Prototyping in service design: the case of CHECKD. – an automatic booth for Covid-19 testing

Prototyping is a core phase in the design process. In service design, this activity has been less explored: differently from physical products, services entail the representation of complex systems of people, contexts, artefacts and interactions. Service prototyping poses a great challenge to designers who have to manage a combination of tangible and intangible aspects which spans through time. Drawing on the background knowledge available on the topic, this paper discusses a service prototyping case study: named Checkd., it concerns the development of an automatic booth for Covid-19 testing. Prior to prototyping, a context analysis and user research were carried out and co-design workshops were held to refine the idea. Then, two rounds of service prototyping were accomplished. In the first one a service encounter (sample collection procedure) was tested with users, adopting the experience prototyping technique and low-fidelity props. The second round reproduced the complete service experience, adopting a service walkthrough technique and mixed-fidelity artefacts, where participants could understand the full journey in a situated way. Building upon these prototypes, we elaborated three main considerations. One first takeaway deals with the relationship between purpose and fidelity level. Low/mixed fidelity prototypes drove a purpose change, from evaluative to explorative, as the ‘unfinished’ nature of the set-up allowed more user interpretation and proposal of personal ideas. A second takeaway concerns iterations that must be planned with different levels of focus and resolution, keeping the flow of co-design and re-design open allows to fully approach service complexity. A third takeaway is about the role(s) of the designer/author. He/she should be more than a mere facilitator by enacting mechanisms of the experience itself: continuously shifting roles and relating with a variety of users, he/she becomes an advocate of the whole user experience and, more in general, an advocate of a broader prototyping culture.