SmartPark

SpotHero is a great solution for finding parking when you need it. But what if we could take the parking experience even further?

SpotHero relies on dedicated spots that are already available and managed by a third party. You are getting a certain level of convenience, usually at a discounted price, but what if there are free spots nearby? Or cheaper ones? SpotHero only has a limited view into what parking options are available to you.

Suspend your imagination a little as I propose the next phase: A smart car with 'SmartPark,' which uses GPS to provide a map view of all available parking spaces - as in, every metered spot, but also the free spot someone just got out of - in a certain mile radius from your car. When you are ready to find a parking space, your windshield, via augmented reality, will display a small map of parking spaces available that you can navigate to. Each would have a signifier that meet the following preferences:

• Is it free? If not, what does it cost and for how long?
• Does your car fit (GPS would provide space length and match it with your car's length)?
• Is it permit parking with only a limited window? When was the last time someone came by to check permits?
• How far do you have to walk to your final destination?

The list can go on.

This is just a quick, incomplete sketch but you see the open space indicated as you approach it and your display offers how the space's information matches your preferences. In addition, your smart car would learn your preferences and the signifier (color could be one option but need to consider accessibility) would represent how many of these needs are met by each space.

This could incorporate SpotHero information, as opposed to competing with it. It's all for the sake of providing the most complete picture for the driver of her parking options when she needs them.

UI/UX Mantra

In establishing our digital experience team at Marsh, we decided it was important we have a mission that we could always come back to remind us of our direction and the purpose of our work.

What follows is what I came up with. Along with being our team mantra, this would also help communicate our values to clients (both internal and external). As you may notice, I am indebted to great thinkers like Dieter Rams and Jakob Nielsen for some of these principles I espouse:

Before we get started, we’d like to introduce ourselves: we are the Marsh Digital Experience Team. We’re excited to work with you, but first we want to share something with you that should help you understand us a little better and what we believe in when it comes to design.

Our approach to design and digital properties is always centered around the user. Whether we are able to gather direct user input (recommended and preferred) or indirect user input (via user experts), the result is the same: a solution that considers the users' needs and goals every step of the way. A solution that leaves a positive, memorable impression on the user so that when he/she encounters Marsh again (in any form), that is the baseline.

How do we do that?

We can’t give away all of our design secrets, but we can share some principles we always strive to follow.

Our design and our content are clear. It isn’t necessarily brief, but it is clear. Those can often go hand in hand, but we err on the side of clarity.

Our design is focused. It is not screaming for attention in multiple places, or making you question what to look at first. Its focus allows the user to focus. It offers a direct path to follow, no matter where you are going.

Our design is deliberate and it is intentional. Everything is there for a reason. Nothing is superfluous. If there is something extra, it has a specific, measured purpose. We scrutinize everything to make sure only what is essential is present.

Our design is measured. We know the purpose of what we include in our design because we have tested it and measured it and shown that it is useful to the user. And we continue to measure each component, because as user behaviors change, our design must adapt accordingly.

Our design is minimal. As Dieter Rams would say, “good design is as little design as possible.” Good design should make you do, not think. When that is the case, less is more, and that is how we like to operate.

Finally, our design makes whatever we create useful. Ultimately, we are here to improve the user experience of our products. If it looks good but isn’t useful to the user, it isn’t worth pursuing. If it offers delight but isn’t useful to the user, it still isn’t worth pursuing. Until we know we’ve provided a useful tool to the user, we will not rest.

So that is our promise to you. Without it, we could get off easy (but we wouldn’t want that). We hold ourselves to these principles because we believe in them, and we hope by working with us, you will learn to as well.