Here’s an example of a shopping basket redesign that WAS actually incorporated because it solved one problem for super markets: MAKE MORE MONEY.
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The problem: people who live alone or just shop for the day don’t use a cart, they use a basket. The basket fills up pretty quickly and gets heavy, and the person stops putting more stuff in. Solution - by making a basket that is bigger and putting wheels on it, you get those single-household losers to shop more! Cynical and predictable? Sure, but here you are seeing them pop up in every store, yet no one adapts the IDEO or SeymorePowell carts.
My point is: if you look to solve business problems instead of adding some minor convenience to the end user by solving problems they don’t have, you might have a more interesting project. Perhaps not to your idealistic class mates, but take a moment to think about who you want to impress when you’re looking for a job in 6 month.
(I find this basket redesign especially successful because the users DO benefit comfort-wise and may actually think it was done for their convenience, but still the stores are the real winners)