BeachBuddy is a crowdsourced parking information app designed to alleviate driver frustration and improve efficiency for beachgoers in Los Angeles.
Skills: UX Research, UX Design, Collaboration, Figma
Project Role: UI/UX Designer, UX Researcher
Project Year & Length: 2024 | 15 Weeks
Clickable Prototype Here
We conducted in-depth user interviews to discover the current pain points of beach parking around Los Angeles. Across the board, our team found that users had three main issues:
There is a lack of affordable and available parking
There is often unclear signage associated with street parking
There is a lack of data transparency and online resources
Low-Fidelity: We developed five core functionalities: Search, Contribute, Forums, and User Profile. After ideating and researching various existing user interfaces, we were inspired by Google Maps, Instagram, and TikTok for a familiar and intuitive design.
Mid-Fidelity Prototype: Our team implemented error messages, color-coded confirmations, and improved layout consistency. Additionally, we introduced prototyping for respective core functionalities, not yet implementing an holistic flow.
High-Fidelity Prototype & Style Guide: We established a consistent color scheme and typography as shown in the Style Guide. We developed a responsive design across the entire application. Lastly, we constructed a login system for a more cohesive and personalized user experience.
We conducted five usability tests to assess prototype functionality. We found that users requested a less cluttered pop-up with parking details available within the search function. In our contribute section, users needed incentives to encourage community aid. Our users also required greater functionality with the user profile section, seeking better organization and a saved parking section. To address concerns raised in usability testing, we implemented several key changes in our final deliverable.
Within the scope of our project, our team identified, addressed, and solved a gap in transparent and accessible parking information, leading to inefficiencies, high costs, and user frustrations.To incentivize users to contribute app-verified parking data, we implemented BeachCoins, a rewards system. This helped set apart our Forums and Contribute functionalities. Once users reach a certain amount of BeachCoins, they can be redeemed for a set amount of time of free-parking at a BeachBuddy affiliated lot. We improved our Search functionality by allowing for saved lot collections and clearer parking fee structuring. Lastly, we streamlined an information hierarchy and optimized navigation, logically grouping content, enhancing visual cues, and keeping design patterns consistent.
