Parking Genius
Platform for U of T students to find the desired parking spot on campus
End-to-End UX
UI Design
Mobile
UX/UI Designer
Project Pitch • Fall 2022
U of T X Innovation Hub
Consider, you are a student at U of T and you have to drive to the campus and use the street parking service.
It is a headache for you to find a parking spot close to the faculty building, and have to spend another 15 minutes to walk to the class. Summer is fine, but during freezing cold winters, you have to carry your heavy laptop and bag, with snow all around.
In the era of digital payments, parking kiosks also accept only credit or debit cards. and what if you forget your wallet? Your parking reservation is approaching and you don't have extra time to purchase the extension. You are caught and get fined!
No need to worry anymore! Parking Genius would definitely save you from all your troubles.
My Role
Research
Planning research
Writing research scripts
Facilitating user interviews
Design research analysis
Journey maps
Ideation
Brainstorming
Idea prioritization
Personas
Sequential storyboards
Concept sketches
Prototype (Solo)
Wireframe
High fidelity prototype
Creating UI assets
Visual design system
Evaluation
Lean user testing
Semi-structured interviews
Think aloud protocol
The Problem
U of T students struggle to find a desirable parking spot on campus
close to the faculty building, and
are frustrated with tickets raised for parking at wrong time and locations, and traditional payment methods.
Problem Context
With return to in-person classes post pandemic, a high number of U of T students have started driving to campus and prefer travelling by their own vehicles. We decided to investigate how the university can help their students achieve their goals.
Approach - IBM Design Thinking Loop
Empathize with the users, uncover needs, learn the landscape, and test ideas.
Collaborate to form a common point of view, align the team, uncover insights, plan next steps.
OBSERVE
REFLECT
Give concrete form to abstract ideas, explore possibilities, communicate ideas, prototype, evaluate
MAKE
What Did We Know?
18062
U of T students commute to campus
by car every day
23
Parking garages available at
St. George campus including
scattered street parking spots
1.3 million
Average parking ticket
fines issued on campus
in every year
Existing Parking Services
U of T ParkedIn App
Pay by scanning QR code or entering zone number
U of T Transportation Service Website
Research location rates & restrictions and purchase parking permit
Google Map
Search for parking locations
Green P App
Search for parking locations & pay by entering zone number
Our Process
We conducted questionnaires and semi-structured interviews to understand the complexities and empathize with the U of T students driving to campus.
31
survey questionnaires
08
semi-structured interviews
Our Findings
Interviewees addressed confusion about campus parking rules and instructions.
Low campus parking rating in surveys.
6/8 interviewees expressed hardships
to predict spot availability in advance.
62% did not remember where their cars were parked.
Campus Parking
Preferences and Characteristics
1
Price
2
Distance
3
Security
Identified Issues
Incomplete Parking Records
Unclear on-campus parking locations details on Google Maps and Green P
Fragmented
Tools
Time-consuming to search and complete different tasks using different tools
Non-customizable services
Inability to tailor individual parking needs
Complex
Restrictions
Varied parking lot prices range between $8 - $25 per hour & distinct rules for seasonal, monthly, afternoon parking pass.
Persona
Based on our problem understanding and analysis on the affinity diagram, we created two persona to empathize with the students' experiences.
So, how might we help Samantha and Patrick to find the most suitable parking spot on campus?
Opportunities
Compare
locations easily in advance
Avoid
violation of permit rules
Reduce
time of finding a spot and making a payment
Inform
permit regulations
& pass renewals
Big Ideas Canvas
We conducted a brainstorming session to solve user pain points through broad and conceptual ideas.
Approach :
Generate Big Ideas
Cluster and Remix
Converge and Prioritize
Idea Prioritization
Journey Mapping
Task Flows
Based on the user journey map, we created a task flow architecture to illustrate user interaction.
Insights to Ideas
We created low-fi sketches using Procreate and conducted evaluation too test initial functionality of the task flows.
Medium Fidelity Wireframes
Based on initial feedback, we proceeded with medium fidelity wireframes to present interactions & navigation possibilities.
Testing the prototype, not the user
We conducted usability test and think aloud with mid-fi prototypes to understand navigation paths for tasks and iteratively guide design based on task completion rate, performance, and issue identification.
Key Findings
Unclear and confusing menu and icons
Cluttered screens with lack of visual cues
Absence of emphasis on necessary information
Parking Genius, a mobile application for University of Toronto students to locate the most suitable parking spot on campus.
Research for a parking location before arrival.
By signing in the app, users can now search for a parking spot in advance based on price, distance from the faculty building and space type and availability.
Pay for the parking duration
on the mobile app.
In the world of digital payments, users can pay on their mobile app from the payment page and easily access saved payment methods.
Extend the parking duration, view service updates, and spending statistics.
On receiving a notification on the phone a few minutes before the parking deadline, users can now extend their parking duration, view updates on any real-time changes in the parking zones and view statistics of their parking expenses.
Visual Design System
Following is an overview of all important styles and elements that forms a base library for designing the user interface for Parking Genius mobile and tablet screens. Based on the WCAG AAA accessibility requirements, the use of colour contrast is maintained as 7:1 and the minimum text size is 14 pt.
Colours
#002554
#1F4295
#E4A501
#717171
#F0F0F0
#FFFFFF
#000000
Text
Buttons
Cards
Reflections
-
Design thinking is a non-linear process that expands the understanding of the user, insights, needs, pain points which is a basis for idea generation.
-
Turning research insights into design outcomes is significant to build user-centered interactions.
-
User interviews, questionnaires, affinity diagram, usability test, heuristic evaluation are all solid gains in my toolkit. But, it is significant to use the right tool for the right purpose.
Next Steps
Usability Test and Re-iterate
Test the iterated design with the U of T students for functionality and re-iterate hi-fi prototypes. Develop prototypes for tablet and laptop.
Empathize With More Users
Discover, empathize, ideate and solve other unmet needs of the users.