About the project

This PhD-project aims to explore how designing for customers’ experience can function as a source of service innovation through a relation to branding that has strong social and cultural components.

As consumer demands are rapidly evolving, their devices constantly bridging the gap between physical and digital experiences, the consumer has become an active participatory producer of brand image in a social and cultural context. Consumers are no longer mere consumers, rather Prosumers. With the wireless web creating communities of niche and shared interest, are we now no longer talking about the customer experience but the customers experience?

This PhD-project aims to explore how designing for customers’ experience can function as a source of service innovation through a relation to branding that has strong social and cultural components. It will particularly focus upon what has been described as the third generation experience economy, in which cultural and social relationships between customers and brands are increasingly important. Through a research by design approach, this project will explore what third generation experience-economy ‘capital’ may be, and how this can be transformed into service. Tapping into the parallel societal trends of growing awareness regarding issues around food and food production, physical/mental health, gender fluidity, education for all, consumerism, alongside the rapid rise of social startups I wish to explore if there will be, or already is such a thing as Social Awareness Capital? If so, how does this relate to a service brand, and how can this be translated using service design into a source of service innovation.

The main objective of this project is to extract, identify and find means of transforming experiential brands into services, taking into account the nature of the consumer as an active participatory producer of brand image.