Park It! Mobile Application

Project Description

In teams, our assignment was to build a mobile application that would help with parking issues in downtown San Luis Obispo. Our tasks included user research, sketching, interactive wireframes, guerrilla user-testing, and discovery.

Problem Statement

There is a perceived lack of parking in downtown San Luis Obispo, which has resulted in future plans for the construction of a new parking structure at Palm Street and Nipomo Street, on land that is currently used as public parking. At the same time, there is a significant amount of free, off-street private parking in downtown San Luis Obispo, but many or most of these lots impose parking restrictions to just employees or customers of the business for which the off-street parking lot serves. This often results in many off-street parking spaces remaining unused after traditional daytime work hours (i.e., after 5pm), when these spaces could be better utilized throughout the day.

Hypothesis

We believe that by showcasing and informing people of the available parking and alternative traveling options for the San Luis Obispo community, we will achieve maximum parking potential and a more positive parking experience. We will know this to be true when we see parking capacity fully maximized, ex. people find parking under 10 min.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

USER INTERVIEWS

What are some of your frustrations when parking in downtown San Luis Obispo?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• People are most frustrated with convenience (both distance from their destination and the time it takes to find parking) and cost when it comes to parking in downtown San Luis Obispo

• People prefer to either walk downtown or drive their own cars

• People prefer to park wherever it is free

• Food is the main reason people go downtown. Entertainment (movies, shopping) and work were also listed

Scenario 1

Martin and his family drive downtown to go to Farmers Market. He wants fresh, locally farmed fruits and vegetables to keep his family healthy. Martin wants to park close to the farmers market because his small children get tired by the end of the night from walking around so much. The parking garages are too far for his 2 year old and 4 year old children. As he is driving he pulls up his PARK IT! App to find a spot as close as possible. While Martin is driving close to the farmers market, the app points out to him all the spots he can park in. Martin finds a spot on Marsh across from a comic book store that is super close to the farmers market. He then pays for the spot through the app, which is fast and easy and doesn’t take from his cash funds that he intends on using at farmers. After a long night of farmers, his kids are tired and the short walk back stops his kids from being cranky and difficult. While loading his kids into the car he sees on the comic book store front that next week is National Comic Book Day and that anyone who comes gets a free comic book. He is excited because both he and his son love Batman. Next week they go to the comic book store and they are ecstatic because they got free Batman comics. If he never found that parking spot on Marsh, they may have never gotten that free comic book.

Persona

Low Fidelity Prototype

Test Results and Findings

Task 1:

Task #1: You are driving downtown to enjoy Farmer’s with your family. You are about to start looking for parking and open up the Park it! app on your phone. Starting on the homepage, your task is to find a parking spot, and pay for an hour of parking.

Task 1 Completion 100%

• User #2 overlooked the text on the homepage, still was able to complete the task

• Overall, people thought it would be helpful and convenient to use

• Likes: time countdown function

• Dislikes: lack of color/color coded spots

• Suggestions: reloading time on phone

Scenario 2

Kylie Smith is planning on going downtown for dinner with some of her sorority sisters Thursday night. She checks the Park it app to see if anything is going on that day that may affect parking. She sees that Farmer’s Market is on Thursday and now she is stressed about not finding parking for dinner. She confirms where they are eating on Thursday so that she can plan the best time and best place to park downtown. Kylie continues to look through the app to learn more about park times, parking options, prices, and street closures. Kylie and her friends want to save as much money as they can and prefer free parking, but don’t want to be far since they will be wearing heels. After researching, she finds a perfect area and she marks the location as her favorite so that she can easily look it up on Thursday. She shares this information with her friends who are also driving downtown. She is now stress free and has a plan!

Persona

Low Fidelity Prototype

Test Results and Findings

Task 2:

Task #2: You are planning to go downtown to meet a friend for dinner. You plan to go on 4/17/18, at 6pm, at Luna Red. You want to pay $1.50/hour. Your task is to plan out where you will park, star your parking spot and locate your starred spots in the app.

Task 2 Completion 100%*

• User #4* needed help starring spot

• Multiple users thought they were reserving spots (clicked park it button after planning)

• Likes: planning aspect

• Dislikes: price range options and bar graph

• Suggestions: real time capacity and types of spots (parallel, angled, etc.)

Skills/Programs:

• Persona

• Rapid prototyping

• Branding

• Storytelling

• Wire framing

• Guerrilla testing

• User research

• Interviewing

• Adobe Illustrator

• Adobe XD