Role
UX Design
UI Design
Deliverables
Optimized Experience
Booking Flow
Programs Used
Adobe Creative Cloud
Figma
Company
Porch Moving Group
Year
2023 - 2024
The new interface not only modernized the visual style but also significantly improved usability, resulting in higher completion rates, faster permit fulfillment, and increased user satisfaction. This case demonstrates the impact of transparency, clarity, and user-centered design in streamlining complex bureaucratic processes.
the challenge
Redesigning the Moving Experience
Picture this – you finally decided to make that big move into the city, ten stories up in a high rise with views of massive buildings in every direction. You’ve done all your research to prep the movers, manage timelines, and get moved in as quickly as possible.
Moving day has arrived. You meet with the movers on the street and then head up to your new home to direct them as they bring your boxes up. You decide to head down to see what is taking so long. The scene is chaos.
You catch a glimpse of the front of the moving truck and it all becomes clear – a fine for “parking in a no parking zone” is adorned under the windshield wipers.
This could all have been avoided. Permit Puller ensures that you never worry about where to park – only how to fit everything in your new place. A little extra planning before your move can save time, money, and an unnecessary headache.
This was the PermitPuller 2022 web experience.
pain points
Permit Puller has been providing permit expertise since 2004, helping movers and builders reserve parking 🚚 in cities across the US. However, their legacy system was starting to show its age.
In order to request or pull a permit, users faced a daunting, single-page form with more than 22 fields (a nightmare).
So, we were called in to evaluate the site and launch a redesign. We needed to get users to trust us.
To understand user pain points, we conducted user interviews, analyzed support tickets, and reviewed user session recordings. We identified two key challenges users were facing.
Research & analysis
In our journey to enhance Permit Puller, we recognized a significant gap in the user experience of direct competitors. Many permit expediting services, such as Express Permits, Permit Pushers, and Suncoast Permits, relied heavily on traditional contact methods, predominantly featuring "Contact Us" forms and B2C phone call interactions.
This approach often led to fragmented communication and a lack of transparency for users. For instance, Suncoast Permits prominently displayed a phone number, encouraging users to call for quotes, which could deter those preferring digital interactions.
strategy and exploration
With a clear understanding of the challenges users were facing, we crafted three principles to guide our design approach.
In addition to updating the technical flow of the permit pulling process, we also refreshed the brand identity and website integrating UI components like buttons and styles into our ever growing PMG Design System.
The visual language was also refreshed, featuring modern illustrations and a redesigned logo to humanize the often-impersonal bureaucratic process of figuring out how to get a parking permit.
ui / ux design
Easier, Faster, More Intuitive Permit Requests
Step 1: Location Selection
To make this process intuitive and precise, we integrated an interactive map. Users can enter an address manually and, if needed, adjust its position directly on the map, providing visual confirmation and minimizing input errors.
Step 2 & 3: Permit Type / Details
Users select the type of permit from a curated list, primarily focused on moving permits. Each option includes badges displaying the service fee and estimated lead time, helping users make informed choices—especially if they’re coordinating moving services at the same time.
Step 3: Timeline
In the final step, users select their desired date and time for the permit. This timeline feature helps coordinate the request with their moving schedule, ensuring the permit is valid exactly when needed and providing clarity and confidence throughout the process.
Step 4: Add-ons
One of our main differentiators: options like ‘Verified Site Review’ ensure everything is compliant before the move, while ‘Permit Signage Removal’ handles posting and taking down signs
Checkout
Some permits may require direct payment, while others—especially in new cities or for certain types of permits —need a short screening process. In these cases, users simply submit their information and can expect a response within 24 hours, providing transparency and setting clear expectations for the permit approval timeline.
A unified and modern dashboard
We also created a transparent status dashboard that provides users with real-time updates on their permit progress, and implemented SMS and email notifications to keep users informed and confident throughout the process. This led to a 40% reduction in support queries!
+6 drafted layouts
3 days devoted to page exploration
Accomplishments
We created an easy to follow, step-by-step data collection flow that progressively disclosed information and prompted users for details using conditional logic. This reduced cognitive load on the user and simplified the process to pull a permit. (i.e., no more incredibly long form with 22 fields to fill out).
This project reinforced the importance of transparency in enterprise UX. By reframing delays as collaborative milestones the team transformed user anxiety into trust.
All the hard work we put in led to some seriously great results for Permit Puller.
📈Form completion rates soared: from 38% to 80% (a 42% increase).
🏃Permit fulfillment became 18% faster due to fewer user errors.
👍User satisfaction hit 91% in post-research surveys.
Rodrigo Martínez
UX Designer
My direct involvement with Permit Puller ended on December 2024, when I was reassigned to another project, so I cannot account for any differences between the designs presented here and the platform’s current implementation. What I’ve shared is a snapshot of the design direction during my collaboration, reflecting the principles and intentions that guided the work.
Thank you for reading!