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.