Uber Changed Its Logo, and It Uberly Sucks

So, there you are, standing on the corner of a busy street, trying to hail a cab. The taxis aren't stopping for you so you look at your phone and think about calling an Uber. You scroll for that familiar capital 'U' and get nothing but a few apps you never use and a couple of others your friends in PR asked you to get but you forgot why. Still looking for it, you notice something peculiar. A circular thing. Or, possibly a backwards 'C' thing. With another square thing in the middle. It looks a little something like this: You looked right over it, didn't you? If you were stranded on that street corner, you could have walked to the airport in less time than it took you to decipher that "logo" as Uber's new look. In a blog post, Uber says that the identity better represents the brand’s shift beyond grabbing a car, describing it as a “new look and feel that celebrates our technology.” See, that square doohickey is called "the bit" because technology. We’ve also introduced the concept of the bit throughout our design framework. This will put our technology front and center, as well as provide consistency, highlight information and make our brand easy to recognize. Here are some examples from our web site, and it’s at the heart of our new app icon... And the bit is hedged by ... wait for it ... "the atom" because, well, the verdict is still out on that one. The old Uber was black and white, somewhat distant and cold. This belied what Uber actually is—a transportation network, woven into the fabric of cities and how they move. To bring out this human side—the atoms—we’ve added color and patterns... In public relations, we look for the story beneath the talking points. We get it, Uber. You are diversifying your portfolio and life surrounds the atom. Just ask Uber CEO Travis Kalanick who personally designed this atomic hot mess, according to Wired. "Kalanick became engrossed, evaluating pixels and colors according to what he euphemistically calls his "unique" set of preferences. Light smirks ripple across the room. "I basically gave up understanding what your personal preference was," [Uber Design Director Shalin] Amin tells him. "I was like, ‘he’s got this pastel thing going with, like, bright colors.’" While Kalanick loves his new atom, the new Uber logo just looks like a bit to get attention to the rest of us.

Social Pro Daily

Uber Changed Its Logo, and It Uberly Sucks

This is the Uber of all logos... and that's not good.

Shawn Paul Wood

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Shawn Paul Wood