NYC Parks Events
A modern upgrade to this city-wide fun finder
The NYC Parks system is larger than life. Its 1,700+ parks and facilities serve tens of millions of people year-round with activities, fitness, respite, and community. While thinking about a problem to solve at the intersection of my life in NYC and my love for doing stuff outside, this passion project was born out of frustration with an outdated and very difficult to use experience.
Deliverables + Tools
Existing Interface Audit
Behavioral + Competitive Research
User Survey Data + Interviews
Personas
User Journey + User Flows
Site Map
Wireframes
Usability Testing
Hi-Fi Clickable Prototype
Figma, Miro, UX Tweak, Google Suite, Notion, Paper + Pencil
Megan Martin, Lynn Overmyer, Saranya Villavankothai
Over the course of 1 year
The Problem
NYC parks have endless amounts of ways to enjoy them. But the current online system of browsing and searching for events leaves much to be desired. An outdated and not-at-all mobile friendly interface is confusing, frustrating and not accessible for those who need and want it. The parks serve everyone and its website needs to as well.
Existing user experience. www.nycgovparks.org/events
As you can see, the site is not designed for mobile use - it is not responsive, the text and interactions are very small to see and use, the amount and detail of the content is overwhelming and the architecture is not intuitive. It is difficult to know where to start. One could quickly abandon due to any of these issues.
Because this site requires the use of 2 hands, it is not accessible for those with mobility issues, whether permanent or situational. Therefore...
How might we make it easy for everyone to find interesting events to attend and to foster community through the parks?
This project has a lot to explore. To make it easier to digest, I've split up the case studies.
Choose your own adventure!
"Megan has immense knowledge in User Research and UX methodologies. We, as a team of three, relied heavily on Megan to help guide us through the design thinking process. I specifically learnt a lot from Megan from how to conduct better interviews, gathering insights, recruiting users and testing our prototypes. It's always an engaging conversation discussing the design decisions with her. She doesn't necessarily agree for the sake of it but asks questions to understand the various perspectives before providing her input. An amazing individual to have on a team and always available to answer questions and provide clarity. It's been such a fun time working on the project together and I think anyone would be lucky to have Megan on their team!" - Saranya, project partner
*We are not associated with the NYC Parks Dept. This is a passion project.