From its modest beginnings as a black car service for around 100 San Francisco friends, Uber has since flourished as a company, servicing patrons in over 400 cities in 68 countries. Now, not only does Uber offer a wide variety of transportation services such as uberX, and uberPOOL to fit the likes of all customer transportation needs, they have also recently extended their services to delivering food and packages.
As Uber expands into fields beyond ride sharing, their company’s branding is following suit. Celebrating not only the technology of Uber’s application, but also embracing the cities the company serves. The forward thinking rebranded design was a two year process that ultimately represents what Uber is trying to become, instead of where the presently are.
Logotype
The new logotype has cut out the playful curls and replaced them with a more geometric edge to the stems of the letters. With slightly rounded corners and less spacing between the letters, the new characteristics of the bold logotype are easier to read and reflect the maturity of the company.
The Bit and the Atom
Travis Kalanick, founder and CEO, describes Uber’s culture as “the combination of bits and atoms. Bits represented the machine efficiency involved in Uber’s mapping and dispatch software. The atoms represented people.”
According to Uber, the reveal today is just the beginning of their future branding endeavors. Serving as “a transportation network, woven into the fabric of the cities and how they move.” Uber takes inspiration from architecture, textiles, and scenery from every area they operate, and choose specific color pallets and patterns that create individual identities for each country it serves. “This will put our technology front and center, as well as provide consistency, highlight information and make our brand easy to recognize,” Uber’s website stated when describing their programs influence on the rebrand.
Application Icon
The new application icon design sets the framework for future applications that will need their own icon, to remain cohesive with the Uber brand, and its existing service applications.
Each application icon will carry the locations color and pattern, and all icons will be created with a bit in the middle.
Aspiring to be more than just a transportation service, they are now starting to fully embrace their technology and users. Uber’s rebrand is just the beginning of finding out who they truly are, and where they are headed in the near future.
