If you’re just joining us within our design thinking series, we recommend starting your reading at our first post of the series, Design Thinking Exercise in Real-World Application. There, we cover the purpose behind our team’s design thinking, empathy-building exercise.

Specifically, this article will cover the challenge, insights and recommendations of Persona B, Brittan: 30-year-old woman meeting friends for lunch (driving).

The challenge

The role in this particular scenario was played by Persona B. Persona B is a 30-year old woman meeting friends for lunch. Persona B was to drive to her lunch destination on Mill Ave. in Tempe, Arizona.

Persona B and her friend (also a 30-year old woman) deliberated where to go to lunch before departure. Persona B and her friend decisively limited their options to Restaurant X and Restaurant Y, both of which were age appropriate.

When deliberating between Restaurant X and Restaurant Y, parking dominated the conversation, and ultimately, the decision of where to eat. Due to prior knowledge, both personas knew parking would be a challenge in this urban setting.

The insights

Persona B and her friend settled on Restaurant X. The reason being that Restaurant X had more available parking spaces, a crucial deciding factor for both personas. This led to the following insights:

  • Users make premeditative decisions.
  • In urban cities, parking limitations alter users’ decisions.
  • Urban venues, restaurants, retail stores, etc. lose business due to parking problems. This variable is currently uncontrollable by these businesses.

The solution

At the intersection of Persona B’s premeditative decision and passion against crowded parking lots in urban cities, the solution of a mobile application was born. This application is tentatively named “Lot 201.”

“Lot 201” will provide predictive parking information in real-time. It’ll tell users which spots are open, and where those spots are located. These elements will reduce the strain users associate with crowded parking lots. By alleviating stress on users, this application will, in turn, increase attendance and patronage to urban venues, restaurants, and retail stores.

“Lot 201” will include the following features:

  • Real-time information: Access to which parking spots are open and where.
  • Push notifications: Custom updates on available spots, if requested.
  • Premeditative planning: Reports on average parking spot availabilities for future days/times so users can plan accordingly.
  • Payment options: Sync with local parking meters so users can pay for parking spots.
  • Custom filters: Options to filter real-time information based on users’ parking requirements (wheelchair accessible, shaded spots, parking garage, etc.).

In conclusion

As we noted earlier, it is practice that makes perfect. Practice, not just in the sense of using design thinking skills, but in experiencing the results of design thinking and building confidence in the fact that they do indeed often, if not in general, lead to unforeseen insights and solutions.