Sofia Nilsson

A parking system that aids visitors driving to the Melrose & Fairfax area so they can park without worry.

Melrose & Fairfax is a super trendy shopping district with tons of visitors flocking to shop at its unique locations from all over the world. However, parking in the area is extremely limited: there are no large parking garages limiting visitors to street parking only, which is highly regulated due to the residential areas that surround it. This difficulty in parking leads to thousands of parking tickets and unhappy visitors year after year.

During our interviews with visitors to the area, we found that the main parking problem had to do with signage. We found signs often hard to read due to defacings, such as graffiti or stickers. Or the stacked signs were too hard to understand.

simpleSIGN aids visitors coming to the area with a quick understanding of parking rules so they can park without worry. There are three parts to simpleSign: first, we have a large, digital sign that changes throughout the day, immediately showing if someone can park there at that time. There is also a static schedule underneath for a full view of the week's rules; lastly, we have a companion website where visitors can find more information.

For this industry-sponsored project project, we were tasked to reimagine one of MaCher’s key products, the travel document wallet. We were tasked to redesign the travel document wallet, and to create a digital companion to go with it.

The current travel document wallet is outdated. It was a product that would is typically used for one purpose and maybe even just one time. It is also a large object that would take up a lot of space or be something significant that a person traveling on a cruise would have to carry around. It needed a redesign to suit today's cruisegoers better.

Although large in size, it did not have many features that one might want or need. It was a simple design with a few flaps inside to hold paper documents. Nowadays, people travel with their digital gadgets, headphones, charging cords, and other small items. Most people use their phones to keep tickets and information with them, but they would like a paper backup in case the Wi-Fi isn't working while boarding.

The new and improved travel wallet is smaller, sleeker, and has multiple functionalities to make your trip experience more enjoyable before, during, and after your trip. Accompanied by our digital travel companion, Starboard, is an all-in-one digital solution to make your travel experience easy and fun.