ParkEasy your ultimate parking companion: UI/UX Case Study

Park smarter, not harder: The ultimate solution to your parking woes, an intelligent solution to all your parking problems

This is an individual academic project.

Background Context

As cities develop and become more congested, parking problems become increasingly widespread. The demand for parking spots has grown as more people possess automobiles, but the amount of available parking has stayed roughly unchanged.

Because of this, a lot of problems have come up, like:

• There’s more traffic and crowding.
• It’s costing the economy more money.
• It’s causing problems with how cities are designed.

Parking problems in cities can affect many things, like how traffic moves, how much money the city makes, and whether things are fair for everyone. As a result, many cities and urban planners are always trying to find new ways to deal with these problems.

So Rahul, why did you choose a parking app for your next project?🤔

Having faced difficulties in finding a suitable parking spot while driving to various locations, I have taken up this project with the aim of addressing this common issue. My personal experience has enabled me to empathize with others facing similar challenges and come up with a unique solution to alleviate this problem.

My Role

UI/UX Designer

Project Duration

7 Weeks

Problem Statement

Finding a Parking Spaces Is Challenging

The number of cars on the road is continuously rising, which is leading to inefficiencies in large urban parking areas. This is making it increasingly challenging for drivers to find open parking spots quickly and easily.

Understanding the Problem

1. Many drivers resort to parking on the side of the road, which creates issues for street cleaners and other drivers.
2. People often forget where they parked their vehicles.
3. A lot of popular locations have limited parking spaces available.
4. Numerous parking lots still use physical tokens or tickets for payment.

Challenges I Faced

• Attracting a diverse range of people to take advantage of hassle-free parking.
• Helping people save time and money by reducing the time and effort they spend looking for parking spots.
• Encouraging people to adapt to new technology
• Ensuring the product appeals to users from all levels of the community.
• Managing customer flow effectively, especially during peak hours when the service may become overcrowded.

The Solution

Before I dive into my research, I’d like to show you a preview of the product’s user interface.

The product aims to enable users to drive with more intention and direction, minimizing the need to circle around searching for parking spots and causing unnecessary traffic.

In today’s fast-paced world, people expect things to happen quickly and efficiently.

I’ve found that people often waste their time and money searching for parking spaces, leading to unfinished tasks and unhappy users. This, in turn, can result in a frustrating day for users.

Who are the users?

The product aims to cater to the needs of people who own both two-wheelers (such as bikes or scooters) and four-wheelers (cars).

Persona

This user persona is a fictional portrayal of my target users that will assist me in better understanding their motivations, and pain points. It will also assist me in empathizing with my consumers and designing solutions that fit their individual needs and preferences.

“Finding a parking place should be the last thing on my mind when I barely have a few minutes left till my movie starts”.

Persona

Competitive Analysis

I came across apps that were already on the market. So I reviewed and studied the product, such as what they accomplished, how they did it, what the various features are, and what the processes are. I investigated applications such as Waze, Parking Rhino, and Park+.😊

Here are some common flaws I found in these apps:

Visual and UI Flaws

1. The user interface is extremely complicated
2. Cluttered User Interface
3. Inadequate Feedback
4. Inconsistency
5. Bad Visual Design

Other Flaws and Missing features

• Inadequate information: A few places did not specify how long it would take to get there. Where precisely is the location?
• Confusion-causing material such as icons, labels, and so forth. It was unclear what it meant.
• There was no option to track parked vehicles in 2 of the applications.
• There is no navigation till the parking space within the parking lot.
• There is no option to reserve a specific spot.

Why did I choose Park+, EasyPark, and Waze?🤔

I didn’t have a specific reason to choose these apps. I was simply browsing through the ratings and reviews of various parking apps on the Play Store. I noticed that Park+ had a rating of 4.5 and 5 million downloads, Easy Park had a rating of 4.4 and 10 million downloads, and Waze had a rating of 4.1 and 100 million downloads. I became curious about the reasons behind their popularity. Was it due to their excellent product design? To find out more, I decided to explore these apps further.

Park+

Park+

Park+ is a smartphone application that allows users to search for and reserve parking spaces in real-time. Other features available through the app include contactless parking, automated ticketing, and cashless payments. Park+ also has reward programs for frequent users and gives discounts for long-term rentals.

Strengths:

• The UI is user-friendly, with simple navigation and search options.
  Provides a variety of parking alternatives
• Users benefit from the convenience of contactless payment and automated ticketing systems.
• Discounts and loyalty schemes are available to encourage user retention.

Weaknesses:

• Limited availability in certain areas

Easy Park

EasyPark

Easy Park is a smartphone application that lets users discover and pay for parking spaces in numerous European locations. The software allows users to pay for parking using their phones and provides parking recommendations to assist cars in finding vacant places. Easy Park also has facilities like electric charging stations and pre-booking parking places.

Strengths:

• Provides a diverse choice of parking alternatives in cities around Europe.
• An easy-to-use interface with real-time updates on available parking spaces
• Other features include electric charging stations and the ability to pre-book parking spaces.
• Had the option to extend parking time

Weaknesses:

• Not available to Indian Users

Waze

Waze

Waze is a smartphone application that provides drivers with real-time traffic information and navigation help. The app also delivers real-time updates on available parking spaces and information on adjacent parking places. Waze also provides services such as gas station locations and pricing comparisons.

Strengths:

• Offers real-time traffic and parking availability information.
• Provides a variety of services, such as gas station locations and price comparison.
• Users may report accidents, risks, and other issues thanks to a large user base and a community-driven approach.

Weaknesses:

• Navigation features may not be as accurate in rural or remote areas

Conclusion

Ultimately, each application has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Park+ and Easy Park are largely concerned with parking-related services, while Waze combines navigation with certain parking functions. Park+ and Easy Park give more parking alternatives, while Waze updates traffic and parking availability in real-time. Finally, the app will be chosen based on the user’s individual needs and preferences.

Secondary Research

Conducted Secondary research to gain valuable insights🔍

The examples of innovative design solutions on the internet provided me with inspiration and helped me, as a designer, create a unique and effective design. Specifically, I learned about the integration of IoT in smart parking apps and the use of AR in maps.

Secondary Research

SWOT Analysis

I also did a SWOT Analysis to…💪

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Determine the project’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the external environment’s possibilities and risks. This provided me with a thorough perspective of the situation, which is essential for making informed decisions.

SWOT Analysis

StoryBoard

Storyboarding helped me visually communicate the user’s journey with the product. It also helped me to understand how a user would interact with the product both with and without the product so that I could identify potential pain points or areas for improvement.

So created a Storyboard that would depict a real-life scenario

As-Is Scenario

Say Ashwin is going to the mall to watch a movie and does not use the ParkEasy app to book a parking place.

Customer Journey Map

Customer journey mapping helped me identify pain points at each stage of the user journey and find solutions to problems that occurred along the way.

Pain Points

• Unsure of finding a parking spot on weekends.
• Traffic jams and Traffic Signals
• Parking ticket prices are high and not aware of it

How Might We?

Sample Questions

1. How might we facilitate the process for users to obtain information about parking fees easily?
2. How might we simplify the discovery of available parking spots for consumers?
3. How might we assist users till they reach their parking spot?
4. How might we develop a solution to optimize parking lots?
5. How might we streamline the process for consumers to save time, effort, and other resources?
6. How might we assist people in identifying the location of their parked vehicles?
7. How might we innovate the payment process by eliminating physical tokens or tickets?

Brainstorming Exercise

As part of my brainstorming process, I utilized a technique known as CRAZY 8, which involved generating eight distinct solutions in just eight minutes.

Following that, I proceeded to expand on those ideas and developed a tangible concept by crafting a storyboard based on a real-world scenario.

To-Be Scenario

Make a reservation/park in the booked parking space

When Mr. Ashwin reserves a parking space via the app, a notification is sent to the assignment manager in the monitoring center. The LED sensor light for the reserved parking space turns yellow. Upon the vehicle’s arrival, the camera captures an image of the license plate, which is sent to the assignment manager and saved. The cloud service then confirms that the vehicle matches the reservation and notifies the monitoring service. If the identification plate matches the reservation, the app alerts the user, who confirms their arrival. The LED sensor light turns off, and the parking space status changes to “occupied.” The space remains occupied until the user leaves, at which point the parking lot status changes to “free” and the LED sensor light turns green.

Setting Goals🚩

1. Providing users with navigation to find a parking spot to park their vehicles.
2. Providing users with navigation to find their vehicle in case they’ve forgotten where they have parked their vehicles.
3. Providing users with full control to pick their parking spot and reserve it.
4. Providing users with full details about the pricing and other services provided.
5. Digital Payments

Design Execution😍

It appears that the dish has been prepared successfully. As expected, a perfect dish is a result of combining various ingredients.

Now, I would like to elaborate on how my designs address the problems and provide solutions. 😁

Old Designs vs New Designs

I went through a lot of iterations, which helped me develop effective designs. understanding the UX idea as well.

Let’s look at some of my initial iterations😝

Why is the current UI better than the initial designs?🧐

Flaws in my Initial Designs

When you compare the initial design and the new designs you can see that Poor

• The initial design had poor UI, visual, and graphical elements.
• Information architecture needed to be changed due to poor organization and needed to be restructured to improve the overall design.
• Too many colors and a bad choice of colors.
• Spacing, alignment, and component-level problems.

Other Screens

A good UI is essential for creating a positive user experience, which is key to the success of any digital product or service.

Main activities

1. Searching hub, Selecting vehicle, Navigating, and Scan

I used a similar search destination interaction and wanted to keep the design intuitive and also follow Jakob’s Law (a defining UX law that claims people prefer your product to work the same way as all the other sites/apps they already know).

Home screen, where users can enter the place they want to park. I felt it was easy if the user entered the parking place either by searching or by setting a location on the map.

Select the vehicle you are driving. That information will be used at the parking lot.

Moving on, the search results will give parking pins, as you can see above on the screens. Users can tap on any of the pins to know the details such as time, distance, price, etc.

Edge Case

I set a time limit of 30 minutes to get to the parking spot.
Assume a user reserved a parking spot but was unable to arrive for any reason. How will the reservation be canceled? Should a button be included? So I set a time restriction for getting to the parking lot. If the user does not arrive, the parking will be automatically terminated.
When the user arrives at their parking destination, scanning occurs at the entry. Only then will the user be able to access parking.

2. Filters and Direction to Your Parking Spot

Important filters such as arrival time, booking duration, and price range were added (rather than being hidden under the filtering choice) and also show roadblocks to provide users more control over their searches and to let them identify the best route to their destination along with availability and accurate rates.

According to Miller’s Law (i.e., the average individual can only store 7 (plus or minus 2) items in working memory), chunking information on a white card proved to be an effective approach to presenting groups of knowledge in a manageable manner.

3. Parking Location Details and Pick a Spot

Parking Location Details: The user could quickly scan through the main takeaways using the descriptive bottom sheet, which contained all of the necessary information in a box. The user is given the flexibility to observe and adjust the duration for which their vehicle will be parked at the location, based on the fees, right on the app.

Picking a parking spot: I’ve sketched a schematic representation of an actual parking lot with the option for the user to pick and select the desired spot while avoiding the situation of having to make an on-the-spot decision after having arrived at the destination, imitating the real-life pattern of how users are familiar reaching the parking space and then finding a right spot to park their vehicle.

4. Payment

Following the reservation of a parking place, the app displays the summary page, which displays all of the information related to your parking spot to the user. The page provides information about the parking time and location to assist users in verifying the transaction’s accuracy before making a payment. Upon confirmation of the details, the user is sent to the payment screen, where the price is clearly indicated.

To ensure a seamless and hassle-free payment process, the app accepts a variety of payment methods, including wallets, credit or debit cards, and net banking. This allows consumers to select their preferred method of payment. When the payment is made, the app displays a “Payment Successful” page to confirm the transaction’s completion and offer the user a sense of satisfaction.

5. Entering the Parking Lot

After reserving and paying for your parking spot, a parking ticket with a QR code will be provided to you. Upon arriving at the parking lot, you will need to scan the QR code to gain access. Once scanned, an AR map will guide you to your reserved parking spot, making the process of finding it much easier.

5. Track parked vehicles and Parking Time Extension

Track parked vehicles: Forgetting the location of a parked car can be a common problem, but this can be solved by incorporating a tracking feature in the app. This feature allows users to track the location of their parked vehicle and also provides information about the duration of the parking session.

Parking Time Extension: To further enhance the user experience, the app also includes a Parking Time Extension feature. When the user’s parking session is about to expire, they receive a reminder notification indicating the remaining time. If the user wishes to extend their parking time, they can do so through the app and pay the additional fee accordingly. This gives users the flexibility to stay parked for longer periods without worrying about fines or penalties for overstaying their allotted time.

Coming on to the rest of the screens.🙆‍♀

• The menu contains information about the vehicle, booking, scanning, tracking, etc.
• In-vehicle screen, the user can update their vehicle as in can delete or add a new vehicle.
• The user has also the ability to make a parking pass in case he frequent visitor to a particular place

Core Principle Used

The app that is used by a user every day should have familiar features and functions that are easy to use and navigate. To achieve this,

The design of the app can follow the same steps that a user follows when parking their vehicle in person. This means that the icons and options in the app should be arranged and labeled in a way that mimics the steps and options that a user would encounter in a physical parking situation.

My Learnings

1. Browsing applications may be a great approach to learning about designing products and inspiring innovative thinking for your own product.
2. Making ideas a reality will need a lot of collaborative work as well as a well-defined problem statement.
3. Doing thorough research is an essential aspect of creating valid ideas fast and efficiently.
4. In addition to research, there are several approaches to generating ideas, such as brainstorming, mind mapping, and design thinking.
5. Finally, a well-defined problem statement is critical for developing a successful product.

You should focus on your ideation process and guarantee that your product fits the demands of your target audience by precisely describing the problem you are attempting to address. This can assist to boost customer happiness and engagement while also driving corporate success.

And that’s a wrap...

Thank You so much for reading this article.😍