Parkit
Parkit is the 'AirBnB' of parking spaces. It is a mobile app that matches drivers with home-owners with extra space in their driveway.
ROLE
Product Designer
SKILLS
UX/UI Design
User Research
Rapid Prototyping
Graphic Design
TIMELINE
3 months
DESCRIPTION
How can we provide cheaper parking alternatives for drivers in Los Angeles?
DESIGN QUESTION
PROBLEM
Parking in LA is expensive. Particularly in areas with where people gather, such as sporting events or the beach, where prices can rise to $30/hr. Drivers often spend half an hour looking for parking in high-traffic areas, which increases traffic, compounding the problem.
My team realized that many residences in these areas have parking space that could be rented, so we created a mobile app wireframe to facilitate this service.
UNDERSTAND | USER RESEARCH
To better understand this problem, our team researched by conducting interviews and an online survey. Our service had two types of users: Drivers who were looking for parking and Hosts who were willing to rent out their driveways. We came up with these key insights that guided our process.
- Reasonably-priced parking is difficult to find
- Drivers are willing to pay up to $10-$15/hr to park in high-traffic areas
- One of the drivers' biggest concerns is being towed or ticketed at parking meters
- Drivers feel confident in booking a space when host reviews are shown
- Hosts have 86% confidence that a mobile app can provide enough information to approve Drivers.
UNDERSTAND | USER PERSONAS
Using our data from research and surveys, we distilled the essential aspects of our users to two user personas. I found that user personas are a great tool for collaboration because every member of the team can now reference the same user throughout the design process.
IDEATE | VISUAL VALUE PROPOSITION
A VVP or Visual Value Proposition is a single visual that immediately communicates the intended use of a product or service. This VVP made me think more deeply about how Parkit would be marketed and advertised. I created a concept of a billboard VVP shown below:
The billboard is straight and simple, designed to catch the attention of frustrated drivers. Drivers can scan the QR code to download the mobile app and reserve their parking slot. Ideally, the QR code would provide free parking at first to convert first-time users.
IDEATE | USER STORIES
As we started thinking about specific features to implement, we used user stories to decide which features to implement, and what priority to give them. A user story is a small scenario or problem that users experience which allows us to create features in response. We then rank these scenarios and respective features against each other to determine the highest-priority features, which guided our prototyping process. Below are 4 of the many user stories we generated.
IDEATE | SITE MAP
It's easy to make mistakes when building prototypes with multiple pages, so we created a site map to focus our work. Extra pages are created as needed, but the site map ensures that the prototype we build provides the futures that users value most in the fewest clicks possible.
BUILD | DESIGN SYSTEM
Our design system improved consistency and efficiency throughout the prototyping process. We opted to use a dark blue as our primary color which was the top choice from our user surveys. We complemented the blue with a light green which signifies availability. Other colors follow typical color psychology principles. We chose Saira as a font because it's san-serif but contains sharp angles, evoking a typical modern tech start-up.
Using Figma components, we created different form fields, buttons, progress bars and other assets. If I were to repeat this project again, I would have spent more time on the design system because it creates the overall aesthetic of the interface. It's the only way for various people to work on the same project and maintain cohesiveness.
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After several iterations of low-fidelity wireframes, we completed Parkit's high-fidelity wireframe. As per our site map, the first page identifies users as either hosts or drivers.
On the host home page there are spaces to manage parking spots and parking requests. The 'My Spaces' Section allows users to edit and manage various parking spaces, which includes scheduling the availability of each space.
BUILD | FIGMA PROTOTYPE
If a user has approved a request, they’re given the option to communicate with the driver through chat. This is another important feature because hosts can communicate information such as the security protocol, local landmarks, or restaurant recommendations. The chat feature improves the parking experience, and may lead to the driver writing a positive review, which helps Marla make money on Parkit.
Once the driver is done parking, a summary lets the host know how much they made as well as leave a review to the driver. Based on our interviews, the review system is crucial to Parkit because it allows users to build trust between each other.
After opening a parking request, hosts can approve or deny the request once they’ve reviewed the driver’s information. We’ve added various measures to ensure that hosts feel confident enough to accept or reject a profile, such as rating, license verification, and the number of times the user has parked using Parkit.
The UI for the Driver is streamlined, designed to help Drivers find parking spaces quickly. Other administrative features are located on a hamburger icon, granting more real estate for the map. Parkit parking spaces are shown in magenta tags, and selecting one will show additional information necessary for the Driver to reserve the space. The host’s review can be found on this screen. After parking, Drivers are shown similar pages for chat and their parking summary.
WHAT I LEARNED
This user experience design project has taught me that design is ultimately a selfless practice. I would say that 90% of the design process was gathering/interpreting user data and 10% was building the actual prototype. The designer needs to look through the eyes of the user to truly understand the problem and build the best solution. Therefore, the best designers are the ones that listen the most.
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This project also taught me what's expected of a UX Designer. Learning about the design problem is a huge task which can suck up lots of work hours if the designer doesn't focus on what's important. Having a firm grasp of design tools and clearly understanding the human-centered design process sped up the prototyping process. ​