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Rethinking Uber: A User-Centric Critique of a Feature-Oriented Ecosystem

Travel, Food

Rethinking Uber: A User-Centric Critique of a Feature-Oriented Ecosystem

Exploring how a growing ecosystem affects user experience, and how alternate approaches could offer better scalability for users.

Project Overview

This critique explores the evolution of Uber’s app ecosystem, identifying fragmentation issues caused by a feature-oriented structure. It proposes a user-centered alternative, focused on simplifying navigation, reducing app sprawl, and leveraging contextual experiences across services.

Problem Statement

Uber has grown from a car-sharing app to an expansive platform offering food delivery, freight, and even grocery services. While this modular expansion supports business scalability and internal team structures, it results in fragmented experiences for users. Multiple apps, inconsistent navigation patterns, and overlapping services increase cognitive load and reduce usability.

Industry

Travel, Food

My Role

Senior Product Designer

Platforms

Web and Mobile

Timeline

May 2022

Original Website

Original Website

Persona

Aisha Bellam

Freelance Photographer

A tech-savvy urban user juggling multiple services: rides, food, and package delivery through Uber’s ecosystem.

Age: 34

Location: Montreal, Canada

Tech Proficiency: High – uses mobile apps daily

Gender: Female

Goal

Get around the city quickly without toggling between apps.

Order food or deliver a package from the same familiar interface.

Rely on location-based shortcuts and history to speed up common actions.

Frustrations

Navigating across multiple apps for different services.

Difficulty locating places that aren’t easily searchable by address.

Confusion around product boundaries (e.g., ordering Uber to move furniture vs. Uber Freight).

Process

[01] User Research

Studied app store reviews highlighting navigation confusion and fragmentation across Uber apps.

Tested onboarding experiences across Uber apps to compare consistency and mental model alignment.

[01] User Research

Studied app store reviews highlighting navigation confusion and fragmentation across Uber apps.

Tested onboarding experiences across Uber apps to compare consistency and mental model alignment.

[01] User Research

Studied app store reviews highlighting navigation confusion and fragmentation across Uber apps.

Tested onboarding experiences across Uber apps to compare consistency and mental model alignment.

[02] Insights

Users view Uber as one service, not several. They expect a unified experience.

Contextual relevance is missing; the app doesn’t adapt based on time, location, or intent.

Memory-based tasks (e.g., “grandma’s house” or “work”) are difficult without saved or visual map options.

[02] Insights

Users view Uber as one service, not several. They expect a unified experience.

Contextual relevance is missing; the app doesn’t adapt based on time, location, or intent.

Memory-based tasks (e.g., “grandma’s house” or “work”) are difficult without saved or visual map options.

[02] Insights

Users view Uber as one service, not several. They expect a unified experience.

Contextual relevance is missing; the app doesn’t adapt based on time, location, or intent.

Memory-based tasks (e.g., “grandma’s house” or “work”) are difficult without saved or visual map options.

[03] Design Solution

Introduce a clickable map-first interface that adapts to context and location highlighting relevant services like food delivery during dinner hours.

Offer role-based modes (e.g., Consumer, Driver, Merchant) within a single app using smart onboarding and permissions to filter views, rather than building separate apps.

Enhance destination memory with smart history, named locations, and visual pins for places like "Grandma’s house" or “My favorite falafel spot”.

[03] Design Solution

Introduce a clickable map-first interface that adapts to context and location highlighting relevant services like food delivery during dinner hours.

Offer role-based modes (e.g., Consumer, Driver, Merchant) within a single app using smart onboarding and permissions to filter views, rather than building separate apps.

Enhance destination memory with smart history, named locations, and visual pins for places like "Grandma’s house" or “My favorite falafel spot”.

[03] Design Solution

Introduce a clickable map-first interface that adapts to context and location highlighting relevant services like food delivery during dinner hours.

Offer role-based modes (e.g., Consumer, Driver, Merchant) within a single app using smart onboarding and permissions to filter views, rather than building separate apps.

Enhance destination memory with smart history, named locations, and visual pins for places like "Grandma’s house" or “My favorite falafel spot”.

[04] Testing & Iteration

Explored prototypes showing contextual overlays on the map and validated interest via user preference tests.

[04] Testing & Iteration

Explored prototypes showing contextual overlays on the map and validated interest via user preference tests.

[04] Testing & Iteration

Explored prototypes showing contextual overlays on the map and validated interest via user preference tests.

Outcome

Unified experience reduced app-switching and created a stronger sense of flow between services.
Map-based interaction led to faster access to relevant features, increasing task success rate and satisfaction.
Context-aware UI surfaced appropriate services at the right time, reducing friction and cognitive load.

Key Learnings

Scalability Needs to Serve Users Too

Just because a system scales well for teams and services doesn’t mean it scales well for people.

Scalability Needs to Serve Users Too

Just because a system scales well for teams and services doesn’t mean it scales well for people.

Scalability Needs to Serve Users Too

Just because a system scales well for teams and services doesn’t mean it scales well for people.

Maps Can Drive Interaction

Putting the map front and center surfaces contextual needs and mirrors real-world behavior.

Maps Can Drive Interaction

Putting the map front and center surfaces contextual needs and mirrors real-world behavior.

Maps Can Drive Interaction

Putting the map front and center surfaces contextual needs and mirrors real-world behavior.

Feature Growth Requires Experience Architecture

Adding services shouldn’t mean adding apps, it should mean adding relevance.

Feature Growth Requires Experience Architecture

Adding services shouldn’t mean adding apps, it should mean adding relevance.

Feature Growth Requires Experience Architecture

Adding services shouldn’t mean adding apps, it should mean adding relevance.

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