 I'm going to show you how you can use three simple lines to explain service design to anyone and get them interested to learn more. It's a simple formula that I've been using for years to explain service design to dozens of people and I'm sure it's going to work for you as well. Let the show begin. So what is service design? That's probably one of the most tough questions you can get. Most people have never heard of it or even worse have a completely different perspective on the words design and service. It seems impossible to explain service design in just a few words. All too often you're just adding to that confusion and when you can't get your message across clearly and quickly you might miss out on opportunities to make meaningful connections. So is there something we can do about it? Yes. I think there is. And the secret is that you connect service design to something that the other person is already familiar with. Using metaphors and analogies is a really powerful way to explain things and there is a service design show episode with Robert Bowell where we go in depth into seven powerful metaphors to explain service design but those are quite in depth. So how do we make them more suited for an elevator pitch? Well, there is a really simple formula that you can use to create analogies between service design and something else pretty quickly. I've been using this for years and it works great. Here's how the formula goes. You start by saying service design is similar to X. X is the thing that the other person is familiar with. The second line goes like in the sense that they are both about why you mention what the similarities between the two fields are. And then you finish off by saying but they are different in the way that Z and I encourage you to come up with at least two or three differences and that's it. So to repeat service design is just like X in the sense that they are both about why but different in the sense that Z. That's it. Let me give you a practical example that I've used a lot in the last few years and that is when I talk to people who know a little bit about UX and are in the digital space. I use the formula of course and it goes a little bit like this. Service design is similar to UX in the sense that they are both about creating a great user experience but different in the way that service design isn't limited to digital interfaces. And that's it. Now you have to know a little bit about what the other person understands for this formula to work because you need to make the connection between the two. And again, not a good thing to mention here is that you might have people disagree with your analogy. I've had that a lot with the UX conversation but that's a good thing because you found your starting point for a conversation and then you can start the dialogue and help people to slowly but surely understand what the differences are and what the similarities are. And when people disagree with your analogy, that's a win. In the years that I've been teaching this formula, I've seen people compare service design to almost anything. Of course, your traditional things like marketing, IT or project management but also to cooking, dancing and fishing. I teach this formula in the selling service design with confidence program and it's one of the most popular lessons there. If you're interested in learning how to get the value of service design across so you can find better clients and work on more interesting challenges, I encourage you to check out the program and see what other lessons are in there. You can find the link to the program in the description of this video. I'm curious to what would you compare service design to? Leave a comment down below and let me know what cool analogies you can come up with.