The objective in this stage of the design thinking process was to explore potential design challenges faced by college students and young adults in managing busy schedules. Specifically, the goal was to understand how current scheduling tools meet or fail to meet their needs, with an emphasis on creating a personalized AI-driven app that helps users balance their time for sleep, socializing, and other activities. The interview we conducted provided valuable insights on the frustrations and gaps in existing tools, such as the lack of alarms. 

In this process, my team and I used a generative AI ChatGPT tool to analyze the interview transcripts, and we then created empathy maps that captured the user’s feelings and thoughts points. This helped focus the design on features like customizable alerts and flexible rescheduling. 

The benefits of using AI in this stage were clear; it accelerated the analysis of data.AI helped synthesize user feedback quickly and offered fresh perspectives. However, challenges included ensuring the AI’s outputs were relevant and aligned with the specific user context. We also interviewed AI and reflected on AI’s role. It served as a powerful assistant in the early design phase, complementing human insights rather than replacing them. This involved the AI handling data processing and idea generation, while I focused on context to understand, user empathy, and decision-making. This collaboration enabled a more efficient and informed design process. 

From the interview, it was clear that users rely on digital calendars but find them lacking in critical areas. For instance, the user mentioned using their phone calendar but complained about the lack of sound alerts, making it easy to miss scheduled events. They also described feeling overwhelmed when their schedule was packed with classes but did not include essential activities like eating or sleeping. Current tools also failed to accommodate last-minute changes, leaving users frustrated and unprepared. 

Overall, this stage highlighted the importance of building a scheduling app that not only tracks events but also proactively supports users’ well-being and social needs. Incorporating AI to provide reminders, flexible rescheduling, and personalized lifestyle planning, while also catering to shared schedules with the users to make planning with friends more efficient, can significantly improve how young adults manage their busy lives.