Beach, please! | design thinking

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BEACH, PLEASE! | design thinking, business plan for startup, branding, visual identity

TYPE: Workshops Design Boot Camp, Politecnico de Lisboa
LOCATION: Lisbon, Portugal
STATUS: idea and business plan for innavative startup
TEAM: Natalia Pączko, Beatriz Rincon, Marko Lavrenčič

The beaches near Lisbon are worth going to and are enjoyed by many different kinds of people. The problem we’ve been working on was finding the best way to get from the city of Lisbon, to many different locations in the surrounding area. While doing some research and talking to many different people on the beach, surfing school and tourist information, we found out that the general opinion is that connections from Lisbon to different beaches are good, which was a surprise to us. On the other hand, they told us that the best way to reach these beaches is going by car, as it is the easiest and takes the shortest time. Surfers and sport lovers find it more comfortable to carry their sport equipment in the car. Moreover, cars are the best option for families as well.

Our project aim is creating something that will offer an innovative way to get to the beach, be cheap and at the same time attractive and accessible to beach visitors. With our solution we are targeting all the different types of people that go the beaches. From families, young people looking to have some fun, to surfers, kiters etc. We are targeting the tourist as well as locals. If you are a tourist, the only way to get to the beaches is by train or bus, or a combination of both, while the locals can use their own cars, but only if they own them. With this social approach, we connect both groups so they can learn from each other at the same time they save money and decrease environmental impact of transport.

Because of the fact that the road transportation sub-sector is the largest energy consumer in the transportation sector, accounting for 82% of final energy consumption, we decided to improve this type of mobility and propose innovative solutions which include new vehicle technologies like electric cars and bikes.

We are proposing two different but connected solutions. Since there are not many companies that offer renting an electric car, we are proposing to improve that service by creating rent-an-electric-car company, that would mainly provide cars for rides to the beaches or locations close to them. In order to stand out and be the best we must differentiate ourselves. The main innovation in our idea is that we are offering a whole package. We want to offer the customer a comfortable ride with a possibility of taking the surfboard and any other luggage with him and while taking care of the environment. At the same time we want to include the offer for renting an electric bike at the stations near the beaches. For that purpose, an application that promotes carpooling and by doing so, lowering the emissions and cost, is proposed. In order for our business plan to be successful, we have to make sure, that the prices will be suitable for the locals and tourists.