Activity-mall report by Anton Drachuk

THE NORDSTAN PROJECT BUSINESS & DESIGN 2017 INTEGRATED PROJECT

Agnes Nemeth Emanuel Uitz Jessica Juhlin Tony Berg

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

SERVICE DESIGN

THE DESIGN PROCESS

THE SERVICE CONCEPT

BUSINESS AND DESIGN

PERSONAL LEARNINGS

CONCLUSION

REFERENCE LIST

APPENDIX

INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION

People have a natural need of being surrounded by others and a need of filling their days with meaning. By being a part of a community people feel happier, safer and healthier (Wickelgren, 2012). Unfortunately not everyone is fortunate enough to have a big social network, and to get a new one is not always easy. There is a number of activities going on around Gothenburg where people can participate, and at the same time connect with new people. However many of these activities are hard to find or far away. Many events are only reachable if you have a membership or if you have friends talking about them and some are positioned out in the archipelago or a train ride away. In addition, not all activities are physically suitable for everyone. Gyms, the amusement park Liseberg and taking long walks in Slottskogen are all excluding certain disabilities such as problems with walking or sitting. Even events that are easy to find, close by and physically suitable for everyone are often costly, such as taking a course in something, going to a fair or shopping. In the city centre of Gothenburg you can find one of Swedenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest malls, Nordstan. Here people can enjoy a variety of stores under one roof while being in the area. However, Nordstan has become something more, it has become a meeting place for elderly, for restless teenagers, for mothers with strollers and more (Wahlqvist, 2017). As these people are not there to shop there is not much for them to do. Instead they sit on the benches or walk up and down the

aisles. How could this mall be turned into a conscious meeting place for people that want to meet others and fill their days with meaning?

There are many activities in Gothenburg, but they can be costly or not suitible for all.

BACKGROUND HISTORY OF NORDSTAN NORDSTAN TODAY FROM BRIEF TO RE-BRIEF VASAKRONAN

HISTORY OF NORDSTAN During the 1860’s to the 1920’s the area in Gothenburg called Nordstaden was very lively, due to its location in between the Central station and the harbour. At this time, many swedes from all parts of the country emigrated to America in search for a better life, and one easy way to reach Gothenburg with its ships to America was by taking the train. A few decades later, in the 1960’s, Nordstaden had changed into a shabby neighbourhood. Along one of the streets (Norra Larmgatan), you would find some exhausted clubs where you could end up as a student to buy a beer or two. Politicians considered the area a problem area with potential to become something else. The strategic location right next to central station would always guarantee a flow of people. In the 1970’s it was decided to tear down the buildings in Nordstaden in order to create a new Nordstaden, a shopping location (Halldin, 2007). The plan for the new Nordstaden was to create a shopping mall where people would spend time during all parts of the year. The houses in Nordstan were getting connected to each others with a roof so people wouldn’t get wet or cold when walking on the street between the buildings. The first building that was finished was Femman (translated The five) in 1972. It got it’s name thanks to the big number five painted on the facade of the building. Even though all nine buildings held a number, Femman was the only house called by its number (ilovegoteborg.se). The rebuilding of Nordstan was done in nine stages and was completed in 1985. In the beginning, the mall was named Östra Nordstaden (translated Eastern Nordstan) but was shortened down to just Nordstan in 1984 (Halldin, 2007). Nordstan is today a popular spot for young people to hangout and a busy place for shopping (Petersson, 2017). The location next to Brunnsparken, a public transportation hub, and the central station also makes it very busy when commuters go to work. When you would visit Nordstan today, you would find a big variety of brands and stores represented in all different price ranges (Wahlqvist, 2017).

The entrance from Brunssparken is one frequently used entrance to Nordstan today.

NORDSTAN TODAY Today Nordstan is owned by four different real estate owners, one of these owners is Vasakronan. There is one community association that connects these owners to make the mall more coherent and less like separate buildings. The Community association is called Nordstan and Ulrika Carlsson has been the ceo since 2013. Each year, around 30 million people visit Nordstan and the mall has a yearly turnover of sek 4,4 billions. Nordstan consists of nine interconnected buildings with public streets in between that are accessible between 05.30 and 24.00 every day, while most of the stores open at 10.00 and close at 20.00 on a normal weekday. There are circa 150 offices and 180 stores in Nordstan, and the total number of people working there is approximately 6 000. It is one of the biggest malls in Scandinavia when it comes to number of visitors and turnover. The mall is 306 000 square meters big whereof 20 percent of the total floor space

consists of restaurants and retail. There is a common manual on some rules on how stores and restaurants are allowed to work with the exterior facing the streets inside of the mall but it is not very restricting, which leaves the mall with a very incoherent impression (Thomas, 2017). There is also a smaller mall inside of Nordstan called Femman where they work with an own coherent identity which makes it stand out from the rest of Nordstan. Today Nordstan is once again considered a problem area with a lot of potential and this is where our project start. In the beginning of April we were matched with Vasakronan on a project of turning Nordstan into a lively place, with a variety of people during all of the opening hours.

When writing the re-brief, we didn’t have much knowledge about the context and stakeholders in Nordstan. This resulted in a similar brief to the initial brief, where the outcome should result in possible directions for future work on Nordstan and suggesting possible solutions to make Nordstan more attractive even when the stores are closed. The deliverables in the re-brief were to:

FROM BRIEF TO RE-BRIEF

•

Generate a strategic report for Vasakronan and the community of Nordstan

•

Create a presentation of the work

•

Hold workshops in design thinking and other creative tools for the employees at Vasakronan

•

Share the project group’s design process

The initial brief from Vasakronan was to work with the experienced identity of Nordstan where we should develop a roadmap or direction to create a place where people want to spend time and that people want be a part of. The brief also stated that another part that could be included in the project was to work with the closeness to Brunnsparken, which is a public transport hub. Overall the brief inclined that the mall should be perceived more than just a mall since it is also a place where people meet and work, not only shop. The problem of Nordstan today is that there are no activities before and after the stores and cafés are closed which has led to some people just hanging around making others feel unsafe and some other people not going there at all. Still the mall is open from 5 o’clock in the morning until midnight which makes it an area where people pass through or just hang out without spending money. Another problem is that Brunnsparken is seen as a big obstacle that separates Nordstan from the rest of the city. If people are out shopping they either go to the city centre or to Nordstan instead of seeing Nordstan as a natural part of the city. This perception should be solved through the creation of a connection between Nordstan and the rest of the city. Additionally, the whole experience and activities inside Nordstan should be enhanced. The project should focus on how users feel, perceive and experience Nordstan.

The geographic scope mainly includes Nordstan itself but also the neighbouring park Brunnsparken and the connection of Nordstan to Fredstan, a neighbouring city area. Financial and other resource restrictions have not been discussed and are at the current status not part of the project. Still, the suggestions about the project should be feasible.

In the process of working with the project we realized that the re-brief was very similar to the original brief. During the research phase we discovered the possibility to create a service which would improve people’s experience of Nordstan which would lead to a tangible deliverable in the form of a service blueprint. In order to include a future service for Nordstan we still needed to create a roadmap to be able to implement it. This led to a small change in the deliverables, were we chose to include this. During the research we found out that there was an option to go in the direction of decreasing the criminality rate. We discussed this and decided not to go that way since it is a national problem which we don’t have enough knowledge about and it also goes against Vasakronan’s wishes for the project. Instead we argued that the service would increase the number of people in nordstan during the mornings and evenings which would make the space less attractive for criminal activities.

VASAKRONAN One of the leading property owners in Sweden is the company Vasakronan. They hold a property portfolio that is valued at approximately SEK 75 billions and consists of a total floor space of around 3.2 million square meters. The cities where they operate are Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Uppsala and Lund. The company owns a very large amount of the properties in central Gothenburg, whereof some are popular shopping malls such as Nordstan and Arkaden. Vasakronan’s business concept is to own properties in growth regions and offer Sweden’s business community, public operations, other organizations and private individuals offices, retail premises and residences so they can evolve and achieve success.

service for all property operations. Vasakronan has three core values: a high level of ethics, an overall view and a fundamental humanitarian outlook. The values comprise the platform for the company’s policies, corporate culture work and work method.

Vasakronan is owned, through AP Fastigheter Holding, in equal shares by the First, Second, Third and Fourth AP funds. The company was formed in 1998 through an incorporation of the then 1–3 AP Funds’ Swedish property holdings. At that time, the company operated under the name AP Fastigheter. On December 1, 2008 the name was changed to Vasakronan. The owners’ aim with the holdings is to maintain high and risk-weighted returns from property assets. The largest companies for commercial properties in Sweden are Vasakronan, Fabege, Castellum and Diligentia. These companies focus on urban areas and growth markets. Vasakronan and Diligentia have some residential properties, while Fabege concentrates entirely on offices and retail premises in the Stockholm region. Castellum focuses on premises for storage, industry and logistics. Vasakronan is involved in more than a few partnerships and interest groups in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö with the aim of participating in the development of the industry. Vasakronan collaborates in such areas as property valuation, sustainability, environment and energy, human resources and development. Vasakronan’s organization is based on capitalizing on the existing economies of scale, while local presence is secured through the regional organization. Striving for a high degree of specialization led to a reorganization with particular units for office premises, retail premises and projects, which are combined with engineering and

SERVICE DESIGN INTRODUCTION DEFINITION FROM PRODUCTS TO SERVICES CORE VALUES KEY CONCEPTS KEY ACTORS RELEVANCE FOR NORDSTAN

Our assignment, as defined in the re-brief, was to enhance the experience of people in Nordstan. While at first sight experience design seems to be a good choice for doing so, we still decided to use an approach based on service design. Both of the disciplines put the user’s experience at their core and also takes the service providers, the businesses, systems, processes and other stakeholders into account. As both fields have no strictly defined definitions, this differentiation can be argued about. Nonetheless it is clear for us that service design is the field with more literature about it, making it easier to grasp, as well as more new tools to use in the process. Experience design as an industry seems to me to be mostly concerned with digital, screen-based experiences. There are experience designers who will disagree with this, but if you read the books and online material and go to the conferences, it’s almost all about web and mobile. (Polaine 2013). DEFINITION Like in many design fields, there is no single right definition of the discipline ‘service design’. A single definition might even constrain the evolvement of the field. “… one of the great strengths of design is that we have not settled on a single definition. Fields in which definition is now a settled matter tend to be lethargic, dying, or dead fields, where inquiry no longer provides challenges to what is accepted as truth.” (Buchanan, 2001, p. 8). Still, there is a common language about service design. What many attempts of definition have in common can be used to create a working definition of service design. Service Design is a holistic and interdisciplinary approach, that combines methods from various fields. It is the application of design processes to the development or improvement of a service, with the goal of making the service useful, useable, efficient, effective and desirable, based on an empathic understanding of users’ needs (Stickdorn, 2011, p. 22-25). THE SHIFT FROM PRODUCTS TO SERVICES In developed countries, about 75% of the economy is made up by the service sector. Additionally, the biggest amount of new jobs are created in

the service industry. Economies have shifted from industrial manufacturing to services. Companies in those economies have problems with changing their industrial mind-set and therefore manage and market services like they did with products. Often, these companies are organised into departments like industrial product companies. This may lead to well designed individual parts of the service, but when putting the parts together, they often do not form a coherent holistic service experience. Customers, who experience these services then as a whole, also experience the gaps between the touch points. Therefore, a challenge in service design is not only to design the service, but also to (re-)design the organisation delivering the service (Polaine, Løvlie, Reason, 2013, p. 28). CORE VALUES Polaine, Løvlie and Reason (2013) define three core values of service design. Those are: care, access and response. Most services deliver at least one of them, often even a mix of all three (p. 28). Care does not only include care for people, like e.g. healthcare, but also care for an object (e.g. maintenance) or immaterial objects – lawyers or therapists provide for example care for freedom or happiness. Access providing services can for example be cinemas (access to a big screen showing a film), schools (access to education) or infrastructure (access to water, gas or the internet). Response providing services react on people’s’ needs, like for example a waiter, the ambulance or a store assistant (Polaine, Løvlie, Reason, 2013, p. 28-31). The outcomes of many services, seen only in a task-fulfilling way, is often the same. If you buy a simple cup of coffee at one café or another often does not vary that much in the fulfilment of the task. What matters, or what makes you go in one café and not the other is performance – the way the fulfilment is delivered. Performance, in the sphere of service design has two meanings: performance as experience and performance of value. As experience, performance means the style or way in which a service is delivered. As value, one can distinguish between outward and inward facing value. Outward facing value examines how well a service is delivering the results promised to the service user and inward facing value measures how well

the service is performing for the service providing organisation (Polaine, Løvlie, Reason, 2013, p. 31-33).

ate value and identify opportunities to improve the service (p. 7-13). KEY ACTORS

KEY CONCEPTS Reason, Løvlie and Flu (2016) point out the following key concepts of service design: 1. The Design Approach The design process provides a creative approach to finding solutions. Principles of this approach are ‘Thinking by Doing’, human-centredness and the usage of creative tools and methods. 2. Qualitative Research In service design quantitative research is still used, but the focus lies on qualitative research and the creation of user insights. Qualitative research helps to find aspects of human behaviour that can’t be found with quantitative research. Diving deep into a few customers’ lives will reveal the motivations for their actions. Those insights are in order needed to create experiences that meet the users’ needs and expectations and therefore create a successful service.

Services, in contrary to products, have very little or even no intrinsic value until their point of consumption. It is people, entering into relationships with service providers, co-creating the service experience. Services are complicated networks of relationships between people inside and outside a service providing company. The three main actors in services can be visualized by the service encounter triad by Cook et. al. (2002). It is a model consisting of the customer, the service organisation and the contact personnel. These roles sometimes interfere, as contact personnel is often the user of internal services. The service encounter triad shows that it is mutually beneficial for the three actors to work together. The customer works together with the contact personnel in the framework defined by the service organisation with the goal of receiving service satisfaction. The contact personnel serves the customer in a way defined by the service organisation in order to gain job satisfaction and customer satisfaction. The service organisation must satisfy the customer and the contact personnel in an economically reasonable way (p. 160).

4. Designing with people, not for them Using users and staff in the co-creation of a service is a major aspect of service design. Users often have clear need and know how they could be met and service employees often are the true experts on a service, as they work with it every day and build up detailed knowledge about what creates value to users. 5. The service blueprint as a framework A service blueprint gives a detailed overview of all bits that constitute a service and therefore helps organisations to analyse the experience they deliver, understand when and how they cre-

Service organization

Contact Personnel

. vs cy on en ti ci ac fie isf Ef sat

Visualisation is a powerful tool to make results out of insights. Through visualisation complex systems or situations can be understood easier, ideas can be communicated more clearly and users’ experiences can be described.

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3. Visualisation

Customer Perceived control

This is a visualization of the service tria Cook et al created.

When the contact personnel is not satisfied by the service organisation, they become disempowered, inflexible and demotivated. This is passed down the line and leads to bad customer experience and service failure. Successful organisations will foster a more equal relationship with the customer and recognize him/her as a co-producer of the service. For this to succeed, organisations need to get accurate information about their customers, so they can give them what they need, when they need it. Service design draws upon the user- and human-centred design traditions as well as the social sciences to form the basis of our work gathering insights into the experiences, desires, motivations, and needs of the people who use and provide services (Polaine, Løvlie, Reason, 2013, p. 36-38). Polaine, Løvlie and Reason (2013) also mention the importance of the contact personnel. Their experience is important for the success of a service for two main reasons: first, in simple terms, happy staff equals happy customers. Through involving staff in the creation or improvement of a service they will become more engaged and are able to improve the service by themselves continually. Second, contact personnel is often the real expert on a service and can provide valuable insights (p. 41-44). Besides these three main actors, service design involves research across all the stakeholders of a project — from the managing director to the end user, and from frontline staff to third-party suppliers. RELEVANCE FOR NORDSTAN Service Design’s recent emergence is no coincidence, as it is responding to social, technical and economical trends in our world. One social trend is the increase in customer’s expectations. Where people once accepted what they got, current economies have trained them to expect more. Customer sometimes make experiences with a service that makes them expecting the same for another, even totally unrelated service. As expectations rise, the need to understand these also rises, and service design can be a strong way to fulfil this need. Additionally, technical trends, like the fast digitization, effect the service sector, including the retail industry. Services that were previously delivered by

humans can now be delivered by technology. Digitalisation can change whole industries and enable new entrants to markets. A very obvious example of this in the retail industry would by Amazon. Economically, there is the evident trend of companies shifting to services. The move from manufacturing to services should not always be seen as a replacement, but a layering where services add value to manufacturing. Often services are higher-margin businesses than manufacturers. When markets mature, differentiation in products is reduced, making additional services the area where there is higher potential. Service design was invented to respond to this trend (Reason, Løvlie, Flu, 2016, p.2-3). Service design has two main uses: the improvement of an existing service or the creation of a new one. As there is no existing service in Nordstan at the moment that is created with the service design framework, service innovation is the relevant use of service design in this project. Service design innovation is a way of inventing new services using the methods, tools and principles of Service design. Service designers employ the same methods and tools in the improvement and creation of services, but the purpose of insights is different between the two. In innovation the primary concern is to reduce risk by making sure that the value proposition is viable. Insights about needs and behaviours as a foundation for ideas are needed. One danger that lies in innovation through service design is, that it can become distant from people’s real needs and problems. “In the end, insights that drive innovation confidently answer the question: ‘Will our offering make sense in the context of people’s lives, and will they find it valuable?’” (Polaine, Løvlie, Reason, 2013, p. 40-41).

THE DESIGN PROCESS INTRODUCTION RESEARCH PHASE IDEATION PHASE IMPLEMENTATION

Service design is a mix of ethos, method and tools. There is a fundamental belief that customers and businesses can interact more productively. There is an approach that focuses on successful interactions and relationships through the service lifecycle. And there are tools that bring much needed mapping, visualization, testing and learning to ensure projects stand a better chance of success (Livework, 2017). The method of Service Design derives from six core elements; Maintain the customer's perspective, Reframe challenges to identify better solutions, Use design to make the new tangible, Prototype to learn quickly, Collaborate to align teams and Structure delivery around customer experience (Livework B, 2017). We have worked with these six elements in mind but the method and tools used for this projects are a mix that comes mainly from Service Design as well as from our own interpretations.

some of the tools were used in different phases for altering purposes. The tools we’ve used are mostly to be found in contexts of service design, experience design, business design, design thinking, management and innovation. Trello To be able to structure our work, we used the interactive online platform Trello. Here we were able to create categories, we named some for example doing and done. Under these categories we create cards on what was relevant for the work. Trello made it easy to organize the project and keep control over all details that were going on at once. Trello allows all group members to create cards and to interact with them in various ways. RESEARCH PHASE

Some of those tools were previously used by the group during the Business and Design master programme. As a framework for our design process we chose a service design “wheel” from Service Design Toolkit (servicedesigntoolkit. com). It has similarities to other processes, such as double diamond (a simple visual map of the design process) or design thinking. The main phases are research, ideation, prototyping and delivery. Below we’ll describe the majority of the tools as used in chronological order, although

An important part of our project has been the research phase. It was during this phase we got to know humans that in different ways are connected to Nordstan. We gathered information through various methods such as interviews, surveys, observations and readings to collect as much data as we could consider the time limit. To know which people to talk to and which questions to ask we used the Framing tool from the Service Design Toolkit. In this tool we filled in which information we were lacking and from there we created questions and in the end we discussed which people to contact to get answers to these questions. Unfortunately not everyone we contacted had the possibility to participate and in these cases we contacted alternative information sources.

TIO

NTA

LE IMP

Deep interviews

ATIO

CH EAR

COMPANY

RES

USERS

IDE

Our working process within this project as a model.

During the research phase we did nine interviews that were between ten to sixty minutes long and where we sat down together with the interviewees to discuss their view on Nordstan. We did four interviews with different types of users such as a local (a person that has been living in Gothenburg for a long time), a passer-by (a person who often is in Gothenburg, for example to work), a tourist (a person who has only been to Gothenburg for holiday) and a newcomer (someone who recently moved here). We also did two interviews with politicians (a representative

of the leading red party, Socialdemokraterna, and a representative of the leading blue party, Moderaterna) and with a woman working for Park- och NaturfĂśrvaltningen (the Gothenburg city park and nature department). The eight interview was with Tomas Wahlqvist who is our contact at Vasakronan and a member of Nordstan community and the ninth was with Yvonne Svensson a former intern at Vasakronan.

From our interview with the woman working for Gothenburg city we found out that there is a similar project to ours going on for the area of Brunnsparken, Emma, as the woman is named, is leading a project with the purpose of making Brunnsparken more attractive and a place where people want to spend time.

From our interviews with users we found out that they often visit Nordstan but almost only because of its convenient location and the mallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s range of stores. None of them said that they like the experience of being in Nordstan and they all saw multiple areas of improvement.

To get more insights from users in Nordstan we did random short interviews with people inside of Nordstan. We wanted to have a wide demographic and therefore we actively looked for different ages, nationalities and genders. We asked people that were in the mall to participate and for those that were willing to answer some questions we asked seven short questions about their opinion on Nordstan and what they were doing there. We got fifteen replies during our time in Nordstan and many of the answers we got from the quick interviews were similar to the ones we got from the deep interviews but there was also a big number of people that liked Nordstan as it is today.

From the interviews with the politicians we found out that there is an ongoing debate on whether or not Nordstan should be open when the stores are closed due to the unsafe feeling Nordstan has at nights. The red party would like to keep Nordstan open until midnight but increase the number of events there at nights so that there is a more diverse group of people also in nights. The blue party would like to make it possible to close Nordstan at eight. They see it as an advantage if the people that are currently hanging out in Nordstan at night instead were spread out around the city.

Quick interviews

Survey As Vasakronan is our client we knew that they would be willing to answer some questions for us and as the employees of Vasakronan also are users of Nordstan we took the opportunity to send out a survey to them with questions regarding Nordstan. We got eighteen replies which gave us a better insight of what people that are working in the mall is missing. We consider this very valuable information as there are 6000 people working in Nordstan even though we are aware that the answers only represent one company. Observations

Quick interviews were done in the aisles of Nordstan.

In addition to the interviews and survey we also did observations at different times and places. We went to Nordstan when they opened at 5.30 am and stayed until 10 am to observe what type of people (gender, age, groups/singles, in hurry/ calmly walking, etc.) that were there at this time and what they were doing. For the same reason we went there when the stores closed and stayed for a few hours. We also got the chance to experience the roof of Nordstan which is an open space which very few people know about

and got a guided tour through the basement of Nordstan. By seeing the whole building of Nordstan and not only the shopping area we got a chance to open up our mind for ideas outside of retail. Readings

The entrance from Brunnsparken from inside.

We have all been reading up on different ongoing trends. One of the main areas has been sustainability and sustainable architecture. Another important area has been the future of shopping. With increased usage of technology and robots, the way we look at shopping and mall is very likely to change within the next few years. We have also read about how colors, sounds and placement of furniture’s affect human behavior. Workshop with each other As a part of this project we wanted to practice and improve our workshop skills. Therefore we have put an effort into planning and leading workshops. We started our workshop training with one day where all members in the group had to prepare a workshop for each other. Jessica did a workshop where the others had to arrange colored papers from happy to sad and from energetic to calming and also describe the different colors with adjectives. The workshop was inspired by the field of color psychology.

In the basement of Nordstan , trucks can easily enter.

During the project we worked with workshops.

Agnes did a workshop where the others had to listen to a “stressful” song with their eyes closed. When they thought that two minutes had passed they should raise their hands. Then they repeated the exercise one time with a calm song and one time with rain sound. After that the exercise was repeated a fourth and fifth time but this time it was five minutes and the first time they were allowed to draw on a paper and the second time they weren’t allowed to do anything. The result showed us that stressful music and nothing to do makes two minutes feel longer whereof calming music and drawing makes them feel more longer. Emanuel and Tony did workshops with tools from the Service Design Toolkit. Emanuel let the other do a Customer Journey Map of a fictive person and Tony had the others come up with a service that they could develop in a Service Blueprint. These workshops gave us a better

understand of the tools and the method of service design and both tools were later used in the process.

to map out the touchpoints (only people and technology) and the third was to map out the pain points.

First workshop with Vasakronan (that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen)

After that we let them do a idea generation exercise where everyone wrote possible solutions for the pain points, then they picked a favorite and improved that idea. After that they passed the improved version on to another member of the group and this round they had to make to solution as bad as possible. During the third and final round they passed the idea on once again and made it the opposite of the worst.

Our first workshop with Vasakronan was schedule to the 26th of April. However, it was canceled by Vasakronan due to schedule difficulties. The workshop was however already prepared and the idea of the workshop was to get to know the employees of Vasakronan more in order to get a better understanding of their view on Nordstan, Gothenburg and the world. Workshop with Fjord During one whole day we had the opportunity to do workshops together with Fjord Berlin. During this day we once again did a customer journey map but this time it was Nordstan that was the focus and the persona we used was a fictive employee in Nordstan. From the customer journey map we came up with ideas for how to improve the experience in Nordstan and one idea that we continued to work with was an Amazon store concept applied to employees in Nordstan. The representatives of Fjord had us specify the service by putting it into a very rough service blueprint.

After the idea generation exercise each group had a number of ideas and they had to pick their favorite one and then they put this idea into a low-fi service blueprint. In the end of the workshop the three groups had to present their ideas to each other and ask questions and give feedback. The workshop ended with a round where everyone had to say what they took with them from today. Overall the participants were pleased with the workshop and they had had fun during these 90 minutes. For next workshop we will make sure to have a better time margin as well as giving more time to explain the exercises and tools. Steepv

Second Workshop with Vasakronan On the 12th of May we had our first and only workshop with Vasakronan. The workshop was 90 minutes long and we had ten people participating. As this was the only workshop time we had with our client we wanted to maximize the time. The workshop started with a warm up exercise where we and the participants had to come up with two truths and one lie to tell the others and the others then had to guess which one was a lie. The exercise led to a lot of laughter and we all got to know each other better. After that we did a very short presentation on who we are and what we have been doing so far in the project. As the first exercise we let the participants do a customer journey map in multiple steps. The first step was the activities in a day of a persona (we handed out personas to them), the second was

(Society, technology, economy, environment, politics and values) is a framework for

steepv

Part of the employees of Vasakronan that joined for the workshop.

observing trends in the business environment for an early outlook on the external environment. It is a visual canvas (spectrum or half-spectrum) with your business context in the middle. It is split into sectors by the categories that make up the abbreviation steepv and three widening circles from the centre that assign how close are the trends to be mapped out connected to your topic. The closest circle is called core, the second is called periphery and the third is called adjacent (Ideascale.se). We’ve used the steepv in our research phase and from time to time turned to it throughout the project, having a constant visual representation of the broader trend environment. This tool was presented to us by the Bespoke design consultancy in 2016 and originally comes from the management field. Liquid expectations model As customer experiences with any product category affect how customers experience products in other categories previously thought to be unrelated, all businesses need to add new dimensions to how they understand and define their competitive strategy. By merely focusing on direct competitors, and even experiential competitors, companies still risk falling prey to the crisis of customer experience currently felt amongst cmos. Increasingly, your most important competitors are those we call perceptual: those competing to shape the expectations customers have for experiences in every category.

even passion for their services (Fjord, 2015). We’ve used this model developed by the Fjordnet consultancy as a canvas for mapping out competitors and the expectations they might bring into users’ perceptions. Stakeholder map This project is a complex system of actors and stakeholder, therefore we reached to so called “stakeholder mapping” originating in marketing. We’ve adapted it as a way to cluster insights and to see whom we managed to research directly and which stakeholders are left to be taken into account. Marketers use this technique to group all the stakeholders for their organisation into three groups, Internal, Connected and External. Stakeholders could be understood as persons and organisations that have an interest in the strategy of the organisation. Stakeholders normally include shareholders, customers, staff, the local community and users. From this definition we can see that a stakeholder is a person, persons or an organisation that have an interest, effect and can be affected by what the organisation does (Professional Academy, 2017). Service ecology First, though, it is sometimes necessary to gain a sense of the context in which the service is operating, which is usually complex. You can map this out in a service ecology—a diagram of all the actors affected by a service and the relationships between them, displayed in a systematic manner.

For example, Uber’s checkout, which is as simple and seamless as shutting the car door, will reset consumers’ expectations for how convenient checkout can be in every industry, causing consternation as they stand in a queue at a store or wait for a server to bring the check. Naturally, digital native businesses are subject to these same liquid expectations.

A service ecology can start off simple—for instance, as a map that shows how a customer might use a website in combination with a call center to solve a problem. At the other end of the scale, it is possible to map complex systems such as a public transportation system or a model for reducing unemployment.

Across sectors, increasingly Liquid Expectations pose a broad and acute competitive threat. Only marketers who continuously re-shape offerings for shifting expectations can reclaim control of the customer experience, and foster loyalty and

The basic actors in a service ecology are the enterprises that make a promise to the customer (or service user), the agents who deliver that promise through different channels, and the customers who return value back to the enterprise.

IDEATION After the research phase we moved onto making the insights into an innovative service design proposal. The ideation happened through various steps that are further explained below. Personas

In the process of creating a service ecology.

We created personas, which are archetypes built after an exhaustive observation of the potential users. Each persona is based on a fictional character whose profile gathers up the features of an existing social group. In this way the personas assume the attributes of the groups they represent: from their social and demographic characteristics, to their own needs, desires, habits and cultural backgrounds. Customer journey map The next step was to do a customer journey map. It is an oriented graph that describes the journey of a user by representing the different touch points that characterize his interaction with the service.

Two of the personas we made during the ideation phase.

In this kind of visualization, the interaction is described step by step as in the classical blueprint, but there is a stronger emphasis on some aspects as the flux of information and the physical devices involved. At the same time there is a higher level of synthesis than in the blueprint: the representation is simplified through the loss of the redundant information and of the deepest details (Service Design Tools, 2017). Design Scope Design scope is a part of the “design challenge” and a part of our “core” service design toolkit. It is used to formulate a few things that lets pull focus in the design process and is composed of several parts. First we defined our service by remoulding our initial objective with the starting point on the insights from earlier steps in the process. This reworked objective should state what the service should be or what it should improve and for who it is intended for (Service Design Toolkit, 2011).

The working space when working with the service stories.

We then identified the three most relevant users, employees and other stakeholders according to our research. This helped in understanding

what should be considered when designing the service (Service Design Toolkit 2011). Chinese portrait In order to understand the service better we created a chinese portrait. This step is about imagining the service as an animal, a meal, an environment and as a functional object. In this project we decided to sketch one of each individually and then by discussing choosing one for each theme (Service Design Toolkit 2011). The design challenge After that the design challenge was formulated. To work with the design challenge the sentence “how can we [users][verb] to [objective]?“ can be a helpful tool where you are supposed to fill in the parenthesis with your own relevant words (Service Design Toolkit 2011). Most important measurments of sucess In order to be able to understand the effects of the potential service we needed to ideate on ways to measure the service when it is implemented. This was done by identifying the most important measurements of success, or KPIs (Service design toolkit). We discussed different valuable KPI’s for Nordstan but we did not go into specifics on how to measure them (Service Design Toolkit 2011). Service story After the design scope, we moved on to creating a service story. This is a tool used to visualise all steps for the user starting at the beginning when she or he learns about the service until end of use (Livework C, 2017). The activities (what the user does) and touchpoints (what the user interacts with during this activity) are written or sketched (Service Design Toolkit, 2013). When working with this tool, you use a persona from the process, this personas context and the user’s objectives of the service. The service stories we made are based on the phases aware, join, use, leave and after use. We created for four personas that were representing a big variety. Ideation lotus blossom To be able to ideate further we used the Lotus

Blossom (Service Design Toolkit, 2011). This tool helped us to organize our thinking around significant themes, in order to explore a number of alternate possibilities and ideas. We’ve used this tool as part of our “core” toolkit from service design during the ideation phase. The point is that by organizing his thinking around loosely-connected themes, Darwin expanded his thinking by inventing alternative possibilities and explanations that, otherwise, may have been ignored. A creative-thinking technique that will help you expand your thinking in a similar fashion is Lotus Blossom, which was originally developed by Yasuo Matsumura of Clover Management Research in Chiba City, Japan. The technique helps you to diagrammatically mimic Darwin’s thinking strategy by organizing your thinking around significant themes. You start with a central subject and expand into themes and sub-themes, each with separate entry points. This approach is pursued in ever-widening circles until the subject or opportunity is comprehensively explored. The cluster of themes and surrounding ideas and applications, which are developed in one way or another, provide several different alternative possibilities (Innovation Management, 2017). Forced relationship / mix and match After creating the lotus blossom idea map, we combined different thoughts from the map into new combos which resulted in over new 100 ideas. We were randomly given three insights each that we had to combine into a service in one minute (Methodbase, 2017). Idea selection After coming up with many ideas we had to select the ones to further focus on. For that purpose we’ve used another tool from our “core” toolkit — the cocd box. This technique allows one to place various ideas in 4 sectors (or boxes) for further eliminations of ideas in all but one “box”. On the horizontal axis ideas are to be branded as “ordinary” or “original”, while on the vertical axis they’d range from “feasible” to “not (yet) feasible”. After assigning ideas to different boxes, the “original feasible” ideas are usually preferable (Service Design Toolkit, 2011).

After the “scripted” usage of this tool, we’ve changed the vertical axis to “relevant” in over to cross-reference them to our personas and research insights. IMPLEMENTATION In the ideation phase, many ideas had similarities. To make the links between different ideas clearer we decided to cluster the ideas in different categories. What we found was that the majority of the ideas could be sorted into the categories Activities and Technology. Instead of limit ourselves to only one idea, we settled that we could use all these ideas, by collecting them under one umbrella. Some of the ideas in the Activity category were sorted into smaller groups such as; Sports, Cultural activities, Crafts, Learning and Games. When continuing with the work we kept these activity themes in mind.

Working in our studio.

Prototyping In order to make our solution as credible as possible we worked with prototyping. This step is included in Service design, and includes the users and stakeholders in the developing process so the end result will fit into their lives as good as possible. For this project, prototyping was done by testing to have an activity (yoga) at the location. This was done internally in our team in order for us to get a feeling about how it would be to have an activity there. Another prototyping we did was to create wireframes for a digital platform to try out how users would experience and understand it. This facilitated future adjustments for an improved platform, closer to the users. During a presentation for stakeholders, teachers and the Business and Design class which all are potential users of the service we developed, we learned about how the service was received by them and how they thought it could be further developed through a feedback session. A second presentation, now for the employees of Vasakronan, also resulted in feedback which could be used for improving the service. For both presentation we prepared a video that explained the service and the digital platform. The video was intended to in an easy way explain the service and how it worked, and by showing it to the potential users we learnt if we had succeeded or not.

One of the tool we used during ideation, the cocd box.

Testing our work at the location.

Limitations During the work with the project our main focus was the users of Nordstan, since we wanted a user-centered view on things related to the space. This led to a very limited amount of research on the company side, where we only had a dialogue with one of the four property owners of Nordstan. The community association for Nordstan was another part we had no contact with due to problems with finding contact information and problems with syncing timetables. To develop this service further it would be of importance to investigate more about the representatives in Nordstan. This would also include the tenants and the employes in Nordstan which haven’t been included deeply in the project so far. Since the service should be implemented by the company, it is important to not only have a user perspective but also a company perspective in order to understand the business drivers and measures as well as policies, practices, process, procedures, people, and systems. So far, this perspective hasn’t been applied. Therefore, this is a necessary step to take in the future development of the service. Aricò at Livework writes that “(...) that 51% of the projects run by Service Design agencies never get implemented. The agencies’ contribution is often at the Idea Generation and Customer insight phases. At Livework we call this ‘corporate entertainment”: generating ideas to entertain and inspire an innovation department in an organisation whilst being fully aware that these ideas will never see the light.‘“ (Aricò, 2017). This is also one of the dangers with this project. Another limitation is the lack of an industry analysis. In the research phase we touched the surface of some competitors, which needs to become more holistic. The trends in the industry is something we investigated briefly, so this research could be developed further.

THE SERVICE CONCEPT INTRODUCTION SERVICE BLUEPRINT STRATEGY

From our thorough research we found four main insights to what people are looking for: •

To be active (both physically and mentally)

•

To meet new people

•

To learn new things

Convenience (many things happen just because they are convenient placed or convenient to use) From these insights (and the other insights in the back of our head) we created Nordstan Plus. Nordstan Plus has all the advantages that Nordstan has today such as a variety of shopping possibilities, the roof covering it and the convenient location but it also has much more. Nordstan Plus is not only a mall where you go to shop, it’s an activity based mall. This means that in future Nordstan you can do various activities; everything from pottery to basketball to watching a movie on the roof top. What happens in Nordstan is all up to the users.

platform where the event will take place and automatically get a map for how to find the space. When Lotta arrives in the space there will be a cart with the requested supplies that the Nordstan staff has left there for her to use. When the participants arrive Lotta scans their confirmation receipts with her phone to make sure that there is not more people than allowed. During the event there is a camera on in the room that is connected to a backstage security room, this is for the facilitator and users safety. After the event Lotta put the leftover material back on the cart and leaves the space. After the event she receives a notification asking her to rate the event and the users’ get a similar message. Thanks to the rating function and everything being managed digitally Nordstan will have a lot of statistics for how many people that join, what they join, what they liked and didn’t like etcetera. Thanks to all this information being collected and saved Nordstan can constantly improve the service to meet customer needs. This means that Nordstan will get to know their customers better.

Nordstan Plus is based on the fact that the people behind Nordstan provide the material and the space and the users decide what to do with it. To illustrate Nordstan Plus it is easiest to use examples so in this case we will use Lotta, which is one of the personas we created after the research phase. Lotta is very good at doing art from trash and would like to share her knowledge with the world. However, she doesn’t have the money to rent a space for it and she also doesn’t know how to attract people to join. Nordstan Plus is foremost managed through a mobile device. In her device Lotta can register as a facilitator and create her event. When creating the event Lotta also needs to fill in a description of the event and fill in a supply list for what she needs for her event. The event is sent to Nordstan Customer Service which first sets up an interview together with Lotta and after when Lotta gets approved they evaluate her project description and approves it. When the event is approved it ends up in the Nordstan Plus calendar where other users can register as participants. The time and day that the event takes place both Lotta and the participants can see on the

Wireframes for the service platform.

BLUEPRINT As the service we developed is very complex with different users, different functions and demands both digital and manual development we made a high fidelity blueprint. The blueprint we used was a mix of the blueprint found in the book Service Design - From insight to implementation (Polaine & Løvlie, 2013, p. 58) and the Feasibility Blueprint found in the Service Design Toolkit (2011). Service blueprint is a visual tool in the form of a table, that helps you structure, design, and align touchpoint interactions as they unfold over time. It gives a clear overview of how different activities and touch points are connected, which can become a very complex system (Polaine & Løvlie, 2013, p. 91). By structuring the different aspects of a service on the vertical axis into users, front office, back office and to develop it it will help us to understand if something is lacking. Everything that the user see and gets in contact with from the service provider’s side is the front stage while the activities that happen without being visible directly to the user is the backstage. In the users field the users activities are listed. In the front office, you would find the touch points and the service providers activities that the users see. The back office includes Internal processes and external processes. The service blueprint’s horizontal shows all the stages of the service in the , from beforehand, Using the service and After use In the users column the user activities should be included (Polaine & Løvlie, 2013, p. 92). For our Blueprint we divided the users into facilitators (the ones leading the activity), normal user (anyone attending activities) and group user (a person responsible for bringing other people such as children or elderly to an activity). By dividing them it became easier to see which steps that needs to be taken in order for Nordstan to create a well functional service for all types of users. We also divided the different steps into create, aware, join, use and after use. The create phase is not included in any of the templates we mixed. However the Feasibility Blueprint has has a develop stage that has similar function. We decided to add create as a first step as there is many things that needs to be arranged before this service can be presented to the users. This

makes sense as the service is a totally new one, both for Nordstan, Vasakronan and the world. We also decided to use the specified touchpoints/channels from the Service Design book and remove the front office activity. This was because we felt like touchpoints and back office was enough to cover what happens front office as well. To add front office activity was just to add an extra step och repeating the other steps but in different words. We also specified the back office activities into categories according to the Service Design book but we added marketing as an extra category as we saw a big need of marketing efforts for this new service. We also renamed the IT department to Design and development to include UX design etc. On the next spread, you’ll find our final Blueprint. STRATEGY Objectives The objectives of this strategy have been derived from discussion and research and should all follow the main objective to engage people in activities to improve their experience in Nordstan. Objectives exist on both the user side of the service as well as the organisational side of the service provider. Users’ Objectives To improve users’ experience in Nordstan, the strategy should meet the users’ objectives. Those can be split up into emotional and rational objectives (Service Design Toolkit, 2011) and are the following: Emotional Objectives: user research has shown that the most important emotional goals are to meet new people and to be part of a community, to be happy, and to feel safe. Rational Objectives: the main rational objectives of users are to be active, to be healthy, to get new skills and knowledge, to be entertained and to experience a convenient service. Organisational Objectives The strategy should also fulfil the organisation’s objectives. Those are the following:

Economical Objectives: besides the positive impacts on society the strategy should also be economically feasible. As there will be no income generated from the participants of the activities, other sources of income are necessary. As private companies can engage in the activities as facilitators there will be revenue created from this source. Additionally, sponsorships can create further income. As Nordstan Plus is offering activities that will have a positive impact on society, public funding from governmental side should be applied for. As people go to Nordstan more often and also spend more time there while engaging in activities, they might consume more of other offerings, like shopping or gastronomy.

of the service must be put together from a user perspective, creating a smooth overall experience.

Perceptual and reputational objectives: through offering activities at Nordstan users will be more likely to go to Nordstan and spend time there. This shall alter the overall perception of Nordstan, as it will be perceived as more than the shopping mall it is at the current stage. Through spending more time at Nordstan, people will also build up a stronger relationship with the mall. Nordstan will also become a more integrated part of the city as the mall will no longer be just a place to go if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to shop in the city but a unique place that attracts everyone. As private companies all over the city can lead activities in the mall it will further connect the Nordstan to other business in Gothenburg.

Capability of the organisation: services will be designed according to the understanding of purpose, demand and the current capability of the organisation

Principles The strategy follows some principles, which were created to ensure that all individual recommendations fit together. User-centeredness: every part of the service should be designed based on how it is experienced by the user. Not only the participants of the activities are users, also employees and facilitators can be users of parts of the service. Co-creation: Collaboration in the design with all relevant stakeholders (internal and external) is necessary. Sequencing: the service must deliver a unified and efficient experience for the user. All parts

Holistic: take every aspect of the service environment into account, and leave nothing to chance Prototyping: Prototyping and testing of the service with the user is necessary to improve the experience. Measuring impact to focus efforts: gathering and analysing data to assess and enhance the service is necessary. Key performance indicators should be established to only measure what matters.

Step-by-Step As Nordstan Plus is a large investment for Nordstan that requires a lot of time, effort and monetary investments it is not likely that the whole concept can be implemented successfully all at once. Instead we suggest to consider Nordstan Plus the end station and the steps to get there as actions taken along the way. By successively developing Nordstan Plus there is time for all stakeholders to be involved in the process and to find and solve difficulties as they come. As a service strategy we have developed a roadmap for Nordstan as an alternative for a suitable development order. This step-by-step roadmap is only a suggestion and will be adapted along the way: Go Digital For Nordstan Plus to work and fulfil its objectives, a digital platform is necessary. The online platform should include information about shopping at Nordstan, how to navigate through the mall and also special offers and shopping discounts. By providing the information digitally it becomes is easier to track and to update changes. The platform should be built in a way that allows for it to expand as Nordstan adds on services along the way. This will probably be done through an external company. Additionally,

What is invisible for the “customer”

PROCESSES

BACKSTAGE

Where the user meets the front stage (everything the “customer” interacts with)

TOUCH POINT

What the user does in each step

ACTIVITY

Contact affiliates

Collect equipment

Marketing

External processes

Customer Service

Design & development

Create platform/app

Contact potential sponsors (municipality)

Set up IoT

Nordstan admin panel

Get approval for events

Adjust the space

Place app in appstore

Hire people to put up posters

Create posters /ads & publish

Other activity centers in town

Location

Create budget

Social media apps

Mobile device

Order supplies

Social media apps

Phone

Customer services

Social media channels

Web

Read e-mail

See posters/ads

AWARE

Posters & ads

Train personnel

CREATE

Face to face

Only facilitator

Municipality user, user & facilitator

WHAT

Version 1 by Agnes Nemeth, Emanuel Uitz, Jessica Juhlin, Tony Berg

NORDSTAN+ ACTIVITY MALL SERVICE BLUEPRINT

Other central places in town

Internet & e-mail

Internet & email

Blogs, website & e-mail

Local newspaper

People in town

Hear people talk about the service

Read local newspaper

Texting & calling

Appstore

Info center’s computer

Agreement to follow guidelines

Set up contract/ guidelines

Execute & evaluate facilitator Interview

Write questions for facilitator interview

Facilitator interview online

Facilitator interview together

Friends, colleagues & family Ask Service personnel for help

Attend interview

Service personnel

Download app/go to info center

JOIN

Talk with family & friends

Read Blogs & homepage

Social media integration

Invite & share through phone

Friends & family

Invite & share activities with others

Advertisement of activities

Scheduling software

Social media

Hear about activity from others

Create an idea for a workshop

Find an interesting activity

USE

Information in mobile device

Info center’s computer

Find time & space

Send supply request to collaborators

Create supply list

Maintenance of supply

Evaluate & approve activity

Facilitator creates activity in app

Create activity description & supply list

Generate confirmation receipt

Failure response

Receive confirmation

Personnel in info center 24/7

Problems or facilitator sick

Security staff in the building

Development of interactive maps

Support the facilitator if needed

Collect supplies & leave in space

Storage space & workshop space

Code scanner for access & interactive map

Facilitator calls for support in the app

Signs show names of the different areas

Personnel in info center 24/7

Prepare space

Navigate to space

Security staff in the building

Integrate code generation

Support the facilitator if needed

Have back-up devices for facilitators

Facilitator calls for support in the app

Personnel in info center 24/7

Scan confirmation receipts

Get confirmation of receipt scanned

Security staff in the building

Support the facilitator if needed

Watch cameras & call security if needed

Facilitator can adjust space in app

Security cameras, screens in info center

Facilitator calls for support in the app

Personnel in info center 24/7

Execute activity and adjust space

Connect end announcement to schedule

Check & register supplies

Collect the supplies

End announcement on screens

End announcement in speakers

Put stuff back

Leave activity

Contact with charity organization

Update content

Provide discount options

Set up reward system

Visit app on any mobile device

Facilitator receives coupons in app

Visit app on computer

Coupons showing in app

Receive & use/donate coupons

Visit digital platform

AFTER USE

Create feedback form

Rating/ feedback service

Save data

Analyze data

Reminder in app

Form for feedback

Leave feedback

Get reminder of feedback

Content creation

App

Social media

Website

Browse digital platform, view notifications

Social media integration

Post/share in social media channels

Talk to others about activity

Post/share activities

AWARE

JOIN

See posters/ads

Read local newspaper

Read Blogs & homepage

Read e-mail

Hear people talk about the service

Talk with family & friends

People in town

Friends, colleagues & family

Posters & ads

Local newspaper

Social media channels

Blogs, website & e-mail

Social media apps

Internet & email

Social media apps

Internet & e-mail

Other activity centers in town

Other central places in town

Download app/go to info center

USE

Attend interview

Service personnel

Ask Service personnel for help

Info centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s computer

Texting & calling

Invite & share activities with others

Appstore

Facilitator interview together

Create an idea for a workshop

Friends & family

Facilitator interview online

Agreement to follow guidelines

Find an interesting activity

Find time & space

Hear about activity from others

Social media

Info centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s computer

Invite & share through phone

Agreement to follow guidelines

Information in mobile device

Write questions for facilitator interview

Create posters /ads & publish

Hire people to put up posters

Execute & evaluate facilitator Interview

Scheduling software

Set up contract/ guidelines

Advertisement of activities

A view of the service blueprint. The image above is a close up, Social media while the one on the left is the total. integration

Nordstanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities on social media should be improved. Nordstan Plus App As part of the digitalisation of Nordstan the Nordstan Plus app needs to be developed. It should be accessible on all devices, but should focus on mobile usage. The app will be needed to sign up for Nordstan Plus, engage in activities, navigate through Nordstan, entering facilities, create new activities and give feedback after activities. This makes in the main touch point between users and Nordstan.

Partnerships It is important to create a network of partners for Nordstan Plus. Sponsorship agreements for supplies needed for activities are necessary, as well as companies wanting to engage as facilitators of activities.

Legal Advice for Guidelines

Reward System for Facilitators

Legal Advice from experts is needed to develop the terms and conditions of usage of Nordstan Plus for both the users and the facilitators.

Private Facilitators will be rewarded through a reward system in the Nordstan Plus app. Possible rewards are discounts for a variety of stores, restaurants or cafĂŠs in Nordstan. Agreements with the stores need to be made, as well as setting up the digital reward system.

Activities: Prototyping and Testing Prototyping and testing of activities for Nordstan Plus should start as early as possible. Both steps need to be done in collaboration with users. Through prototyping and testing the whole service will be enhanced and adjusted further to peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs. Activities can range over a wide variety of categories like Sports, Cultural activities, Crafts, Learning and Games. Examples of activities would be pop-up gym classes, team-sport activities, theatre performances, a cinema on the roof, crafts classes, educational discussions and board game nights. Public Funding As Nordstan Plus activities will be free for the end-users, an alternative income stream is necessary. Free activities for the people in Gothenburg certainly have a positive impact for society. That is why Nordstan should apply for public funding from governmental side for its activities in the Nordstan Plus program. Getting in contact with public funding agencies is therefore a necessary step in the early stage. 5G-network Nordstan Plus needs a digitally connected mall to work. Navigation through the mall and entering activities are the main steps were connected devices will be needed. Connected devices

needed are for example interactive screens, mobile scanning devices, lightning, door systems or speakers. Creating a 5G-network in Nordstan can not only be used for Nordstan Plus but for the mall as a whole. Connecting the Nordstan Plus app to the 5G-network is also necessary.

Collecting Supplies Nordstan needs to build up an inventory of supplies that are at disposal for activities. This could be generated through donations and sponsorships from other companies or even from private households. Advertising Especially in the early phases Nordstan Plus needs sufficient advertising. People should be made aware of the new possibilities in Nordstan. It is especially crucial to get people as facilitators on board, so that a high number of different activities can be offered through Nordstan Plus. Personnel Recruitment and Training New personnel needs to be hired and trained. Service personnel is needed for support at the info centre at Nordstan, the activity supplies need to be managed, security and technicians are necessary.

BUSINESS AND DESIGN INTRODUCTION

Business and Design seems to lack a thorough definition and therefore may be challenging to communicate, even if limited to the context of the University of Gothenburg’s program. Perhaps one of the reasons is that our Business and Design program spans through a variety of disciplines and theoretical frameworks, by such having rather varying definitions depending on context. In 2016 the group of future Business and Design Masters of Science came together from diverse multidisciplinary students that had two years ahead to find meaning in the program. Due to the academic nature of studies we were familiarised with philosophy of science and various schools of scientific thought. In order to prepare us for a more shared mindset and skillset the students with business background had a crash course in design and the students with design/ media background had a crash course in business administration. The theory was instantly complemented with practical assignments in design and business, but that was just the beginning. Once the group was ready to be divided into mixed groups instead of “business versus design”, we entered the “Design and Society” course. Each mixed group had a different topic involving social innovation (Gothenburg in 2035) and change. The theoretical topics ranged in speculative design, future thinking, trend analysis, policy making, social design and more specific to each group’s assignment topic (Accommodation, Internet of things, Transportation and Education). Design thinking was introduced among other things as a rich bridging between management and design especially in terms of choice of tools, methods and processes. Then came time for some education in finances and law. We’ve had to, in groups, create financial analyses for Gothenburg’s squares and businesses. At the same time, each student picked companies they admired and people behind them in order to create individual analyses. This course was beneficial for assessing value generation and capture as well as the variety of models for looking at the “bottom line”. The following Strategy, design and innovation

course presented us with an opportunity of creating something more in line with design in a business setting with a real client case. A great deal of theory helped gain some depth into the course’s main subjects with a variety of tools for rendering at times radical approaches to a case of a large business and transforming, yet traditional industry. Service and business design were briefly introduced, yet not set up as any framework of sorts. Design-driven strategy had to be defined in each group’s own interpretations, however was mostly heavily influenced by design thinking and service design. In contrast to the previous course, the case for Branding and Marketing was a one-man micro-brewery, and the context changed once again. We’ve been introduced to marketing and branding theories, predominantly cultural innovation strategy. Here our framework was extended and revealed different meanings of design when having a more marketing-oriented approach. Finally, came the Integrated Projects. Despite us having taken on “real” cases, this course would be the first to ensure closer collaboration, possibility of implementation and twice the time previously given to us for completion. Another difference, in case of our Zoola Hoolaz group in particular, was the lack of any particular suggested framework or type of outcome. This placed us into a position of having to use Business and Design according to relevance of our task, that is, to attract more people to Nordstan during the hours that stores are closed. For us it meant looking at the bigger picture and searching for ways to enhance the experience of being in Nordstan beyond shopping or just hanging around. There are three major aspects in this project that we had to find fitting theories to apply to. Firstly, what is Nordstan experience for not just customers, but people. Second is a complexity of what Nordstan is to the stakeholders involved. Third would be the social aspect of what Nordstan is as part of the city and country. Fortunately, our program so far has provided us with some amounts of ways to tackle the many issues. We chose a service design framework for enhancing experience and to make grounds for business design.

Quite early in the process we realized that one of the most important contribution we could give to Vasakronan/Nordstan in this project was the mindset of human centered approach. Within the design field the user is often mentioned as key person in every step. However there is also researchers claiming that users is not the best term to use but instead humans is a better word. A service encounter needs to be beneficial to both the customer, the contact personnel and to the service organization and by saying users it is easy to only consider the customer (Cook, et.al, 2002, p. 160). These three stakeholders are all connected to each other and one’s behaviour affect the others. We therefore put a lot of effort into our research phase in order for us to create a solution based on the stakeholders. We also early realized that there is an ongoing political debate regarding Nordstan. The mall is considered a place where many of Gothenburg’s social problems are represented. Through our interviews with the politicians we got more insights into what these social problems are and through our interviews with customers we saw that these social problems have led to a degraded identity of Nordstan. Without improving the reputation of Nordstan it wouldn’t be possible for us to achieve the client’s goal. Thanks to our previous courses we have learnt to tackle a variety of social problems and we were therefore not left bewildered by the complexity of Nordstan. Thanks to all the previous courses of Business and Design and the mindset, tools and methods we collected along the way we were able to find a suitable way of tackling the task given to us from different angles. In this case there wasn’t only one solution to the problem but many and from our education we were able to see the problem from directions which we believe are rare for people without a similar background.

Working together has been an important part of our learning.

PERSONAL LEARNINGS INTRODUCTION AGNES ANTON EMANUEL JESSICA

Here follows each group members personal reflections from the project. AGNES During these weeks working with the Nordstan project, I have learnt that there are many ways to explain what we as business and design students do. One method we have learnt to use from the beginning of the project was to work with metaphors which forces us to translate what we are doing in an easy and tangible way. This is something we practiced during the project when we had short presentations in front of the class and teachers. It resulted in spontaneous reactions which showed us if what we did was thought through and gave us new thoughts. Since we always will work with people, I think it has showed me the importance of making things tangible to get people on the same page and get them to understand what is going on in projects, especially when working in interdisciplinary environments. To talk about and to show the process can in fact help improving the project and highlights what is missing. ANTON The project was very exciting to approach as per the possibility to work with the specific people in the group, Nordstan having a sentimental value and the intriguing complexity. The beginning proved to be somewhat vague, however navigating through complexity is one of the skills a designer should be able to harness. Service design and the surrounding disciplines created a need for broad research and self/ peer-to-peer education, which proved quite fruitful. Both the academic and practical part of the project werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t only challenging, but just as much rewarding. There were opportunities for co-creation and self-development supported by the team, school, â&#x20AC;&#x153;clientâ&#x20AC;? and other actors/ stakeholders. High tempo, new information and iterations of my perception of the project, service/business design and Business and Design at large reinforced an exuberant environment and gave new strength and will.

me see the mall in a very different way. Although it might have gained a bad reputation in the media over the last months, there are a lot of positive aspects about it, creating a huge potential for the future. Putting a service design framework on the project, provided us with a lot of useful tools and methods. An especially important part for me was to conduct workshops with employees of Vasakronan, to find out how to generate insights from them. It was a very valuable experience to work together closely with a company not coming from the design field, to see how they perceive our way of working and see the value in design for their company. From my point of view, the project has a lot of potential and needs further research, especially on the organisational side of Nordstan and Vasakronan. Examples for this would be research on internal processes, policies, practices and systems. JESSICA These ten weeks has for me been a constant jump between feeling stressed, feeling lost and feeling that I understand more and more. We made it into one of our tasks to really experience the field of Service Design and the tools and structure that comes with it. Service Design has been a subject that has constantly come up during our first year at Business and Design and for me that has no design background it has been hard to grasp what the field is really about. But even though it has taken a lot of time to read about the field and trying to understand the purpose of the tool and how to use them I today feel much more secure in my role as a business designer. From this project I take with me a new mindset and many useful tools that I am certain I will use in future jobs. Another important part for me in this project has been the collaboration with Vasakronan. Vasakronan comes from a field quite far from design and by explaining our way of working to them I also understood it more myself. It also forced me to practice my skills in explaining which I am also certain I will use in future jobs.

EMANUEL After ten intense weeks it feels hard to let go of this project. Creating so many insights from a lot of different stakeholders of Nordstan, made

CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION

From the brief we understood that what Vasakronan and Nordstan is looking for is a way to attract people when the stores are closed in order for the mall to be a more lively place during all opening hours. Nordstan Plus is literally this. By implementing a variety of activities into Nordstan that attracts different types of people at different times of the day (05.30 - 24.00) the mall will become more lively. But instead of only implementing one activity we saw an opportunity and request for more. By creating Nordstan Plus Nordstan has the opportunity to be a unique mall in more ways than having a roof over a street. Uniqueness in itself is an attraction and Nordstan Plus is therefore likely to be a well visited mall for people that actually wants to go there to participate in or watch the activities and not only pass by. By basing the new service on a digital platform Nordstan Plus becomes a service that can be implemented in multiple places. For example the mall Triangeln in MalmĂś, that is another one of Vasakronanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s properties, can become Triangeln Plus. The digital platform also allows Nordstan to gather information regarding their users in order for them to constantly adjust to the users and their needs. Nordstan will no longer be considered a dull mall where people just go because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s convenient but a lively place that connects people, fulfill their needs and are an inspiration for other malls around the globe.

REFERENCE LIST INTRODUCTION

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APPENDIX INTRODUCTION

Interview Questionnaires Interview with Wahlqvist, Tomas (property developer at Vasakronan): What feelings do you get in Nordstan? How could these feelings be improved? Not that good Calm morning During opening hours there is too much flow of people Evenings unsafe Handle all the crowd that are hanging around, make them do something What do you feel is missing in Nordstan? Why would you like to have that in Nordstan? / Why do you feel that nothing is missing? Activate the aisles Dead places Possibilities to join Pop up stores What do you see as the biggest strength of Nordstan? Why is this the biggest strength? The supply of everything Stores and cafes Increase number of restaurants The variety Attracts everyone How would you describe Nordstan five years ago (or if you haven't known it this long, since you have known it)? Has improved over the last years Köpmansgatan lower roof Not good brands

How would you describe Nordstan today? Situation good Not comfortable Security better Crimes reduced Social problem, not just the mall How do you imagine/vision Nordstan five years from now? Hope it will still a good shopping mall city centre good publicity Attract Cinemas libraries Services (doctors) adapt Better Brunnsparken Like a wall Clear entrance Västlänken entrance What do you do before and after your working days at Vasakronan and which of these things can you imagine doing in Nordstan?

Sometimes gym before or after Small kids rush Kindergarten Not put kindergarten How did you get to work? How did you experience the transition from the car/tram/bike to the office? Tram bus or bicycle No bicycle garage Need shower, lock, rent you space Reduce cars Smooth Good transition Have to pay to park for work Where do you go to eat when you work in Nordstan? Why do you eat there? How can the eating opportunities be improved? Own lunch Nordstan or Arkaden Fairly good but could be much better Better variety Should be able to eat middle food How do you see the connection between the offices and the retail area? How can this be improved? Good, 2 staircases Meet tenants in stores No problem No conflict conflict in basement Goods in the aisles How safe do you feel in Nordstan? What make you feel safe/unsafe? What would make you feel more/ less safe? Not more police To have people activate What is the contract between Vasakronan and the stores? What is restricted by Vasakronan in the contract? Good and bad with variety Different variety something is happening Can be more strict Common sign manual Apply No music regulations, just so it does not disturb Their dialogue Dialogue central Calculations correctly Office easy to be made to retail space

Interview Questionnaire for quick interviews with users in Nordstan What is your name? What are you doing in Nordstan? What do you associate with Nordstan? What do you see as the biggest strength of Nordstan? Why is this the biggest strength? What would you like to see in Nordstan? What do you like to do in your spare time? What do you like about it?

What would make you spend your mornings/evenings in Nordstan? Do you live in Gothenburg?

Deep interview questionnaire Why do/did you go to Nordstan? What do/did you think of Nordstan? What do/did you miss in Nordstan? What are the areas of improvement? What do you consider to be the city centre of Gothenburg? Do/Did you visit the city centre and Nordstan during the same time? How do/did you spend your nights (after 20:00) in Gothenburg? Which of the malls you have visited is your favourite? Why? Did you find it hard to find Nordstan the first time you went there? What do you feel when you think of Nordstan? What is your favourite area in Nordstan?

Online survey questionnaire for Vasakronan employees Vilka känslor får du i Nordstan? Vad tycker du saknas i Nordstan? Varför skulle du vilja ha det i Nordstan? / Varför tycker du inte att något saknas? Vad tycker du Nordstans största styrka är? Hur föreställer du dig Nordstan om fem år? Vilka av de aktiviteter som du gör utanför jobbet, kan du tänka dig att göra i Nordstan?

Interview Questionnaire for Ransgård, Jonas (Moderaterna) and Hulter, Johannes (Socialdemokraterna) What is the city centre of Gothenburg for you? What is Nordstan’s connection to the city centre? What do you feel is missing in Nordstan? Why would you like to have that in Nordstan? / Why do you feel that nothing is missing? What do you see as the biggest strength of Nordstan? Why is this the biggest strength? How can it be improved even further? What do you think of Nordstan? Why do you have this perception? How can it be improved? Socialdemokraterna: Why do you think that cultural events can improve the situation of Nordstan? What kind of events are you thinking of? Moderaterna: What do you think will be improved if Nordstan is shut down when the stores close?

Interview Questionnaire for Johansson, Emma (City of Gothenburg: park section): How does the city of Gothenburg work with sustainability in general and especially in Brunnsparken? What is the sustainability goal for the city of Gothenburg? What is the city’s plan for Brunnsparken’s future?

What can be improved in Brunnsparken? What complaints do you receive from people regarding Brunnsparken? Would it be possible for us to use Brunnsparken for prototyping or testing? How are you working with safety in the area of Brunnsparken? What are the most important areas of improvement for Brunnsparken? How do you think Brunnsparken works as a connection between Nordstan and the rest of the city (especially Fredstan)?

Interview Questionnaire for Svensson, Yvonne (Business & Design student and former intern at Vasakronan) What feelings did/do you get in Nordstan? How could these feelings be improved? What do you think of Nordstan? Why do you have this perception? How can it be improved? What did/do you feel was/is missing in Nordstan? Why would you like to have that in Nordstan? / Why do you feel that nothing is missing? What do you see as the biggest strength of Nordstan? Why is this the biggest strength? How can it be improved even further? What did you do before and after your working days at Vasakronan? Which of these things can you imagine doing in Nordstan? Did you do different things in Nordstan when you worked there compared to what you do now? What type of things? How would you describe Nordstan five years ago (or if you haven't known it this long, since you have known it)? How would you describe Nordstan today? How would you describe Nordstan five years from now? How did you get to work at Nordstan? How did it work? How early did you usually get to Nordstan? How long did you usually stay? Where did you go to eat when you worked in Nordstan? Why did you eat there? How can the eating opportunities be improved? How do you see the connection between the offices and the retail area? How can this be improved? How safe did/do you feel in Nordstan? What made you feel safe/unsafe? What would make you feel more/less safe?