Downtown Seattle Parking Refresh

Show people it’s easy to park in and visit downtown Seattle using downtownseattleparking.com.

The UX opportunity was to simplify the search for parking and shuttle information.

User testing showed that six of eight people felt confused about why they would use this site.

These people thought that visitors were the target audience. Everyone who tested the existing site had a difficult time with the map. They voiced frustration in not being able to see their current location. And they found it hard to understand the icons on parking and shuttle maps.

Neighborhood photos and landmark details encourage people to explore downtown.

Adding the Explore page was our most significant decision point. These additional details give people more context for their visit to downtown, beyond parking or riding a shuttle — even a local might discover a hidden gem, like the waterfall park in Pioneer Square. But for those who just want to quickly find a garage or shuttle stop, bottom navigation makes it easy to switch to those pages.

Smaller radius and cleaner iconography make maps easier to read.

The redesigned map centers on and is zoomed to a user’s current location. This offers them the most relevant information. Updated icons for parking facilities show pricing at a glance. Shuttle icons indicate direction of travel, and stop icons are immediately recognizable as interactive elements.

An obstacle we faced is that most people don’t use apps to find parking.

They drive around or already know where they’ll park before heading to a destination. So perhaps a parking web app is not the right solution for actually helping people find parking quickly.

Given more time and different circumstances, it would be fun to explore environmental solutions to help drivers find parking with minimal circling. Downtown Seattle has ample signage for parking facilities. What if we could do VR exercises of driving through a version of downtown with different signs for facility capacities, rates, and proximity, to see what elements help drivers most?

As for the site refresh, the client appreciated the clean new layout. Users liked the addition of photographs and a larger Get Directions button as ways to help them find parking faster.