BACKGROUND

Parka, a start-up based in Ottawa, aims to revolutionize the parking experience in densely populated areas. The quest for parking not only contributes to urban congestion but also elevates greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. Pre-reserving parking spots not only alleviate city congestion but also aid in environmental conservation. It’s a win-win solution.

ROLE

Product Designer
Building the project vision, planning and project scoping, user research, user testing, prototyping, visual design, and branding.

TEAM

Daniel Wang (CEO), Kuntal Gajjar (Developer)

DATE

2017

Problem Statement

Public parking, particularly in downtown areas of cities, tends to be costly. Many downtown residents do not own vehicles, resulting in vacant parking spaces throughout neighborhoods.

Parka offers a solution by enabling private driveway owners to list their unused driveways for rent. Drivers can locate these spaces in real-time or reserve them in advance, providing a cost-effective and superior alternative to commercialized public parking.

Research

RESEARCH METHODS

User interviews
Market Analysis
Persona
Scenario Creation
Information Architecture
Prototype Testing

We reached out to friends and family who frequently commute to the downtown core and asked them about their parking experiences.

We also asked others that live downtown about the possibility to rent out their vacant parking spots for some extra income.

Insights

SIMPLIFIED TIME SELECTION

Users want to be able to quickly select a timeslot to book a parking spot. There should be the least number of steps possible to reduce any friction.

100% of the users found the time selection portion of the flow difficult in our first prototype. It took them longer than anticipated to select the timeslot.

ACCESSIBILITY

60% of users had a few accessibility issues with the original prototype, including the readability of text on certain colored backgrounds. Colors were changed to meet web accessibility standards.

QUICK PARK

40% of users suggested an even faster way to find parking nearby. They stated that they might not realize they need to find a parking spot until they are already in the area.

We added a new feature to allow users to find a spot near them using GPS location. This one-click feature saves time from entering their location manually.

LIGHTER & BRIGHTER

The original prototype was a dark theme, and 80% of users thought it wasn’t as appealing as modern ride-sharing apps like Uber or Lyft.

Branding

Use Cases

Interactive Prototype

01.
Finding a Parking Spot

Jason is visiting Ottawa for a week and is staying at a hotel downtown. The hotel daily parking fees are a little pricey for Jason, so he uses the Parka app to find a vacant spot nearby at a fraction of the cost.

02.
Listing a Parking Spot

Megan lives in a single home in downtown Ottawa. Her driveway can park 2 cars but she only utilizes 1 spot since she lives alone. She decides to make some extra cash on the side by renting out her free spot on Parka.

03.
Quick Park

It’s a busy Friday afternoon and John is driving around downtown Ottawa looking for an affordable vacant parking spot. Most of the public parking are either full or out of his price range. He uses the Parka app to find a nearby spot quickly using his GPS on his phone.

Takeaways

There were many learning opportunities throughout this process as my first ever UX project with developers. Some portions of this project were initially overlooked, such as getting approval from the City of Ottawa, and how to bring the app to market.

Sadly this project didn’t get to fully launch, but it was definitely a learning experience!

Parka

Reserve, park, and enjoy your day - a perfect spot, every time