Programme

Practical demo of a global parking meter usability test

Format: Poster / Demo | Language: English | Tags: research, design
By: Martijn Klompenhouwer, Paula Deisz, Mark Kassteen | User Intelligence
@431, @markkassteen, @UI_Ams

Description
When you come to TWAB by car there is a good change you would need to use a parking meter to pay for your ticket. You will then most likely be interacting with one of the worst parking meters in the world! Lucky you!

In 2008 User Intelligence conducted a global user research study on the usability of parking meters. No two parking meters are completely the same and the complexity of operating the parking meters varies considerably. The Amsterdam parking meter was the worst of all.

In February of this year User Intelligence was involved in a usability study as part of the design and development of a new touch screen interface for parking meters. The manufacturer of these parking meters, distributes the parking meters globally and The Netherlands, France and US are amongst the target markets.

The interface was tested in all three countries. In the usability lab of User Intelligence Amsterdam the right context for participants was created by mounting the touch-screen onto a realistic mock-up of the parking meter.

So if you want to see for yourself how the interface of the parking meter is progressing come to the demo and interact with a life-size parking meter yourself. The complete test set-up will be at display and a video shall demonstrate how the test was conducted. Preliminary results of our findings will also be discussed.

Interested in knowing more about the background of this project? Attend the oral presentation.

About our presenters

Martijn studied Cognitive Psychology and works for User Intelligence since 2002. As a User Experience Consultant Martijn is responsible for a broad range of activities. Besides designing and improving interfaces, he is primarily involved in the evaluation of websites and applications (e.g. User testing and Expert reviews).

Paula studied Cognitive Applied Psychology at the University of Utrecht. After graduation in 2006, Paula’s passion for people and technology motivated her to develop herself further in the post-master User System Interaction at the University of Eindhoven. In this two-year program, she had the opportunity to work with talented and inspiring people and work on fascinating projects.

During this post-master, Paula worked as a consultant at the home automation company BeNext where she helped in defining the user requirements for a user-friendly web interface. She also worked at Philips Research where she did experimental research on sleep products for healthy adults. Next to running experiments, she involved the participants in the concept development of innovative bedtime products.

After completion of the User System Interaction program in October 2008, Paula joined User Intelligence in February 2009 as a Junior User Experience consultant where she is involved in the design and evaluation of websites and user interfaces.

Paula organises events for the alumni association USINET to support the social network of professionals. During her spare time she loves to travel, play the piano and dance the tango.

Mark has a background in Cognitive Psychology and has joined User Intelligence in February 2008 as a partner. Besides general management, he is involved in Strategy and Business Analysis. As team lead, Mark is also responsible for the Interaction design team.