Exploring Boundaries and Synergies Between Inclusive Design and Service Design

Service design is assuming a strategic role in contemporary society. From a design for inclusion perspective, this paper tries to outline a theoretical reflection based on the assumption that describes the possibility to identify four categories for understanding how service design and inclusive design can establish a relationship, i.e. (i) inclusive service design; (ii) design for inclusive services; (iii) service design for inclusion; (iv) inclusive design for service design. After a systematic literature review, the authors provide theoretical case studies from deliberately selected academic papers for each category. The result is the identification of a set of relationships between design for inclusion and service design to be studied in the inclusive design research field. Discussion and conclusions underline how these relationships can be helpful to practitioners in design and design researchers that would like to orient their activities understanding multiple ways of relating service design and design for inclusion.