DRIVER OF ICONIC INK

Case Study |Service Design Module

Shweta Bouddh | SDM’20
Brief
Tattoo is one of the oldest forms of art with a history of 8000 years .

But, believe it or not, tattoos are an important part of our global history. From ancient times straight up through our
modern era, people have been tattooing themselves. Sometimes it would be part of a religious tradition, other times it
would be a meaningful cultural expression, and other times it would be purely for fun or aesthetic value.

In these ways, tattooing is like any other process. It developed within many societies and evolved with them —
sometimes organically, and sometimes through collision with another culture. The practice grew, changed and took on
new meanings.

We were very curious to know more about this service and wanted to get some hands-on experience of it . Hence
started exploring the tattoo parlour “Iconic Ink Tattoo” in our vicinity in order to understand who it works , how they
maintain customer relationships , curate memorable experiences for each customer and how they deliver the promises
to customers .

Let’s first understand
Tattoo Industry
How it work , what Is perceived value throughout the history , how perception evolved toward the tattoo
Attration Point
Ancient Time
Aspired Tattoo Culture
ummies had tattoos of
M
animals and symbols over
different parts of the body
which represent they aspire to
become like them and having
these will bring fortune /
supernatural power .
Identification Mark
S ailors used to have
tattoos to identify how
much distance they
travelled and from which
sailor community they
belong in order to ship
their body .
Early 1900s
Religious B elief
From this era onwards tattoos
According to Leviticus ,
jewish people are not
allowed to ink their body if
they do so then they can’t
be buried in jewish
cemetry.
During this era people want to show their tattoo to the whole world in order to raise their voice against the
injustice, to become popular , to rebel against law , to penalize and for identification etc. That’s why this era
Symbol of shame
During world war ll narzi tattooed
Circus performers started
numbers on chest or arms of jews
to cover their body with
and other prisoners to declare they
ink in order to amaze
are nation prisoners . Also in Japan
audience and earn money
the same practice was done with
prisoners to give lifelong shame of
their crime to them and to their s
2000
families .
Late 1900s
Exculsive Culture
Inculsive Tattoo Culture
Outcast
Tattoo Renaissance
To raise their voice against become more inclusive ,
Late 1900 , tattoos gained
the immortal practice of something very personal , very
acceptance in society when
tattooing jews people individualistic , expression of
music bands and celebrities
,common people started individuals . During this era
started tattooing their bodies
tattooing their bodies. influential tattoo become less
which brought a social
i.e copying of others tattoo and
change in a society.
represental design got
popularized.
is called EXCLUSIVE CULTURE.
Introduction
A 27 year old Tattoo Artist...

By profession I am engineer
but left it to follow my
passion and in 2016 started
my own Tattoo studio
“ICONIC INK TATTOO ”
I am fousing only on young
generations people thats
why I Opened my studio in
Gandhinagr Gh-0 sector
because the whole area is
surrounded by collages /
Instituted and MNS.

Iconic Ink Tattoo

GH-0, opposite to
NID and DAIICT

Hello !!
College , Gandhinagar

Meet Mr.Uchit Shah

Business Promises
Hygience
Precision & Take all safety precautions like
Quality work santising of all equipment and chairs ,
removing old needle , cleaning the ink
Continuously learn and upgrade our
skills in order to deliver quality and Iconic Ink Tattoo tray and wearing gloves because for
us our customer safety is very
precision work
important .

Expert
Artists understand the customer’s
needs and give design consultation Quality Product
accordingly in order to finalise their
Use high quality products to ensure
decision. Trust Buildup safety of customers like American Inks
100% transparency in our system we to ensure no side effects / allergies
do everything infront of customers to after application.
ensure everything is safe and secure.
Service Flow
START Appointment Design Consulation Design Development
Upon design selection After the design has been
1 day or 3 hour prior
,experts will give consultation finalized the tattoo artist will
appointment required
over it or if not have design develop a design stencil to
then they propose design as show how it looks in reality.
per your requirement.

Payment Final Design Transfer Mock Trial

After finishing and Once the design stencil is confirmed
After confirming the
applying a protective layer by the customer , the stencil is
location and design , the
over the tattoo, payment is placed on the desired location in
design is being replicated
made using cash or by order to double sure about design
using permanent ink .
online mode . and location before making it
permanent .

Feedback
A simple feedback form is
circulated on customer
mobile to capture the
reviews of the service.
END
Care Instruction
Digital Post care service
instructions are shared with
customers to help them to
protect and take care of
tattoos for better results. ***Time and price of tattoo depend on the
design intricatcy.
 Went to the people & asked .....
To understand the customer point of view over tattoos and how they select a tattoo artist or studio , circulated a
message in the NID community that People who hve tattoos can share their tattoo stories with us

Tattoo industry is Same pattern of

a highly referral / tattooing found in
recommendation the 21st century i.e
driven industry. aspiring , inclusive and
exclusive which was
To be successful in
followed in the past .
industry it required
Maximum people went design diversity in
for tattoos based on the portfolio .

recommendation
Got to know that......... (WORD OF MOUTH). Surety of safe &
Get tattoos to express
secure process.
self image , show
Very few people
devotion/ loyalty and for
look for google
retention .
review or rating In artist look for skillsets
i.e diversity in design .

In Studio looks for

quality of product and
hygiene .

Observation
Insight
Below table captures the respondents responses over the 3 questions during the conversation :

What was the reason or What did you actually look in a How did you find the tattoo
OBSERVATION
QUESTIONS motive behind getting a tattoo studio and in a tattoo studio from where you got
Fall under which culture
tattoo? artist ? your tattoo done?

I had my first tattoo when I

How tattoo they had made

turned 18, so have list of My friend had a tattoo ,

Types of tattoos they can

Identification Mark
milestone and on completion so he recommend it to

make
of each milestone I will get a me .

Type of ink they use

new tattoo

Types of tattoo artists were

I got a tattoo had made by reviewing the

Searched online and

because it was on in insta posts , images of tattoo Aspiration

went with the

my bucket list . display in studio and people

google rating.
reviews over the quality.

I had a tattoo of my mom’s

name on my arm as she means

everything to me .

Quality of tattoo Recommended by

Devotion /

equipments friend’s friend.

Loyalty

My 2 friends has a same tattoo

on their neck as a symbol of our

friendship and togetherness .

I had a tattoo which is a

Review Design understanding Self-expression
Recommended by
combination of 2 -3 symbols
of the artist through his work
friend
which actually represent who I
and the product they use .

am on a parts of body which is

not visible from the outside.

Findings
Through our participatory observation , we found out Iconic studio is actually delivering the promises that they are
making to the customers which we ensured after availing their service .

Build Trust among Customer

Provide Quality Tattoo Safety and Secure Process

Maintain safety precautions like
As they ensure to provide
The had a practise of disposing off sanitizing of equipment , tissue
quality tattoo service which was
used needles /products and papers usage for cleaning the
actually reflected during the
displaying of product( going to be ink instead of cloth , covering
process as out of 45mins the
used in the whole process) in front of the tattoo with a protective
artist spends 20 mins just for
customer to give surety that all layer to give protection against
finishing and giving precision to
products are genuine , safe and sure sunlight /dirt and giving proper
the design which shows that
to be used .This build a strong trust after care instructions . All
quality is a non-negotiable to
between artist and customer ,hence these shows they are very
them . That’s why there is only
shows that they care their customers.
peculiar about customer safety
one customer at a time to
ensure the quality of the tattoo.
Discussion
Waiting Area

Iconic Ink is encashing on providing quality and precision in tattoo

service to each customer but it’s a point of concern how they maintain
it when a group of people come at the same time .

Since this is a single man army business where the owner caters each
customer personally in order to deliver best service . Also we know it is
work of precision that requires ample time to create good design hence
there is no scope of squeezing the process or quenching the time to
cater other customers .

So it creates concern for Iconic Tattoo to rethink their business model

whether there should be walk-in appointment provision for instant
booking or should they need to expand their team which can cater
multiple users at the same time .

 Conclusion
Iconic Ink is delivering their business promises that they make to the customer but other than that they are lacking in design

evidence and customer engagement which are key factors in attracting and retaining the customer .

Since Tattoo industry is a skill based industry it requires evidence of artist capabilities and skills to attract customers . Also it is a

highly referral / recommendation based industry that continuously requires creating a memorable experience for customers

that will last with them forever which will help in increasing the userbase .

The few interventions which will help in making the service better and memorable :

1 Portfolio Display 2
Customer Engagement
Intervention

The tattoo industry is a very creative and skill based Getting a tattoo is a very tedious job, it requires you to sit

industry , it requires evidence of a design in order to in a single position for hours and it becomes worse when

see the skill-set of the artist like the tattoo quality , artists also do not interact with customers, which was seen

understanding of design and precision in his work .

in the case of Iconic studio .

The artist was involved in sketching tattoos and there was

Since the Iconic studio lacks in design evidence no other medium that would make the environment more

required to display their previous work in order to relaxing and happening .

showcase their capabilities to customers that will

ensure they have proper skillset to deliver a quality To make the process more enjoyable it required the artist

tattoo service . to engage the customer by having a small talk , playing

music or screening some movie .

 Mr. Uchit Shah

Appendix

Tattooing machine Iconic Ink Tattoo Studio

Stencils Display of Products

Experiencing Tattoo service