Get Valet App

This project started as my capstone at General Assembly in Atlanta and it turned into something more. We worked with a real client who was building a valet management platform, and our job was to redesign the mobile experience from the ground up. At the time, I didn’t know this project would later become my first real UX internship but I’m glad it did.

The Challenge

While the client already had a well-designed interface for their corporate-side platform (used by valet companies and staff), the consumer-facing app, the one everyday users would interact with, was still underdeveloped and inconsistent.

Our challenge was to design the consumer experience from scratch while ensuring it aligned with the visual system, tone, and functionality of the corporate app. It had to feel like one seamless product even though two different user groups with very different needs were using it. Our goal was to redesign the app to make parking smoother and more intuitive by bridging two worlds.

This meant thinking carefully about:

• How consumer interactions (like requesting a car) connect with backend workflows

• Making visual elements and interaction patterns feel consistent across platforms

• Designing with scalability and brand trust in mind

As a team of three, we set up a 16-day design sprint. I helped organize the process: gathering requirements, setting a shared timeline, and making sure we all had visibility into what needed to get done. This was my first time managing workflow in a real-world project and it taught me how important collaboration and momentum are when you’re working with a tight deadline and real stakeholders.

My Process

We started with competitive and comparative analysis, digging into other valet and parking apps to understand what they got right and where they fell short. I mapped out common patterns in feature sets, onboarding flows, and UI interactions. We also looked at reviews to identify real user pain points.

Then I created a customer journey map, visualizing the experience from the user’s first interaction with the app all the way through to their return pickup. This helped us identify friction points and missed opportunities for delight — like better notifications, real-time updates, and clearer service status.

Design & Prototyping

We sketched out early low-fidelity wireframes to explore structure and flows. My focus was on making the interaction as simple as possible, for example, reducing the number of taps it takes to request a valet or find your car.

Before diving into wireframes and UI, we wanted to make sure we (and our stakeholders) had a clear shared understanding of how the overall system flows, from customer request to valet station coordination.

I created this simple animation to visualize the ecosystem and show how each role connects behind the scenes.

As we moved into high-fidelity wireframes, I worked on creating a consistent visual system using a style guide and mood board. The goal was to keep the design clean, modern, and confidence-building important qualities for something people use when they’re in a hurry or stressed.

From Capstone to Internship

After presenting our final designs, the client reached out and invited me to stay on as a UX intern. For the next two months, I continued helping the team refine the app. I worked on prototype presentations for investors and potential partners, gathering feedback and making iterative design improvements based on real-world input.

This part of the project was special because I saw the direct impact of design decisions in action. We weren’t just building for a class, we were helping a real business grow.

What I Learned

This project helped me bridge the gap between school and real-world UX. I learned how to:

• Run design sprints with real clients

• Present ideas clearly to stakeholders

• Take feedback without ego

• Iterate quickly under real constraints

It also reminded me that good design isn’t just about clean screens, it’s about helping someone feel calm, confident, and in control during everyday moments.

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