Parking Valet

At iQuest, we identified the need for a parking spot management tool in our offices. Through employee interviews and data collection, we iterated on a mobile app and web admin tool to address identified issues.

TEAM: 3 designers • 1 product manager • 6 developers • 1 tester • 2018

Contribution:

• I played a role in both UX and UI aspects of this project.
• Alongside other UX colleagues, I participated in user interviews with individuals from our company.
• We followed a set of questions for all interview participants, gathered data, identified pain points, and began the iteration process.
• While one of my colleagues worked on creating wireframes, I focused on the UI design.
• The visual direction we received was to develop a simple design that could be implemented quickly.
• The emphasis was on avoiding complexity or heavy graphics, aiming for a white-label product that could also be sold.
• For this project, we utilized Google Material, which facilitated quicker completion of tasks and prevented getting lost in design or implementation details.

How Parking Valet came to be:

• Initially, the idea seemed simple: install the app on your phone, request a parking spot, and you're done. However, as we iterated on the product, we discovered multiple use cases:
• Some users arrive late to the office.
• Others may leave their parking spot unused for a few days.
• Some may pick up their kids from school but return to the office later.
• Occasionally, there may be issues with the parking spots, such as not enough available or reserved spots.
• To address these issues, we introduced a car-sharing option:
• This feature allows multiple people to share a car, freeing up more parking spots for others.
• For example, 4 people sharing a car would save 3 spots for additional users.
• Further exploration of the problem revealed the need for an admin tool:
• This tool enables oversight of parking spot availability.
• It allows monitoring of who is using the parking spots.
• It facilitates handling of emergency parking needs or requests from visiting clients.
• It assists in managing temporary parking needs, such as for employees bringing fresh fruits to the company.
• Consequently, the admin tool was created to empower the office manager with insights and control over parking spot management.

After releasing our proof of concept (POC), we organized a usability testing session for our users to gather data and iterate on the product. The testing included both moderated and unmoderated approaches.

With guidance from our colleague Alexandra Brinzaniuc, the majority of the design team, myself included, collaborated on creating scenarios, email templates, a script, and a set of tasks for our users. The data collected from these sessions was subsequently used to enhance the product.

Below are some screenshots of our Miro usability testing planning sessions, where the whole team got together and contributed.