Open dataset of 20 interviews with senior service designers and managers for the Empathy Business research project

The aim of the Empathy Business research project (2023-2024) led by the University of
Lapland focused on how to digitalize services and business prototyping through creativity.
The research named challenges as well as design methods for developing digital tools for
meeting the future needs of service design and business development.
In total, 20 interviews among senior service designers and managers located in Europe, Latin
America and Asia were conducted during spring 2023. The interviews provide perspectives
related to the future of service design as a practise, the skills required and further issues of
relevance for professionals in the field. Based on affinity diagramming eight main clusters
were named: Sustainability, Business compatibility, New tools, Designer’s skills, Art-based
methods, People in the centre, Online workshops, and Physical workshops.
This data set includes an anonymized list of the interviewees, affinity diagram post-it notes of
the interviews, short descriptions of the main clusters and an internet link to the online
affinity diagram on Miro board.
The materials provided initial insights for developing Proof-of-Concepts for digitized
interfaces, such as suitable plugins, 3D-based photorealistic solutions, or an application with
the potential to be used in service design and service prototyping contexts as well as in other
development processes within and across organizations.

Keywords: dataset, interviews, post-its, Affinity Diagram, Miro board, service design,
sustainability, digitalization, design skills, digital prototyping, collaboration