Uber App Redesign

Design Brief

Improving the Uber Rider Experience

Uber is one of the biggest riding service apps out there, and has grown to massive popularity. However, safety for riders and drivers, both during pickup and during the ride, continue to be an issue for Uber. In addition, some features such as Fare Splitting and Ride Preferences could be improved to help Uber stand out more from the competition.

The goal of this project was to revamp the Uber app in 9 weeks by pinpointing a few key features to reimagine and redesign. In a multi-disciplinary team of five Digital Media and UX design students, we brought the project from assessing the current Uber experience with user interviews all the way to final designs and prototypes. Throughout the design process, we kept the user involved in all steps from initial surveys and interviews to several round of usability tests, to generate user-centered design results.

Kickoff

Determining Goals for the Redesign

At the outset of the project, we didn’t have specific goals for the app redesign. We started by researching and analyzing the Uber brand’s mission and goals through their website and other statements.

We also solicited survey responses on several forums and social media platforms to understand common use cases for riding service apps and challenges faced when using the Uber app.

We determined the following goals to drive our app redesign:

1. Ease of Use: Make the app quickly understandable and easy to book a driver, find the car, and get to the destination as quickly as possible

2. User Control: Give riders control of their ride experience - from price point, to type of ride, to their overall experience throughout the ride

3. Safety: Ensure the safety of both drivers and riders, reduce the amount of dangerous situations and incidents, and help drivers and riders feel relaxed and secure throughout the ride

   Taskflows

Building Out Targeted Improvements

Giving the rider more control over their ride experience

To provide more User Control over the ride experience and ensure that it consistently meets users’ personal needs and expectations, we created a way for riders to customize several aspects of the ride. From our user interviews, we discovered a desire to determine the conversation level, volume and type of music, and language spoken by the driver.

One of the trickiest parts was determining when in the booking process the customization would take place, and how users would access this menu on the screen. We decided that this would take place during the car choosing process, and become a part of that menu, instead of appearing as a pop-up.

Design iterations with the “Ride Preference” features, exploring sequencing and placement of the menu.

The ability to split a fare with fellow riders differentiates Uber from its competitors. However, the feature is currently difficult to find and inconvenient to use, resulting in the feature being virtually unused by our interview participants.

To improve Ease of Use, we added a QR code feature where users can quickly split fares with their friends in seconds by scanning their personalized QR code. We also allowed users to access it early on in the core flow, before they’ve even booked the ride, to make the feature more accessible.

Design iterations of split fare feature, exploring a QR code scanner to retrieve a fellow rider’s account details.

Specify rider location with a photo

In order to help riders and drivers find each other during pickup, we created a photo tool for specifying the pickup location. While waiting for the Uber driver to arrive, riders can take and send a photo of the buildings and surroundings. This will help the driver figure out exactly where the pickup location is, what side of the street, what building to stop in front of, etc.

Exploring different communication methods between the rider and driver, including iterations of the Send a Photo feature.

Improving Rider Safety

We implemented a new step in the pickup process to reduce the number of safety incidents and ensure that the rider feels protected and secure. The secondary goal was to reduce the number of “failed pickups” (where the driver falsely reports that the rider has been picked up), and overall making Customer Support more accessible if something goes wrong. These safety features could be opted-in by those riders who desire extra security, and enabled/disabled at any time in the user’s Safety Settings.

First, the rider has to confirm that they have been safely picked up by the driver. They must input a personal safety PIN to confirm this before the ride begins. If the pickup has not properly occurred, or the rider feels unsafe in the car, the rider can contact customer service or Emergency Services. This allows the rider to access vital resources for each situation as quickly as possible.

Exploring different safety features and flows to address any issues that may arise throughout the pickup and ride experience.

Making it easier to order a ride with Suggested Trips and Ride Selection

We created a card-like interface on the home screen that displays past or frequent trips. This makes it quick and easy for commuters or frequent riders to choose the trips they need. We also carried this card-like interface over to the Ride Selection screen to make it easy to understand and navigate through the different ride options.

Style Guide

We knew we wanted to keep the simplicity and elegance of Uber but give it a friendlier, approachable feel to make people feel more comfortable using the app. We kept the black and white theme, but also played with different blue and teal accent colors to add more playfulness and youthfulness.

 Final Screens

Impact

Our redesign improves the customization, safety, and style of the Uber experience while still keeping the same feel and features of the basic ride experience that Uber users have come to depend on. In the end, users were extremely happy with the features we implemented and wanted to see Uber actually implement them. Users felt that the new features would make their ride experience easier, safer, and more enjoyable.

Validation Quotes from Uber Users:

“I can feel safe because the app is watching out for where I am.”

“I like these security features a lot. It made me feel like Uber actually wanted to ensure I’m good.”

“The font is nice and easy to read, and the icons work well and are easily understandable. It’s easy to find the important information.”

“I absolutely love [these new customize ride features]. Depending on my mood, I would wanna choose whether I want to talk to the driver, and the music.”

“I really like how you have the split fare option right away. It was confusing before how I had to pick the ride and then split the fare later.”

“I think if Uber actually had these features, it would make it a lot easier.”