The largest parking provider in NYC
UX Design // App // Website
With over 300 parking garages in NYC but an almost completely need-based business model, Icon’s next goal was to increase brand awareness and make online and mobile parking reservations a bigger part of their business.
I worked with Icon’s internal marketing and leadership teams, external development teams, and our agency creative team for support to construct a new website and mobile app experience. After a complete overhaul of not only the UI but also the finding- and reservation process, Icon was brought to current standards in usability and user experiences. Branding, email, and digital advertising campaigns were also built and launched along with the new website and app.
Thanks to our efforts, Icon saw an increase in “book direct” online reservations for the first time in a decade, while app downloads increased over 150% YoY.
Challenges
Stakeholder satisfaction – many cooks in the kitchen
Unlike aggregator apps that focus only on getting you into a parking garage, Icon corporate has many goals and requires all of these to have a presence on each garage’s page. Balancing needs and combining features where it made sense was our solution.
Strong competitive landscape
Aggregator apps and websites have a strong presence, with good user experiences and low overhead. Navigating the parking landscape with an established owner-operator had its ups and downs.
Outdated client data with mixed formatting
With hundreds of garages run as individual LLCs, consistency is lacking. We had to find ways to use what was consistent, while also addressing what was not.
Legacy overseas development team
Icon had previously worked with a development team that they wanted to stay with for this project. With no actual control on our end, and with developers showing no real accountability toward us, we had an uphill battle to provide the client with a satisfactory end product. Very detailed handoff notes and many back-and-forth conversations were had to ensure that designs and flows were followed.
Mobile app
Main app screens in detail
Full app layout
Websites
Custom email campaigns
With Icon’s high standards, and with an outdated email platform, we ended up creating emails for marketing using custom, hand-coded HTML. Throughout our campaigns, I took these emails from very basic image-only emails, to meeting all modern standards in email (not that modern, yet tricky) including desktop and mobile responsive layouts, high-res images, rich text content with web fonts, and more.