ParkGuru - A Digital Park Booking App
Role
UX Researcher & Designer
Skills
User Research, Surveys, Persona Crafting, Wireframing, Interaction Design, ProtoPie, Figma
Timeline
March - April 2020
Overview
Drivers need an effective and convenient system for short-term parking to avoid inconveniences such as physically locating spots and exceeding time limits.
Initial Research
assumption list
I started off my research process by building a list of assumptions about public parking issues and gave each a counter-argument.
SURVEY
After reviewing my assumptions, I wanted to hear about the issues of public parking from real users. I created a survey to find out frequently encountered issues, what parking apps people use, and features they would like to see in a parking app.
Key Findings
Drawn from the survey data, I found that the 2 main issues with parking are finding a spot near a destination and exceeding time limit on a reservation.
Some features that respondents mentioned that they would like to see are
● a map of available spots near destination with corresponding walking distance
● easier way to add time to a spot
● reserving spots ahead of time
● ending a spot reservation at whatever time
Based on the results, I crafted 2 design insights to guide my solution process,
Some features that respondents mentioned that they would like to see are
● a map of available spots near destination with corresponding walking distance
● easier way to add time to a spot
● reserving spots ahead of time
● ending a spot reservation at whatever time
Based on the results, I crafted 2 design insights to guide my solution process,
1. Users need flexible reservation options so that they're paying for a spot only when needed
2. Users need intuitive navigation of available spots to see their options at once
2. Users need intuitive navigation of available spots to see their options at once
Personas
I created two personas to reflect my user data and represent my product's target users.
Ideation
Using my guiding design insights and persona data, I sketched and wireframed initial ideas for my product. I leveraged in-person feedback sessions with UX experts to highlight pros and cons of each concept.
Final Design
I was able to design a product that gives users a better public parking experience with a familiar and intuitive design. I made some interactions with ProtoPie (check out the video below), and you can navigate through the Figma prototype here.
Reflections
● This was the second individual project in my Digital Product Design course at UMich. I was really surprised to see how much I improved as a designer from my first project in just a few months.
● While iterating on my research, it was super rewarding to see that I could create something that solved my survey respondents main issues with public parking.
● User feedback is key and constant. It's easy to believe initial designs solve the problem off the bat ~especially on an individual project~ but once I had a student navigate the interface, I identified a major usability issue that I could have overlooked.
● While iterating on my research, it was super rewarding to see that I could create something that solved my survey respondents main issues with public parking.
● User feedback is key and constant. It's easy to believe initial designs solve the problem off the bat ~especially on an individual project~ but once I had a student navigate the interface, I identified a major usability issue that I could have overlooked.
