
Uber's Design Meltdown - lumpypua
http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2016/2/16/ubers-atomic-meltdown
======
flyosity
I think one of the best points of this piece is referencing the iconic U
sticker that nearly all Uber drivers have on their windshield or passenger
window. When I've taken an Uber in an unfamiliar city (the bulk of my Uber
trips basically) and I'm on a busy street corner, seeing the unmistakeable
black-and-white sticker lets me know quickly and simply that I'm hopping into
the right car, or where to start walking if it's 100' away.

What will the new Uber car sticker look like from afar? A circuit board? A
community college parking lot pass? There's no way it will be as obvious and
instantly recognizable as a big U sticker. In fact I can't even imagine Uber
drivers will swap their decals out, ever, so it'll create a rift in the
overall brand (drivers with U stickers, website/app with the new brand) and
increase overall confusion with passengers.

~~~
jonknee
At least in Seattle they now have colored bars that identify the car (you can
select the color in the app, it's an LED strip).

[http://mashable.com/2015/12/03/uber-spot-light-color-
code/](http://mashable.com/2015/12/03/uber-spot-light-color-code/)

The problem with just having a logo is in many places there are lots of very
similar Ubers (oh hey my Prius is here!).

~~~
abuehrle
It's interesting that they let the passenger pick the color. 2 passengers in
the same area might both pick the same color and try to locate their driver
based on that information alone. Uber knows which pickups are at the same
place at the same time and could choose the colors that minimize confusion
(some kind of 4D map coloring problem!)

~~~
50CNT
You know, you could just disable colors already picked in close proximity. For
maximum distinguishing power, offer primary colors first, then secondary and
tertiary colors, and then differences in brightness/saturation.

Unless you're dealing with several dozen cars arriving at once, it should be
reasonably distinct, and even if for some freak reason there is more cars than
colors, it'll still help sorting through prospective cars more quickly.

You could also do this automatically, but offering the user control over it
may help them feel in charge and/or remember the color they picked better than
just assigning one.

That's my thoughts on it.

~~~
abuehrle
Good point! However, is it important for people to feel in charge of their
color? Right now, requesting an Uber is 3 steps (open app, set pickup
location, confirm). Why add a 4th step and require another decision? I value
simplicity over getting to choose my favorite color (n=1).

~~~
50CNT
See, you don't have to make it a separate step though. It'd be something that
is initialized with a sane default, and allows you to change it if you want
to. A button with the colour the light will be that you can click to open a
modal dialog displaying your options. Someone suffering from dicromacy may
choose a colour that is more distinct to them.

If you don't care about the color the light is, you'd simply confirm without
changing anything.

Another nice tweak would be coloring the app based on your chosen color whilst
you are waiting for the ride, making the connection obvious. That should be a
fairly simple matter of shifting hues.

~~~
starshadowx2
Like in Android contacts, when you add a new one it chooses a colour (maybe
randomly, I'm not sure if there's a system for it) but you can change it if
you want.

~~~
50CNT
I mean it's a general interaction design principle. Provide sane defaults,
offer customization. As a corollary, if you need to prompt for data, think
long and hard about whether you actually need that data.

Hrm, thinking about it, it'd probably also be neat if it tracked what colours
users who do choose pick, and then use that information to deduce their
favorites. If any of those are available, it should pick them automatically.
Even if I went out of my way to pick orange every time, it'd be nice if the
app remembered that and picked orange for me, thus eliminating a step.

It may be worth displaying available colors as smaller squares next to the
button like this:

    
    
      ┏━━━━━━━━━━━┳━┳━┳━┓
      ┃ primary   ┣━╋━╋━┫
      ┗━━━━━━━━━━━┻━┻━┻━┛
    

So that I can know at a glance whether or not my favourite colour is
available.

------
secstate
Was it just me, or was the uBar advert at the bottom of the title really oddly
placed. It was almost as if it were going to be part of the article. How the
brand was becoming associated with crap software too.

Meanwhile that was totally just a horribly placed ad for the site ...

~~~
ddorian43
Damn, the ads have devolved and are harder to block. At least don't show the
ad to non-macs.

~~~
coldpie
It's just a straight-up image and a link. While I hate advertising, this is a
compromise I'm willing to accept.

~~~
davb
Absolutely. I'd trade what we're stuck with today for simple, self-hosted
images and links (no trackers, third party scripts, creepiness) in a
heartbeat. This is advertising done right.

~~~
mirimir
I guess. But damn, I'm so used to not seeing ads that I spent maybe 10 seconds
wondering how the image was relevant to the article. "Maybe UBAR is an Uber
side project?", I was thinking. Then I saw "SPONSOR" ;)

------
exelius
I'm never one to judge a rebrand immediately, as so many people were quick to
do here. These things have a tendency to grow on you.

But after living with the rebrand for a few weeks? It sucks, and it made me
realize how all the things I used to like about Uber are disappearing.

The simplicity was one of the best parts of Uber: you picked your service
level, then ordered a pickup. That was it! These days, they've added a lot
more friction to the process, and instituted carpooling rules. Never mind that
surge pricing is almost always in effect -- I guess they're having a hard time
retaining drivers?

Ultimately, all Uber has long-term is a brand: their business model will be
commoditized the day autonomous cars are integrated into a fleet management
system. And they fucked up that brand: they went from a recognizable brand
identified with the letter "U" to an unrecognizable glyph that looks more like
a video game than a ride hailing app.

~~~
caseysoftware
The implied - not sure it was ever stated - aspect of their branding was that
the experience was about YOU. Getting the car, handling payment, not having to
worry about all the details makes YOUR life easier. Their deals with Hilton
and United to have a car ready whenever and wherever furthered that in my
mind.

So while the "U" meant "Uber" I always interpreted it a little bit
differently.

No clue what the backwards C means.

~~~
espadrine
It is not a backwards C, it is an atom (circle) and a bit (square). They're
trying to say they are the link between meat and cyber space.

It is the vaguest marketing device since “Visa. Love every day.”

~~~
SerLava
Man. I guess they really want to get the point across that they're a business
using computers to do things. They feel it's that unique.

------
m52go
For the record, it's happened more than once now that I look through my app
menu and see the new Uber icon and have no idea what it is. Takes me a second
to think about it and remember this 'rebranding'.

It's one of the worst things they could have done at a time when they need a
strong brand the most.

~~~
MicroBerto
Especially when a serious number of your customers are drunk when they are
looking for your services....

~~~
goldenkey
I was sober and honestly thought the new logo was my uber app being updated.
And the square meant the update was paused. Absolutely terrible rebranding.
The U was recognizable and iconic.

What in the sands of silicom valley were they thinking?
[http://cdn.igeeksblog.com/wp-content/uploads/How-to-Fix-
Apps...](http://cdn.igeeksblog.com/wp-content/uploads/How-to-Fix-Apps-Stuck-
at-Waiting-in-iOS-7.x-When-Installing-Updating.jpg)

------
salgernon
About two weeks ago, I found myself in Manhattan, needing to get to a specific
airport hotel near jfk for a 7am flight. I'd never used Uber before, so I
downloaded the app - I knew nothing about the rebranding (which had happened
at the time) but I found myself with a somewhat bewildering array of options -
uber, uberx, uber black, uber pool, something else. Multiplied by choosing the
type of vehicle?

I had no idea what I should choose and I was in no mood to track down what to
the designers and implementors meant by the various choices in the matrix.

(Took the subway to something close, got out, got in a cab and got there for
$20 total)

I wish there had been a more scripted experience: where are you going? What's
your timeframe? Do you have luggage or need to impress someone? Do you mind
acting as a carpool dummy? Do you want conversation or quiet?

Then pick from your array of checkboxes for me.

~~~
mratzloff
Just as software wizards are in other contexts, that would be useful for a new
user, but frustrating for a power user who knows exactly what they want and
the quickest way to select it.

~~~
goodplay
It doesn't have to be one or the other; include a small switch at the bottom
of the screen that alternates between the two representations.

~~~
arthurcolle
Maintaining one consistent front-end is obnoxious enough from my biased
personal experience with the UI/design aspect of building a web app... but I
agree that it's probably a weak point that they offer so many disparate
options but they are probably just gathering data with what works/what
doesn't. Just guessing. I would imagine that eventually we'll see some (more?
I don't know if its happened already) closures of the individual Uber product
lines

------
tetron
Basically, designers have to put up with the same management bullshit as
developers, except with significantly less respect for the difficulty of their
craft.

------
binarymax
All they needed to do was rotate the icon 90' clockwise and it would have
satisfied everyone.

\--EDIT-- For clarity: [http://imgur.com/sZN6g2i](http://imgur.com/sZN6g2i)
...still looks like a 'U'

~~~
secstate
Yeah, I think that was the bit where, when animated, the logo works. But
rarely will a sticker on a car be animated, at least in this decade.

That said, designers often over-worry about logos initially. If you put enough
marketing power behind it and the company is still on a growth curve, the logo
will eventually become associated with the brand and it wont matter whether it
was obviously a 'U', a Chinese coin or a ghost ;)

EDIT: The question now is, is uber on such a growth curve that they can still
get away with this. My gut says 'no,' but only time will tell.

~~~
hammock
If your logo doesn't matter much later on, and therefore you shouldn't worry
much about it early on, then when should you care about it?

~~~
jdmichal
It's not that the logo doesn't matter. It's that the _specific shape_ of the
logo doesn't matter. As long as it's unique and recognizable, over time it
will come to be associated with your brand. As an example, think of car
emblems. What does 4 rings have anything to do with Audi? The roundel with
BMW? The bowtie with Chevrolet? Of course, these all have a historical
significance, but there's no direct tie between the shapes and the name. It
could just as easily be Audi's roundel and BMW's bowtie. But yet all are
distinct visuals intimately tied to the brand.

------
rl3
I really hope the writers of _Silicon Valley_ somehow work this into the show.

Unfortunately Uber's timing is such that it'll probably have to be season 4.

------
alecsmart1
Just wanted to say that Uber is used by the mass; It's not really a product
for techies. So a lot of my friends thought that Uber has been deleted from
their phone (as they weren't able to find the icon) and then went ahead and
ordered a cab from the competitor.

------
atria
Am I the only one that sees the icon and thinks that it looks like an abstract
drawing of the sphincter or the underside of your anatomy? Must be tortured
remembrances of goatsee videos from years gone by. Perhaps there is a tie in
with all those grindr ads. Personally I find the combination of moms, puppies,
and sphincters a bit disturbing.

~~~
BenoitEssiambre
This logo shall henceforth be known as the "anal fissure".

------
carc
I've never, ever in my life seen a rebranding or redesign that wasn't widely
complained about. How can we differentiate between this kneejerk reaction that
all humans seem to have to changes in a UI/design they are already familiar
with, and actually bad redesigns/rebrandings?

~~~
sparkzilla
Use the Uber redesign as the standard of poor redesign and you won't go far
wrong.

------
Jordrok
Ok, so supposedly the redesign is based on the idea of "bits and atoms". The
atom at least seems to be based on the textbook image of a circular nucleus
surrounded by lines of orbiting electrons. (Let's ignore the fact that the
lines in the logo are pointing in totally nonsensical directions.) The "bit"
though...why a square? A bit is a unit of measurement - it has no physical
representation. Another circle would be just as valid. Maybe they're thinking
of pixels? (Though those aren't always squares either...)

Even if you can get past how pretentious the whole concept of the design is,
it all falls down anyway once you realize that they're just making shit up.

~~~
TrevorJ
It's also not a theme that is unique to their brand at all. So you connect
cyber and meatspace, ok, well what tech company in the last 20 years couldn't
say that?

~~~
SerLava
This is what's blowing me away more than anything. It's literally the second
thought that came to my mind.

Only two possibilities:

\--A hundred Uber employees thought of this, and didn't say anything about it
because they were scared of the CEO.

\--A hundred Uber employees thought of this, someone said something, and the
CEO heard the words but did not even process them.

------
nxzero
Huge shifts like this are confusing to consumers. Companies like Starbucks
understand that you can be fresh without looking like you're going through an
identity crisis. Luckily for Uber, what people really care about is the
service they're getting, not the logo for it.

------
klum
Maybe I'm just reading the wrong authors, but so much of the writing on design
today let plain bad design slide because it has the right
look/people/brand/tech/image. Eli Schiff's writing is maybe a bit more
vitriolic than necessary at times (IMHO) but it's a very refreshing
counterpoint.

------
mangeletti
The first thing that came to my mind when I first saw their new icon was
electroencephalogram stickers[1], or maybe those stickers that hold on heart
monitors in the hospital.

1\. see pic on the right here:
[http://www.epilepsygroup.com/notes6-35-63/new_patient.php](http://www.epilepsygroup.com/notes6-35-63/new_patient.php)

EDIT: I was told by my friend who is a nurse that the more accurate example
would be "telemetry leads" \- [http://www.wireless-technology-
advisor.com/images/cardiac-te...](http://www.wireless-technology-
advisor.com/images/cardiac-telemetry-1.jpg)

~~~
twic
Fun fact about those leads: the clips that hold the leads to the electrode
pads are of many different specifications, i think specific to the
manufacturer, so you can't change the lead (and so the monitor) attached to a
patient without replacing the pads.

Hence my slightly comical experience of sitting in an ambulance during a
transfer from my local accident and emergency department to a specialist
cardiac hospital, topless, having my electrodes replaced, then going through
the same procedure after the ten-minute drive to the destination!

If someone could disrupt that, that would be great, thanks.

------
bhouston
It is fun bashing uber but I am not sure this is quite as bad in all respects
as this article makes out. In particular I like the black square icon, it is
bold and unique. Their Android and ios icons though are pretty bad. Too bad
they couldn't have stayed with the bold black square for those as well with
some way to ensure it has good visibility.

Black monolith icon -- I like it.

~~~
runn1ng
The logo of the app looks like a Chinese bank logo. A lot of Chinese - and to
a certain point Vietnamese - banks have logos with square inside a circle,
since that's how Chinese money used to look like.

When Uber updated, I wondered what is that Chinese bank app doing on my
Android.

~~~
kagamine
Maybe take a closer look at where Uber's capital is sourced from and get you
answer there.

Personally I think the logo is awful. And the statement

> but creating an icon that was based on an English character didn’t make
> sense for a global brand

Is the company not called Uber in all languages? Is Uber not the name of the
company that starts with the letter U?

~~~
CPLX
For reference, there are languages that don't have the letter U in them, or
any letter you would recognize.

~~~
yawaramin
You don't see Pepsi re-branding themselves to 'Bebsi' in Arabic-speaking
countries.

~~~
runn1ng
Well sort of.

[http://www.pegnsean.net/~sue/pics/151-200/tn/162%20...and%20...](http://www.pegnsean.net/~sue/pics/151-200/tn/162%20...and%20Pepsi%20in%20Arabic.med.JPG)

But yeah everyone everywhere can read Latin alphabet, at least in the
demographic interesting for Uber.

~~~
yawaramin
Ha, you got me. On the other hand, though, they are starting to borrow the
Urdu 'p' character in some places.

------
wodenokoto
For someone not part of the design process, the author sure seems to know how
everybody on the team has been feeling during the redesign process.

~~~
indifferentalex
I don't know why you would comment something so "simple" (if you actually read
the article, if you didn't then I'm wasting our time) when the author clearly
(albeit sarcastically) points out that "Obviously designers have no right to
comment unless they were in the room with the Uber designers during the design
process". Surely you should come up with a stronger rebuttal than simply
paraphrasing _his_ sarcastic comment?

~~~
wodenokoto
I think he has every right to point out that the design is bad (I think it is
too) but to me many of the phrases reads like he knows that the designers
behind the logo also thinks it was a bad design, and that the designers
suffered during the process. He shouldn't speak on behalf of the design teams
thoughts or processes and stick to commenting on the final result.

Maybe I just read some of the sarcastic parts too literally.

> "Obviously designers have no right to comment unless they were in the room
> with the Uber designers during the design process"

I think we can all agree, that when it comes to the quality of a logo or
visual identity, the end customer is always right. If people paying for Uber
services can't recognize Uber, or get negative associations with their visual
identity, no design process can make up for it.

------
droningparrot
"The Uber brand guidelines were sure to make clear that they doesn't want
their logo to be urinated on or to be associated with condoms or sex. Because
there was a real danger that might have happened."

I see ads for Uber on Grindr all the time. What's that about not associating
the brand with sex?

------
mastazi
Do you remember the time that Marissa Mayer said, referring to Adobe
Illustrator, "I’m not a pro, but I know enough to be dangerous" and then
"helped" designing the new Yahoo logo? by that time, Mayer's (micro)management
style had already resulted in the Lead Yahoo Mail Designer quitting the
company[1].

This time it seems that, because of Kalanick's micromanagement of the Uber
logo design, Uber's Head of Design has left the company[2].

A non-technical co-founder shouldn't write code, right? So I don't understand
why a non-designer co-founder should design a logo.

[1] [http://www.inc.com/cody-steve/yahoo-logo-redesign-marissa-
ma...](http://www.inc.com/cody-steve/yahoo-logo-redesign-marissa-mayer.html)
[2] [http://www.fastcodesign.com/3056457/fast-feed/ubers-head-
of-...](http://www.fastcodesign.com/3056457/fast-feed/ubers-head-of-design-
steps-down)

~~~
Gustomaximus
This is a common problem in marketing. Given marketing unseen soft skills it's
common for people to feel they can be great contributors. I've literally had
an occasion when a exec waited til marketing left the building and held
design/programming staff back the night before a launch to implement his
messaging, look and feel which had been previously discussed and rejected. And
no joke, he had the gall to criticise the marketing team for the launch when
it didn't get the traction expected. My jaw still hits the ground someone can
be like this.

While not normally as bad as that example, executive input is acceptable at
some companies, typically from those people we've all seen whose confidence
clearly outweighs their ability (though to be fair some people give great
commentary too). In areas like brand its very difficult to 'prove' bad
suggestions right or wrong as measuring impact/result is difficult given so
many variables, and for what you can measure you'd have to run the alternate
to truly know results, which is unrealistic. The other one I see is sales
management get promoted to run marketing as many operations/finance leadership
dont realise how different the skillsets are, assuming 'selling is selling'.

For this, life is a bit easier in the performance marketing channels vs brand
type channels. I've found the best solution is, rather than fight the
political fight to keep them out, simply build what they want (assuming
digital campaigns) and A/B test their campaign version. Afterwards be sure to
present the results at a suitably high/wide level. Its win/win as if they
contribute good work the company benefits from their insight which is great.
And if they are the manager sticking their untalented nose in repeatedly,
after several presentations (all done in a genuinely friendly manner) the bad
internal press tends to keep them quiet, at least for a while.

And to be fair, some marketing people are not the best themselves and probably
deserve micro-management...

~~~
mastazi
I understand your point with regards to your last sentence, but that doesn't
justify bad management. I think the main point here is that, as you said,
institutional marketing/design/UX success is not as easily measurable as other
endeavours. You can A/B test a landing page but you can't really A/B test
things such as logo/corporate identity.

------
brandonmenc
> It felt wrong for Uber’s global and local brands to revolve around the color
> preferences of a rich, white guy in California - even if that rich, white
> guy in California is the CEO.

It worked for Steve Jobs at Apple.

------
Laaw
It took me like 30s to figure out the change, and I haven't had any problems
with it since.

Not sure this is going to topple the company. I think this is a case of, "I do
this for a living so it's super duper important". The branding redesign
probably isn't as important as this author claims.

------
hackaflocka
Uber's rebranding is a management classic. It will be studied for decades as
an example of what happens when committees create things.

------
arihant
I assumed the backwards 'C' was the incomplete progress bar. First I thought
Uber is updating. Then when I realized it is the new icon, I thought it is
meant to signify urgency of "your cab arriving."

In no universe did I imagine an atom or a bit there. Why does the bit have a
tail that makes an atom a backwards C?

Pixel art on city landscapes would have conveyed their point better, and would
have looked better.

------
wahsd
Not to detract but it's a somewhat similar issue albeit probably will never
elevate to the same level, but LastPass also just went through a logo redesign
and it's equally rather puzzling.

The logo went from

[http://cdn.makeuseof.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/08/lastpass...](http://cdn.makeuseof.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/08/lastpass_logo.jpg?26523c)

to

[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VUywxm7hR04d-hXnhenjtLcwHG...](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VUywxm7hR04d-hXnhenjtLcwHGe69ypNh1wiLfni01PeDDNR89jB0OZg7ryloBGwhfaPo_5BcQ=s128-h128-e365)

Considering things like that the three dots simply look like any number of
other menu icons, especially on android where you can have three of those
ellipsis type of icons in one view sometimes; I'm not sure that was all that
smart of an idea. In case you didn't notice/realize it like I didn't, that's a
cursor at the end of what are supposed to be three hidden characters. It's
just an odd choice in my opinion.

~~~
dublinben
>that's a cursor at the end of what are supposed to be three hidden characters

That was immediately obvious to me. I'm neither a designer, nor have I ever
actually used their product. I think it's an excellent logo because it is
instantly evocative of how you use their product.

~~~
wahsd
Ok, now scale down that image about 25 times to icon size. This one is about 4
times larger than the used icon.

~~~
Eiriksmal
Amen. E*Trade (I completely forgot they are "ee asterisk trade," not
"eetrade") sued them over the lovely asterisk, so now we're stuck with this
thing that looks like the "action!" movie clapboard device.

The big blobby square indicating how many profiles match under the dots is
distracting. Maybe my eyes will stop flickering to that once I adjust, but
it's not an improvement over the asterisk, in my mind.

I get the idea, but it just seems to messy, especially by incorporating a UI
element indicating where the cursor is into your design.

tldr; trademark suits are the worst.

------
pmarreck
The amount of hubris this article describes is _staggering._

And I say this as a long-time Uber fan.

------
meric
I wonder if this destruction of brand equity will mean Uber have to write down
the "intangible assets" section of their balance sheet.

------
ncke
Wow, I didn't think the day would come when I felt sorry for designers.

------
soyiuz
I am confused. How's the app logo nowhere on the homepage? Did they go with
UBER, black square, and the weird backward C thing all at the same time? In
addition the font for Uber front page does not match the Uber logo once you
log it (where the U seems to have a little curve to it). Get it together,
people!

~~~
TheGRS
Huh, haven't noticed that yet. This re-brand is so thoroughly weird in every
way you could imagine. The original Uber site that I remember had a mark of
professionalism and gave me a luxury limo vibe (though I knew it was just
people's cars). This site has a more bubbly, AirBnB vibe, for better or worse
I guess. I personally thought the professional vibe was better for their
product.

------
terda12
The article reads like the author has a personal hatred against Uber, it makes
it hard for me to accept his opinions.

Would have been better if he took a more objective look at Uber's redesign
instead of taking the time to bash the CEO or the designers.

~~~
woah
There may be some snark, but it's entirely appropriate. I think it's a piece
written for designers, who regularly have to deal with micromanagement from
talentless, egotistical people. Except in Uber's case, things were ten times
worse than usual.

------
umutisik
Seeing the iOS logo always makes me think for a second that the app is being
updated.

------
rcurry
Is it just me, or does anyone else think those two icons look like toilet
seats?

------
ank_the_elder
"All in all, it is remarkable that the Uber team produced what they did given
the circumstances–truly a testimonial to the patience of Uber's Design
Director Shalin Amin and former Head of Design, Andrew Crow, who not so
inconspicuously departed the company immediately after the redesign."

Is there a difference between "head of design" and "design director"? They
seem to have been at the company at the same time - correct? Just can't
understand what the difference between these two positions would be...?

------
repomies691
How much a branding has actually impact in a product like this? Uber is pretty
much the only option for ridesharing in my country, and I guess in most
countries in the world. I guess you can harm the brand a little by doing some
redesign or something, but I think in the end it doesn't matter that much. The
most important thing is that the product works, for a good enough price. I
personally at least don't care a bit what the uber icon on my phone is, and I
doubt that majority of consumers do.

~~~
VeilEm
It's not insignficant. For one, the app icon looks completely different now. I
had thought for a moment that I had uninstalled uber inadvertently before
remembering their brand redesign in the tech press. For those not following
the tech press, they probably had a harder time figuring out how to call an
uber app.

They destroyed their brand in one fell swoop their new logo is entirely new.
The good news for Uber is though that they are so essential and ubiquitous
there's no danger of this impacting their business.

------
EvanPlaice
The new logo looks like Pacman after assimilation by the Borg.

Maybe that's indicative of the new 'data platform' development team they're
actively recruiting for.

------
Jemmeh
Lately I've seen quite a few people reach for their phone, not find the Uber
app right away and they just click on that pink mustache instead.

------
melted
Who gives a damn. At this point Uber could choose a turd as their logo, and
they'd still be successful.

~~~
outworlder
A turd would be more recognizable.

The problem is not the brand, that's just a symptom of a far worse problem.

~~~
melted
I bet there'd still be gnashing of teeth and consternation. :-)

------
rajacombinator
Wow talk about a nuclear facepalm. I'd bet Uber doesn't make it through the
crash if this is how their thinking process works at the top level.

------
nanocyber
I used to use Uber quite regularly.

In the past year, I have had several drivers bring up, of their own volition,
their dissatisfaction with the fact that tipping Uber drivers is uncommon. It
is quite clearly stated in Uber's app and website that there is "no need to
tip". I'm not a cheapskate, but I don't carry cash most of the time, and their
veiled reminders/requests made me uncomfortable.

It probably sounds strange, but the ridiculous logo change on top of the
changing driver culture have made me remove Uber from my transportation-method
choices.

Fickle creature I am.

------
kull
Wait, but finally what does this shape/icon mean?

------
mahyarm
I remember similar sentiment when AirBnB did their rebrand. An article
comparing the rebrands of the two companies would be interesting.

------
CIPHERSTONE
Seems like an example of a CEO with an over abundance of hubris.

------
kawsper
Interesting read.

Funnily enough, I used Uber three days ago and didn't notice any chance at
all. But after I read the article I checked the Uber logo on my iPhone, and
there it was, the new logo staring at me.

------
deciplex
Apropos of nothing:

> _English is the lingua franca of the world_

I love reading, and hearing, these words. Heh.

~~~
HillRat
Many people think the term arose because of the dominance of French in
diplomatic circles, but I t's actually quite apropos; "lingua franca" is an
early medieval term that essentially translates to "language of the Western
Europeans" ("Franca" in this context is not modern France, but a term for
historical Germany -- everything north of modern Spain, essentially). In the
day, lingua franca was a patois consisting of bits of various languages that
all traders in the region knew and could communicate in, though it was too
mutable to be a stable language as such. Not unlike English, actually!

~~~
jbattle
I had always just assumed it meant "French" so you got me reading (thanks!).
Wiki seems to indicate the original lingua franca was based on the language of
the Franks and mostly used in the eastern Med.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Lingua_Franca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Lingua_Franca)

------
rwmj
He seems very bitter about something.

~~~
randomname2
Yes. The author obviously has an axe to grind, implying Kalanick is an
"elitist", "drooling idiot" who picked the logo "impulsively", "doesn't know
what his own intentions are", and "shouldn't be in charge of Uber's brand"
(all actual quotes from the article).

Flagged this submission for gratuitous negativity and for being a hit piece on
Uber and some of Uber's employees, disguised as design critique.

~~~
elischiff
This has to be a joke. You must realize I am a design critic.

~~~
randomname2
Design critique is fine but this piece is riddled with personal attacks on
Uber employees and political attacks on Uber as a company. You must realize
this as well, as you changed the link "Uber is publicly struggling with its
image" from a gossipy, political piece [1] to a more balanced piece [2] a few
minutes ago.

[1] [https://pando.com/2014/11/17/the-moment-i-learned-just-
how-f...](https://pando.com/2014/11/17/the-moment-i-learned-just-how-far-ub)

[2] [http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/02/uber-drivers-rates-
protes...](http://www.engadget.com/2016/02/02/uber-drivers-rates-protest-sf/)

~~~
elischiff
You are mistaken. I have not changed any links. Those links were and are both
there still next to each other.

Even if the article were some sort of political argument (I guess one could
interpret it that way in the sense of internal design politics and management)
it should not call into question its validity.

~~~
goldenkey
Id say your article was very informative and non bias. Of course your views
are there but the information about per country palettes and whatnot was very
depthy and rigorous. You did due diligence dont feel bad.

------
BillTheCat
Are we supposed to know who Amin is? The article starts referring to him with
no introduction.

~~~
jmcdowell
Did you skim read? It introduces him as:

"One can be sure that Uber's Design Director, Shalin Amin".

~~~
BillTheCat
That's been edited in after my comment

Compare to
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2016/2/16/ubers-
atomic-meltdown)

~~~
elischiff
Your comment helped me with that one, thanks!

------
edem
What a clickbait title. This is not about meltdown but design.

~~~
forgetsusername
"Clickbait" is overused around here.

It's the title of a blog piece. There are no rules that it's required to be
hyper-descriptive. Nobody is being deceptive. Did you really think the article
related to some sort of nuclear meltdown and Uber?

~~~
Karunamon
When I hear the words "company" and "nuclear meltdown", my first thought is
something catastrophic and immediately bad happening. Founders dying, sudden
regulatory changes, stuff like that. And I'm going to guess that most people
thought the same. "Oh crap, what happened to Uber?"

A freaking _logo redesign_ does not qualify. Less so when it's brand new and
nobody even has the logical basis to make an educated guess as to what its
impacts might be.

So yes, clickbait. The headline wrote a check the article couldn't cash.

------
callumlocke
This reads like an oddly smug attack on a fairly successful redesign.

~~~
MisterBastahrd
... the logo is unrecognizable.

Apple's logo? Looks like an apple.

Exxon's logo? Says Exxon.

Google's logo? Says Google.

Shell's logo? Is a shell.

Chevron's logo? Has a chevron in it.

The first time I saw Uber's new logo, I said "wow, I have no idea what this
is," which is absolutely the opposite thing you want a customer to think. You
might say "oh, but it says Uber right underneath the icon on my phone." Which
is accurate, but many customers wouldn't recognize the logo on the car without
additional text, which COMPLETELY misses the point of having a logo in the
first place.

~~~
mturmon
The shell in the Shell Oil logo represents an actual sea shell. The founding
family were originally sea shell importers and pivoted to oil in the late
1800s. (The story is told in Daniel Yergin's book on the history of the oil
industry.)

------
tosseraccount
"Leading up to the Super Bowl, Uber’s Twitter feed was all puppies."

Does the writer not get that the "Puppy Bowl" was on at the time? Animal
Planet's special show is very popular alternative to the "Let's not compete
with Super Bowl" lull on TV.

------
at-fates-hands
Honestly? This looks like Nixon's logo, just tipped on the side and modified
slightly:

[http://logonoid.com/images/nixon-logo.jpg](http://logonoid.com/images/nixon-
logo.jpg)

