Design Thinking  Reflection Paper

Miguel Perez                                        University of Virginia

Due to the quarantine, supermarkets only accept

a limited number of customers to shop inside their

buildings to promote social distancing. Some

supermarkets are forced to close, accepting no

customers at all. People who do shop tend to buy a

month’s worth of groceries in fear that if they shop

weekly, the chance of them catching the virus

increases. The large amount of items purchased leads

to other people getting robbed of the chance to

shop, and for the ones who do shop, they bring home

a heavier load that requires another person to carry

which violates social distancing.

The design thinking tool I will be using is mind

mapping.For me, mind mapping is a representation of

your mind and it is used to look for patterns and

insights.

I used to use mind mapping as a substitute for

lecture notes since I am still a high school

student, so using it in design thinking was very new

to me. It is a creative way to organize information

in clusters. I used it to answer the question “What

is?”. My mind map included branches of who the

customers are and their problems are. Based on

empathy and observation, I noticed my mom would be

very tired when she comes home from shopping. She

makes sure to spray everything with alcohol after

throwing away a disposable face mask. After that she

takes a bath to make sure she’s clean when she

breastfeeds my brother. Everything my mom does is

for the family’s sake. She wanted to shop for us,

but she’s tired of carrying heavy bags by herself.

She is also scared of our safety. Mind mapping was

very effective in defining the problem.

In applying mind mapping to the challenge, I was

able to think beyond myself. It was as if my mind

and the consumer’s hearts were merged together to

become one thinking machine. Emphasis on the needs

of the consumer was put in on the design thinking

process. I was introduced to mind mapping as an

alternative to linear notes; a way to study easier.

Now that I know mind mapping can be used in

business, I am able to be creative, intuitive and

logical.

Next time I do this, I think I will use the

storytelling tool since I could’ve told the story of

my mom’s hardships to provide food on the table. I

could’ve possibly reached a higher level of empathy

and a more concrete definition of the problem. Maybe

I could have used my friend’s parents and what their

hardships were to create multiple personas so that

the solution I come up with will benefit more

people.

