Project Overview

The Product

SCYMap is a mobile application that provides a smart way to find parking at universities. By simply typing in destinations, SCYMap helps drivers discover where to park near their destinations in advance. The results of parking places can be sorted by “Distance”, “Price” and “Available Spots” to maximize customized options. Most importantly, drivers are kept informed of the live data of remaining parking spots along the way to ensure that they can guarantee a spot when they arrive.

The Challenge

Where the Story Begins…

During our product design kick-off meeting, our team member Moses was late because it took him a long time to find a parking spot on campus. This led us to an existing user pain point, that it was difficult for college students to find parking spots on campus. So we started researching about the parking situation on UW campus.

“How might we design a smooth experience that provides smart parking solutions for universities?”

Researching

Survey

We first conducted a user survey to understand user pain points regarding finding parking on campus.

Key Findings:

• Students have trouble finding parking spots close to their destinations.

• Some parking signs are confusing. (i.e., students aren’t sure if they have permission to park)

• Students are worried about being late due to having trouble finding parking spots.

User Interviews

We also interviewed with 5 students at UW over Zoom, to further understand the challenges they face when finding parking on campus.

Key Findings:

• The current UW Transportation Services website is frustrating to use.

• Parking signs are very confusing (i.e., it’s unclear that if the parking lot is public, private, or student only, and it’s hard to know where to pay.)

• Students have to park far away from their destinations and walk for long.

Persona

Based on surveys and interviews, we created a persona to represent the needs and characteristics of our target users.

API Research

Before designing, we also researched on API to understand the technology viability and constrains.

Through research, we understand that a parking API is an Application Programming Interface that programmers can use to connect applications to parking information and other data. There’re smart city initiatives where technologies such as cameras, sensors and other IoT are installed to monitor and collect data about parking spaces. The data collected are then sent to parking APIs such as SpotHero. However, it’s not feasible to develop a “Parking spot reservation” feature because there’s no way of guaranteeing a spot is still there when the user arrives.

Ideation

User Journey Map

Based on earlier research, we created a user journey that maps out each journey steps as well as actions, needs, pain points and touchpoint involved in each step.

Storyboard

Start Sketching

Designing & Testing

Lo-fi Wireframes

Based on earlier sketches, we stared to create low-fidelity wireframes. At this stage, mapping out main frames and key features of the application were essential parts of our design strategy.

Usability Study

We conducted usability tests with four UW students who drive to campus frequently. Through the testing, we hope to understand if the current user flows easy to understand and can resolve user needs.

Affinity Map:

Key Recommendations:

• Add a ranked parking lot result after typing in the destination.

• More complete parking signs and parking info.

• Add turn by turn navigation.

• Extend the business scope.

Refining Highlights

1. A smart way to find parking

A ranked parking lot result is shown after typing in the destination. When selecting a parking lot, complete parking info (pricing, permission, time limit, remaining spots, etc.) is shown for user reference.

2. Extend the business scope

Instead of focus on UW parking, we extend the business scope to allow users select a particular university and provide smart parking solutions for them.

Design Solution

Mockups

Hi-fi Prototype

Going Forward

Reflections

This is the project I completed for my Advanced UX Design class. It’s an intense class as we need to complete the project within 5 weeks. And there’re still a lot we can improve to make it more complete. One thing we can do is to discover more opportunities for the app. For example, to make the experience more useful, we can allow students to import class schedules into the system and recommend parking solutions based on those data. We can also try pitching this idea to the university to further understand the feasibility and constrains of actually implementing this solution. Finally, if we have more time to invest, we should carry out a usability study to test whether it’s safe to use this app while driving.