A theory of “Design for Happiness” as an analytic tool for service experience design: Focusing on Seoul Metro

Service experience is emphasized as a primary object of service design. However, an approach to understanding and designing service experience is limited in variety, although the multidimensional nature of service experience allows for diverse perspectives. This paper adopts a “Design for Happiness” concept as a theory to complement existing empathy-oriented service experience design approaches. First we review studies on design for happiness theories and current approaches to service experiences. Then, we investigate 26 young users’ service experiences of Seoul metropolitan subway(Seoul Metro), using an adapted cultural probe (i.e., diary studies) as a bottom-up approach. Then, the collected user service experience are analyzed through a “Positive Design” framework as a top-down approach. The data analysis process has revealed: 1) how the three elements of the positive design framework (i.e., virtue, pleasure, and personal significance) are manifested in service experience; and 2) how the insights from the empirical research may inform generating service ideas that contribute to people’s happiness through service. This study has defined a set of lower-level constructs of the positive design framework with respect to the given service experience, thereby representing the applicability of positive design to service design. Also, based on the recognition of the service elements that mismatched the identified user concerns, this paper has discussed insights for designing for young users’ enhanced Seoul Metro service experience toward their happiness.