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Case Study · Telpark

Simplifying a mobility ecosystem used across Spain and Portugal

Transforming Telpark from a parking app into a mobility platform by simplifying a critical daily task for millions of users while enabling future product growth.

  • Industry Smart mobility & digital payments
  • Role Lead product designer
  • Years 2019–2021
  • Markets Spain & Portugal
6M+

Users

4.5★

App store rating

8.4K+

Reviews analysed

5+ years

Historical analytics

Telpark mobility app shown in a real-world parking context

The challenge

Telpark had grown into one of the largest mobility platforms in Spain and Portugal, serving millions of users every day. What began as a focused parking app had steadily expanded into a broader ecosystem of mobility services, payments and urban infrastructure.

As the platform grew, so did its complexity. Each new service added another layer to the experience, and the simple act people came to perform — start parking quickly — became harder to reach amid an expanding portfolio of features.

The tension was clear. Users wanted to start parking in seconds, while the business needed the platform to scale into new mobility services. The challenge was holding both truths at once.

Understanding the problem

We approached the problem by triangulating multiple sources of evidence rather than relying on any single signal. Behavioural analytics, app store feedback, funnel data, competitive analysis and stakeholder input were combined to build a complete and reliable picture of where users struggled and why.

0+

Stakeholder interviews

0

Competitors analysed

0+

Users tested

0

Research methods

What we learned

Users came to park, not browse services

Behavioural heatmap of the Telpark app showing parking actions receiving the highest interaction
Behavioural heatmaps showed parking-related actions receiving the highest concentration of interaction.

Zone information created unnecessary friction

Funnel analysis showing drop-off points before parking session initiation
Funnel analysis revealed drop-off points before parking session initiation, highlighting uncertainty around zones and pricing.

Navigation complexity had increased over time

Analysis of app store reviews highlighting recurring themes around navigation and usability
Analysis of thousands of app store reviews highlighted recurring themes around navigation, discoverability and usability.

Business and user priorities were diverging

Stakeholder workshops aligning business goals, platform expansion and user needs
Stakeholder workshops helped align business goals, platform expansion objectives and user needs.
Synthesis

Strategic opportunities

Research findings translated directly into product opportunities — the bridge between understanding the problem and shaping a direction.

01

Make parking the primary experience

02

Increase pricing transparency

03

Reduce navigation complexity

04

Build a scalable foundation

How I think

Defining the product direction

With opportunities defined, the next step was deciding what to optimise for. These decisions explain why the product moved in the direction it did — not how individual screens changed.

Prioritise user intent over organisational structure

We designed around what users came to do, not around how the business or platform was organised internally.

Design around parking as the primary journey

Parking was the task millions of people performed every day. Every other service had to support it rather than compete with it.

Simplify before expanding

Reducing complexity in the core journey took priority over introducing new functionality, creating clarity the platform could build on.

Create room for future growth

Decisions were made with platform scalability in mind, so new mobility services could be introduced without rebuilding the experience.

Simplifying the architecture

Telpark information architecture restructured around user goals, reducing navigation nodes
42 → 18

Navigation nodes

0%

Reduction in complexity

A full navigation audit mapped every node in the application and revealed how complexity had accumulated as services were added over time. Many paths overlapped, competed for attention or buried the core parking task beneath secondary features.

We restructured the architecture around user goals rather than internal organisation, collapsing 42 navigation nodes down to 18. The result was clearer discoverability, a more direct path to parking and a scalable structure that could absorb future mobility services without reintroducing complexity.

This was a product architecture transformation, not a navigation redesign — the foundation everything else depended on.

Reimagining the parking experience

Strategic decisions translated into tangible experience changes, each one reinforcing parking as the primary journey.

Parking becomes the primary action

Before and after comparison prioritising the primary parking task and reducing complexity
The redesigned experience prioritised the primary user task while reducing navigation complexity.

Moving towards a map-first experience

Map-first Telpark interface helping users understand where they can park
Location-first interactions helped users understand where they could park before making decisions.

Improving pricing clarity

Telpark pricing information presented clearly before starting a parking session
Pricing information became easier to understand before starting a parking session.

Simplifying session management

Telpark session management made more predictable and easier to access
Session management became more predictable and easier to access throughout the journey.

Validating the solution

50+

Users tested

12+

Scenarios validated

Usability testing and iterative validation informing refinements before launch
Usability testing and iterative validation informed refinements before launch.
Multiple

Iteration cycles

Continuous

Feedback loops

Results and impact

User outcomes
0%

Faster task completion

Users completed parking sessions faster and with greater confidence.

Operational outcomes
0%

Reduction in support requests

Improved clarity reduced confusion around parking flows and violations.

Business outcomes
4.1M+

Users reached

70K

Monthly user growth

The redesign supported continued platform growth while creating a scalable foundation for future mobility services.

Closing thoughts

Reflection

01

Users care about accomplishing goals, not platform complexity.

02

Simplification can create more value than feature expansion.

03

A scalable architecture enables sustainable product growth.

Let's close the gap

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