Service

Service design

Accelerate the delivery of custom service solutions by modelling user behaviour, building persona libraries, and developing service models shaped by real users.

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Service design
About the practice

Transforming service design

Service design is often constrained by slow processes, high costs, and bias in who gets to participate. Traditional research methods generate useful insights but are resource-intensive and capture only a partial view of user need at that moment in time. That is why we are developing more intelligent ways of designing services — using technology to model behaviour, expand the evidence base, and help organisations create, test, and deploy solutions continuously shaped by real users at greater speed and scale.

How we work

An iterative, collaborative process

Discovery and research

Deep-dive into your service landscape through data analysis and engagement to understand user needs and system constraints.

Establish and understand your data

Create the right datasets to craft, test and simulate your services and systems.

Build and deploy user personas

Develop custom user personas for simulating, testing and mapping solutions.

Service models

Build a model to simulate the end-to-end experience of your personas, identifying gaps and moments that matter through simulation and testing.

Co-design and prototyping

Run collaborative workshops to generate ideas, test concepts, and iterate quickly with real users.

Service blueprinting

Map the front-stage and back-stage processes to align people, technology, and policy around a coherent service model.

Key features

Service design tools and capabilities

User research and insight

We develop full models of services based on qualitative and quantitative research and data from the people who use and deliver your services — building a rich picture of the needs, behaviours, and context of your users and customers.

Persona creation and journey mapping

Our in-depth research produces highly refined groups of user personas that enable us to simulate, test and map the full user journey — surfacing friction, duplication, and inequity, and enabling targeted solutions for specific user groups.

Co-design workshops

Our workshops are inclusive by design, ensuring diverse voices shape the outcome. Insights captured support the ongoing development of custom models, hybrid datasets and user persona libraries that can be used to simulate future workshops.

Prototyping and testing

We build low and high-fidelity prototypes to test assumptions quickly. By putting ideas in front of users early, we reduce the risk of building the wrong thing and accelerate the path to a working solution.

Service blueprints

We produce clear, actionable service blueprints that align policy, people, and process — giving teams a shared reference point for implementation and continuous improvement.

Implementation support

Service design doesn't end at delivery. We support your teams through the transition to a new model of service — providing change management guidance, training, and ongoing review.

Why it matters

The case for service design

Putting users at the centre

Too many services are designed around organisational convenience rather than user need. The result is services that are hard to navigate, deliver inconsistent outcomes, and fail the people who need them most. Service design addresses this by putting users at the centre — not as an afterthought, but as the starting point for every decision.

Reducing cost and failure demand

By identifying and eliminating inefficiency, duplication, and failure demand early, organisations can reduce operational costs while improving outcomes. Our work consistently demonstrates that investing in design at the front end pays dividends at every stage of delivery.

Case studies

In practice

Mortar worked with Essex County Council to design pathways for users to better understand and enhance their digital skills. By embedding user research and co-design into the process, we helped the council move from a reactive model to a proactive, community-led service that improves employability and generates a social return on investment as digital skills improve.

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