Parcomolo — A Parking Application
Team: Minna Friedlander, Matt Bowers, Annika Miller, Marco Sevilla, Sky Ulep
Role: UI/UX design, wireframes, user testing, mockups, research
Duration: 2 weeks
Problem Statement
A perceived lack of parking in downtown San Luis Obispo 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 most of these lots impose parking restrictions to employees or customers of adjacent businesses. This often results in many off-street parking spaces remaining unused after traditional daytime work hours (i.e., after 5pm).
Question
How can our team develop a product to:
Provide better information to the driving public about the supply and location of available parking in the downtown area (including public on-street metered parking, public off-street parking in public lots and structures, and private off-street and unmetered parking)
Optimize the total supply of parking in the downtown area to increase utilization throughout the day and evening?
Hypothesis
We believe that creating an app that tells customers where other people have parked their vehicles, will help students, business workers, elderly people, and parents achieve better parking outcomes downtown. We will know this to be true when we see more people coming downtown due to the easability of parking our app has created.
Competitive Analysis
Initial interviews: themes and quotes
Themes
Most people don’t like the parking situation in downtown San Luis Obispo
Younger people who live nearby tend to avoid driving downtown
Parking prices / permits are not the issue.
Quotes
“First and second year students should have no cars in San Luis Obispo, you can bike or take the bus”
“I like the parking structures downtown, but I wish there was more street parking”
“I hear customers say, ‘Oh I never go downtown anymore, parking sucks”
“I park at my friend’s house because the parking is so bad”
“Going downtown is fun, but the parking is such a hassle!”
Personas and Scenarios
Initial Sketches
Low/mid fidelity Wireframes
My teammates and I believed an important feature of Parkomolo is that not only can the user find empty parking spaces, but they can also find the space closest to their destination. We also thought it would be useful to include filters for preferences of parking spots, with variables such as handicap, cost, and the ability to pay within the application. We struggled to figure out how the app would communicate when a parking spot became available. We strategized and came up with a solution: after users paid for their parking space, they would have to click the “leave” button inside the app, this would notify other users on Parcomolo that a new spot has opened up.
High Fidelity Wireframes
My teammates and I all agreed that the name Parcomolo, which stems from the historic explorer and childhood pool game Marco Polo, was a great name for locating parking spots. We also liked using bright neon purple as color scheme for the application because it was easy to spot in the app.
User Testing: Results and Findings
Task prompt: You are trying to get downtown to see a movie at Palm Theater. You’re currently at Taqueria Santa Cruz. Open Parcomolo and find the closest/cheapest/handicap spot to the Palm Theater.
User Testing: feedback
Positive Feedback
All participants thought that the navigation and flow of the app was “intuitive” and “easy to use.”
Negative Feedback
Most participants were confused about the filter button being located in the menu, as they were looking for a button in the search.
Actionable Steps
Because of this feedback, we placed a filter screen directly on the search bar that allowed for preferences to be selected next to the results.
Future Directions
Smart Car application
Yell “Parko,” and your car responds with “Molo” so that you can find where you parked
App tells you what elevation your car is at to help remind you what floor you’re on
Users have the option to rent their own driveway in app
All available parking spots would have sensors for accurate detection