{"id":3165,"date":"2022-07-08T21:38:30","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T01:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vanshea.com\/?p=3165"},"modified":"2026-05-06T13:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T13:31:12","slug":"basic-problem-solving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/basic-problem-solving\/","title":{"rendered":"Basic Problem Solving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Creating a great service, or even a deeply appreciated experience, often comes down to solving the problems customers are already experiencing. Sometimes those problems are naturally part of the task. Other times, businesses create the friction themselves.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the solution does not always require months of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many times, it starts with noticing a basic, obvious need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Take the small writing platform on the handle of an IKEA shopping cart. It exists so customers can write down furniture codes as they move through the store. That small piece of plastic supports the customer and the business at the same time. It helps people navigate IKEA\u2019s system of finding, recording, and retrieving product codes before they reach the warehouse area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I remember shopping there before that platform was added. People would write codes on a spouse\u2019s back, on a wallet, on a folded receipt, or on any flat surface they could find. It was awkward. It slowed people down. It made an already demanding shopping experience feel messier than it needed to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I remember feeling that frustration myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then IKEA solved it by putting a small, sturdy writing surface exactly where people\u2019s hands already were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Basic. Useful. Smart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Perfectly situated plastic platform for writing down furniture codes while shopping in IKEA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[38,41,54],"class_list":["post-3165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-2","tag-problemsolving","tag-servicedesign","tag-userexperience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3771,"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions\/3771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanshea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}