Introduction

When I was brought on as an intern in June of 2018, I had the opportunity to design the first end-to-end experience for scooter-sharing, a mode of riding that would be integrated into the bikes space.

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So, what's the problem?

Uber does not have a non-subsidized mobility solution to meet the price, flexibility, and speed needs of most daily, urban commuters.

The following are the core problems this product aims to solve, largely aligned with those of bikes:

Aversion to walking the first/last mile. While the distance may vary from person to person, there’s a distance threshold past which riders will refuse to walk the last mile.
Electric Bikes not suited to first/last mile needs - Form factor, startup friction (i.e. adjusting seats, not knowing how to ride) and pricing make e-bikes a less attractive option.
Managing multiple apps is a burden. The recent explosion of micro-mobility solutions has exaggerated onerous cross app-comparisons. Users prefer to have all options in one app.
Want low physical effort and safety. When comparing eScooters to eBikes, riders perceive eScooters to be faster since they require zero effort.
Short distance rideshare trips are expensive. UberPool base fares are much more costly than self-serve / mass transit modes, making it unattractive for high frequency use cases like commuting to school / work, going to restaurants, visiting friends / recreation, running errands.

WHEN WAS THIS?

Jun to Aug 2018

WHAT'D I DO?

Researched and designed the first end-to-end experience for scooter-sharing

WHAT'D I WORK IN?

Figma
Principle
Adobe Suite (PS, AI, AE)
Lucidchart

Design principles

Design principles keep our team true to our original intention when the business may later be at odds with what's good for the consumer.

Second Nature

The experience we create is one that should feel instinctual. Every interaction should come naturally, and all information should be presented with ultimate clarity, brevity, and simplicity.

Safe and responsible

Our designs should provide the tools & knowledge necessary to inspire confidence in our users. Confident they are scootering safely, and confident they are being responsible and considerate scooter stewards.

Carefree

Scootering is fun, and there shouldn’t be any stress involved. The experience we create should be one that offers flexibility, supporting and guiding the user, not dictating their experience.

Yikes, this is what could happen. →

The following factors all added complexity to this project:

First time user experience vs. returning user experience
Bikes vs. scooters flow and their differing technologies
Different partners involved and their differing terms of use
Differing city regulations (effects driver's license collection, parking photo collection, and content of safety tips)
Other map elements (i.e. map markers, city zones, operations/rebalancing hubs)

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Mode switcher discovery

We used a mode switcher to seamlessly and scalably integrate scooters into the bike space within the Uber app.

Based on research I'd done, we found that users don't strongly prefer scooters or bikes and that proximity tended to matter more.

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Ending the trip

Riders can stop riding anytime and anywhere within the city. Ending the trip is as simple as tapping a button. To keep them accountable and considerate of pedestrians and cars, we ask them to snap a photo of the scooter parked in an appropriate location.

For the purposes of the mock, the photo portion wasn't included.

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Next up, an edge case:

What happens when the user zooms out of the map? The map becomes very cluttered and the bikes become a cluster of red. So we began to brainstorm ways to smartly cluster the bikes as the map gets smaller. Our goals:

Reduce visual clutter and decrease cognitive load.
Preserve real supply on the map at neighbor and city levels.
Reduce unnecessary user interactions

That's where city badges come in. I got to put my illustration abilities to use to create isometric icons for cities that would be adopting Uber Bikes over time.

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