). The book's also good looking, which adds a bit of fun. For me a delighter is always welcome if it isn't a distraction.
thebookvvitch's review
5.0
Glad to have picked the one up again. So much great advice for experience designers.
quillyreads's review
4.0
First up, I’ll be honest and say I only read this as I had to for work, and would never have picked it up otherwise.
That being said, this book, like the principles it gives, is approachable. The language is simple and tone is compelling. It reads like a conversation or personal essay, but without any overbearing personality.
Overall that makes it’s content easier to understand, particularly as there are regular examples used within the text to visualise the concept or problem discussed and relate it to the real world.
Good Services covers a lot. However, I am not a designer, and I feel like a lot of this is an articulation of common sense. I imagine it is a good introduction to how to create good services, but lacks the depth a more senior designer would need. It’s a refresher or good for those earlier in their careers.
I also feel like it would be helpful to have a chapter on how to audit a service to practically apply the principles taught in the book. I also wish there was paragraph breaks and better spacing between lines, as I found the actual layout of the pages quite hard to read.
That being said, this book, like the principles it gives, is approachable. The language is simple and tone is compelling. It reads like a conversation or personal essay, but without any overbearing personality.
Overall that makes it’s content easier to understand, particularly as there are regular examples used within the text to visualise the concept or problem discussed and relate it to the real world.
Good Services covers a lot. However, I am not a designer, and I feel like a lot of this is an articulation of common sense. I imagine it is a good introduction to how to create good services, but lacks the depth a more senior designer would need. It’s a refresher or good for those earlier in their careers.
I also feel like it would be helpful to have a chapter on how to audit a service to practically apply the principles taught in the book. I also wish there was paragraph breaks and better spacing between lines, as I found the actual layout of the pages quite hard to read.
afhill's review
4.0
In the past year, I've been introduced to Service Design as I worked within the Canadian federal government. Sure, I'd previously read Lance Bettencourt's book on Service Innovation, but I recognized that public services are .. slightly different. I eagerly ordered this book (paying far too much for shipping from the Netherlands!) in late 2019.
I hate to admit it, but the tight kerning and bright font in the book was a distraction. I found it hard to sit down and read - but at the same time, I couldn't quite approach this book as something intellectual, to study/take notes on. I did attend a Quarantine Book Club online event with the author in late March, which helped get me motivated again. I really liked the anecdotes in the book, but really found the format tough to really get into.
I hate to complain about that, but it really did hamper my ability to enjoy this book. I did appreciate some of the tidbits and principles themselves, but the sheer fact it took me three months to read a book of this size says something.. :-/
I hate to admit it, but the tight kerning and bright font in the book was a distraction. I found it hard to sit down and read - but at the same time, I couldn't quite approach this book as something intellectual, to study/take notes on. I did attend a Quarantine Book Club online event with the author in late March, which helped get me motivated again. I really liked the anecdotes in the book, but really found the format tough to really get into.
I hate to complain about that, but it really did hamper my ability to enjoy this book. I did appreciate some of the tidbits and principles themselves, but the sheer fact it took me three months to read a book of this size says something.. :-/
aly's review
4.0
I thought the book was very insightful! However, I found the text hard to read, specifically the bright colours and bold font.
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