UX Project
Swapa App - Peer to Peer Parking
Swapa is a peer-to-peer parking spot exchange app designed to reduce the stress of finding parking in crowded urban areas. The app connects drivers leaving a spot with those searching in real time, making the process faster and more efficient. I co-led this project with another designer in a collaboration-focused class, where we researched the problem, defined the target audience, and created a solution that turned a frustrating task into a simple,
intuitive experience.
Timeline - 8 Weeks
Year - 2025
My Role - Co UI/UX Lead
Goals & Objectives
Goals:
Make swapping parking spots as simple and seamless as possible
Reduce the time it takes drivers to find parking in busy, high-demand areas.
Provide a clean, focused interface that reduces cognitive load and frustration.
Objectives:
Design and intuitive interface where users can swap a parking spot in three steps or fewer
Implement real-time matching so drivers leaving a spot instantly connect with those searching
Create clear communication features to reduce confusion and waiting time.
Research
Our research began by observing how people park and identifying the pain points that make the process frustrating, such as circling for spaces, poor communication, and lack of predictability. The target audience was defined as daily commuters who frequently deal with crowded areas. To bring these insights to life, we created user personas that captured the goals, behaviors, and frustrations of different types of drivers, helping us stay focused on real user needs throughout the design process. We also developed “How Might We” questions to reframe the challenges into opportunities, and conducted a competitor analysis to study how other mobility and peer-to-peer platforms approached similar problems.
Design Process
I co-led the design process with another student, starting with quick sketches to rapidly explore ideas and potential layouts. These sketches served as the foundation for our low-fidelity prototypes, which we used to test early concepts and see how users interacted with the app.
From this testing, we gathered valuable feedback on usability and flow, which guided the transition to a high-fidelity prototype. We refined the design to incorporate clearer interactions, more intuitive navigation, and a polished visual style. After iterating on the high-fidelity prototype, we conducted another round of user testing to identify any remaining pain points or features that users found confusing. This iterative approach ensured that each design decision was informed by real feedback, resulting in an app experience that better matched the needs of our target audience.
Results
The final design for Swapa delivered a cleaner, more intuitive experience for drivers looking to exchange parking spots in real time. User testing showed that tasks such as finding and swapping spots could be completed more quickly and with fewer steps than in the early prototypes. Test participants reported that the interface felt simple, straightforward, and less stressful compared to their usual parking experience. By focusing on usability and efficiency, the project demonstrated how thoughtful design can reduce everyday frustrations and provide a smoother solution to a common urban challenge.