An improvement to ParkWhiz's UI

Don't Hide the Important Stuff

Bring a first time user of ParkWhiz, I'm not familiar with the UI. When searching for a parking spot, I am conditioned to Spothero's looking on the map to see pins nearby my location on a map, and them listed in the left column.  Here, no pins.  No left column parking options. I zoomed in and then out on the map - nothing. I looked to the heading, also to try and find an option for 'Monthly' vs. 'Hourly' parking as that was what I wanted to find.

The 'Where did all the parking go' text in the left didn't resonate with me. I saw it eventually (Why does the car and building image take up so much real estate when it's useless to me ex. isn't answering my question of where can I park?)  but the wording didn't make me realize it was to be interpreted as 'No options available at this time' or 'Search again'.

Additionally, the answer to where all the parking went was hidden at the bottom of a scroll feature? Why? They had the room to have it without being hidden. And I felt frustration at not being able to figure out, without having to think, why I couldn't find a parking solution.

My ParkWhiz UI solution

As you can see below, the first thing I added was the ability to search by Hourly or Monthly options.  I don't know if ParkWhiz offers monthly at this time, but they should, because their competitors do, and because it fills a real user need, especially in overpopulated downtown commerce areas of towns.

Next, I made the error message text obvious - There are no results! Red was the color used as a visual cue to the type of content it was. I included a 'learn more' to keep the space clean but allow users to discover the additional information I removed - that ParkWhiz has 800,000 spots in 50 cities. And I made the call to action green, a visual cue that it's how you progress (or go or move forward), and the color makes it more obvious that it's current light grey that blends into the page unnoticed.

I'd love to know your thoughts on if this solution would test well, or how you would improve the experience.

UI Labels and Why They Matter

Chicago restaurant week is here, so I pulled out my phone last night at home (while also on my laptop and watching Netflix - multiple screens are REAL) to look up some options. I came across Le Colonial, a high-end, 20-year old Vietnamese restaurant in an area of the city fueled by corporate credit card purchases, business travelers, and clientele over 45.

Looking at the heading of the mobile site, I was trying to find where to locate the 'About' information for this place. I had already scrolled down the page and clicked on a link to view the dinner menu, so I was in search of a UI element that would enable me to find location, hours, a gallery, restaurant history, etc.

What happened was humorous, and of interest to those in the user interface/user experience design world.  Because I was on a restaurant site, I had subconsciously assume the hamburger icon and related 'Menu' text was going to show me the actual food and drink menu for this place. I had completely forgotten that on any other site 'Menu' would take me to the site navigation menu. For 15 seconds I was lost, unable to find an 'About' page. Perhaps in instances of restaurant use, the hamburger icon alone without accompanying 'Menu' text would be easier for people to use.

On the flip side of that argument, could you imagine the 'Book' option with the icon only? It kind of looks like a calendar, but without the descriptor I think people would simply wonder what it was, and miss the opportunity to make a reservation.  And on the topic of text descriptors, I think that while 'Reservation' is a better word choice, based on space constraints, 'Book' was the logical best option.

The internet is an interesting place when you make the effort to pay attention to its details, and question design decisions that were made, and if they were intentional or not.