Physical Space Testing for the Single Point of Service (SPS) Office

Overview

The Single Point of Service (SPS) office, managed by the Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MISA), brings public services together in one place. Before the new office space was designed, MISA, with UNDP, wanted to understand how a wide variety of people would experience it.

In collaboration with Studio Tilt, SmartUp designed and carried out the testing, gathering feedback from a diverse group of users and transforming it into actionable insights for designing the new office space.

The challenge

Reaching a wide variety of users

The testing had to include many kinds of potential users, so that feedback reflected different ages, genders, abilities and nationalities.

Testing as close to reality as possible

To learn how people would really experience the services, the space had to be tested in conditions that felt like the actual office.

From feedback to design insight

A large volume of observations had to be analysed and turned into insights that could guide the design of the new office space.

Activities and methods

We designed the testing around the people who would use the office, and the place where they would use it.

A diverse group of users. Paying close attention to equal representation across gender, age, disability and nationality, we brought together 20 users so that a wide variety of perspectives was part of the testing.
A spatial prototype at the real location. To keep the testing as close to the actual user experience as possible, we created a spatial prototype of the SPS at the actual location of the service.
Observation and documentation. During testing, we actively followed users' interactions with the services and documented how it unfolded.
Analysis and recommendations. We analysed and synthesised the large volume of gathered insights into a report with actionable recommendations for improving the SPS premises.

Impact and learning

The testing resulted in a report with actionable insights for improving the SPS premises. Key recommendations included:

Improve disability access with ramps, accessible toilets, signage and support, a need the testing clearly demonstrated.
Introduce multilingual wayfinding, at least in Macedonian, Albanian and Romani.
Improve queue management through better seating, toilets and refreshments.
Improve the general ambience, making the setting less institutional.

A key lesson: testing with a relevant and diverse group of users is a prerequisite for services that are useful, usable and desirable, especially in customer-facing settings where the experience of the space shapes satisfaction.