Using VR to Enhance Real-World Engagement to Supplement Service Design Process

Post-2020, the service economy has evolved from mere service experiences to experience transformation. Converting occasional guests into loyal customers has become a daily challenge for businesses in terms of service innovation. This paper delves into the utilization of panoramic imaging technology and multi-perspective viewpoints to achieve the perspective of “rendering authenticity” in the experience economy. Furthermore, it proposes the application of these technologies in the service design process to deliver authentic experiences to stakeholders. Addressing the challenges of non-physical touchpoints, this paper presents a service design workflow integrating digital curating tools and showcases its outcomes. The process involves the use of a 360-degree panoramic camera, a panoramic VR application development platform, VR headsets, and a design thinking-guided self-directed experimental course module. Field verification was conducted in General Village and Chang'an Street in Hsinchu City. The entire process includes touchpoint experience collection, co-creation of experience touchpoints, service prototype curating, and sustainable presentation of service concepts. This process aligns with the trend of digital curating, which includes providing a platform to render authenticity and connect businesses, design teams, and service co-creation stakeholders, ultimately delivering “the moment of truth”. Following practical validation of service design in cultural regeneration areas, this study found that the introduction of digital curating tools into service design enables design teams and stakeholders to co-create more refined experiences. Its advantages are threefold: firstly, it augments authenticity, assisting design teams and co-creation stakeholders in designing experiences authentically; secondly, it provides design teams with new perspectives, extending new touchpoints from existing ones; thirdly, it preserves workshop outcomes in panoramic VR curation formats, ensuring the sustainability of co-creation. Overall, digital curating tools offer convenience in accessing authentic rendering environments, guide possibilities for stakeholder co-creation, and extend the sustainability of service design. Digital integration extends beyond digitizing texts; it brings new opportunities for service design.