ParKING
What is ParKING?
ParKING is a fictitious application designed for drivers to search for available parking locations near their destination. This is especially useful in situations where drivers are heading to shopping malls during peak hours, or visiting a new location that they might not be familiar with. The application would also reduce snaking queues for entering carparks, and overall make the process of finding a parking lot much more smoother.
The Problem
Whenever we drive, we usually have problems finding a space near our destination to park our vehicles, more so on the weekends when the streets are packed. Even if we do manage to reach our destination, the vehicle park might be full, and we have to spend time waiting to go in or finding somewhere else to park.
Research
Research is always the most important part in any project. For this assignment, I took to the streets myself in order to not only take a look at the situation for myself, but also get some input from drivers actually stuck in the queues for carparks.
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The bulk of them aired their grievances, and gave helpful insight to the situation. One such feedback was that it would be great if they could see if the carpark is full before being arriving only to be stuck in a queue.
Research doesn't just stop at getting feedback. After getting the relevant input I needed from the public, I went around looking at actual parking lots and how do they try to counter this issue. One such way is the implementations of sensors and indicators. In some carparks, there is a system where a scanner above a parking lot will sense if there is a car under it. From there, the system collates the amount of free spaces available per floor and displays it at the entrance or at each floor of the car park.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/forgot-where-you-parked-airports-got-you-covered, ST Photo: Ariffin Jamar
I also took a look at other applications that has similar mapping and GPS functions such as Google Maps and Apple Maps as I plan for the designed product to be a mobile application that could help guide users to the carpark when they are in an unfamiliar place.
Development Process
Persona
After doing my research, I came up with some positive and negative personas to help me understand what kind of person would use my application. This also helped me to focus in on certain groups of people over other groups.
Flowchart
After figuring out my target audience, the next step is to come up with a flow chart for the app. I started off with a very simple flow chart, before adding on it and polishing it up.
Sketches
A great way to visualize an idea is to sketch it out, which is what I did for my application after I settled on the how the app was going to flow. I also tested certain design elements here such as making the carparks 3D while keeping the road 2D so that the carparks stand out easier.
Mockups
After getting a rough idea of how I want the application to look like with the sketches, I proceeded to do a mockup to get a clearer picture on it. I do this a few times while polishing up how I want the app to look like in the end.
